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Just dodged a tracker pixel (I think) -- thanks to a text-based mail client and Tor (lemmy.sdf.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org to c/text_ui@lemmy.sdf.org
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Tracker pixels are surprisingly commonly used by legitimate senders.. your bank, your insurance company, any company you patronize. These assholes hide a 1-pixel image in HTML that tracks when you open your email and your IP (thus whereabouts).

I use a text-based mail client in part for this reason. But I got sloppy and opened an HTML attachment in a GUI browser without first inspecting the HTML. I inspected the code afterwards. Fuck me, I thought.. a tracker pixel. Then I visited just the hostname in my browser. Got a 403 Forbidden. I was happy to see that.

Can I assume these idiots shot themselves in the foot with a firewall Tor blanket block? Or would the anti-tor firewall be smart enough to make an exception for tracker pixel URLs?

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[-] evenwicht@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

That’s interesting. It sounds like browsers could be designed smarter. I get “403 Forbidden” chronically in the normal course of web browsing. In principle if a server is going to refuse to serve me, then I want to give the server as little as possible. Shouldn’t Tor browser attempt to reach the landing page of the host first just to check the headers for a 403, then if no 403 proceed to the full URL?

#dataMinimization

[-] CameronDev@programming.dev 4 points 2 weeks ago

Its not a browser thing, its HTTP. The return codes are specific to the request, not the server.

GET example.com could validly return 403, while GET example.com/tracking123.gif returns 200 or anything else.

this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024
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Text-Based User Interfaces (TUI; CLI)

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Forum for advanced users who grok the power of text-based apps, the advantage of tmux/GNU screen, the keyboard and who often find the mouse a hinderance to a fast workflow. A text-based UI is also a decent escape from enshitified resources.

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