Excellent reporting, alarming findings.

[zackwhittaker@mastodon.social]

Excellent reporting, alarming findings. Bloomberg's @dmehro et al found U.S. state government health websites are sharing people's personal info (sex, citizenship & race data) with tech giants via pixel-sized webpage trackers. Several states pulled the trackers after Bloomberg disclosed.

ALWAYS USE AN AD-BLOCKER. But really!

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2026-healthcare-advertising-trackers-privacy/

[pelle@veganism.social]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro
#rms is right about this.
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html
#TheJavascriptTrap #Javascript

[crankylinuxuser@infosec.exchange]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro

Bigger question.

Supposedly @mozilla Firefox is a "user agent". An agent is so done or something acting on our behalf.

How is Firefox not default blocking this garbage?

(Aside: we know why Alphabet/google/Chrome doesnt. Its put out by the largest and nastiest adtech firm)

[topknot@mas.to]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro

I am really ignorant about this stuff but ... Using Firefox, I cannot get to the US Veterans (VA) website for my medical data. I also cannot get into the USAF medical website with Firefox. I have to use Chrome.

I don't know if this info pertains to this issue but thought I'd leave this uneducated post for people who actually understand all this stuff.

[utf_7@mastodon.social]

@TopKnot @zackwhittaker @dmehro

does faking the user agent work?

[tempusfelix@wehavecookies.social]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro

In the UK a lot of our health services are accessed through the NHS app. It used to be based on the handset but has now become a web based portal. And it really really wants you to use chrome mobile.

It’s leaky as heck and seeing as it can root access your personal letters, prescriptions and appointments, goodness knows what the marketing and targeting third parties can see.

[modernmaslow@techhub.social]

@zackwhittaker Little doubt a byproduct of Western Capitalism profit over all else, for generations, resulting in further, more intimate betrayals. #DataMining need not be so invasive, like overt Capitalism.

[musiquenow@toot.community]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro

#ALERT

Please see this post

A #MustReadArticle

[linuxandyarn@hachyderm.io]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro After the pixel trackers' behavior was revealed some time last year, we were under orders to remove Google Analytics from all our servers.

Done, but I still need to write an audit script to make sure some rogue department doesn't add it back.

[oldclumsy_nowmad@mastodon.social]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro

I tried to look at the Bloomberg article about the super-sneaky ad trackers that spy on us for Big Tech. However, Bloomberg wouldn't let me see it unless I turned off my ad blocker. Yeah, Bloomberg-Doomberg, dream on! See you in, oh, about... never.

[misusecase@twit.social]

@zackwhittaker @Binder @dmehro “Pixel” is the common term for these things but it makes them sound like a little blip or mark and gives people the wrong idea. In reality they ingest *enormous* amounts of data from sites and pages where they are allowed to operate, more than the site owners are really aware of.

[constancies@metalhead.club]

@crankylinuxuser Firefox tends to be very conservative about what it blocks by default to maintain compatibility with most websites. (You could also argue they have an interest in default settings that aren't private given how most of their revenue is a paycheck from Google)

[klausfiend@mstdn.ca]

@zackwhittaker @dmehro The single pixel tracker was implicated in a major breach at Kaiser a few years ago, too. The idea that government agencies, health providers, etc. rely on tech companies for *checks notes* advertising and data collection needs to get yeeted into the sun.