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JShelter - JavaScript Restrictor
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<blockquote data-quote="ForgottenSeer 92963" data-source="post: 972038"><p>[USER=88686]@SpiderWeb[/USER]</p><p></p><p>Modern browsers have a lot of predefined services and functions which a website can use. These functions are accessed through interfaces called API's short for Application Program Interface. These API's provide a website all sorts of useful data to provide you with the best web experience (e.g. screensize, language, night time dark or day time light background etc).</p><p></p><p>Over the years new and improved API's were standardized in browsers by the W3C, up to a point that a browser by default provides so much information that by combining this data you can be uniquely tracked. JShelter intercepts and changes the results when a website calls these API's (using javascript). For instance reducing the granularity of your time and geo-location. This makes it harder to pin-point you.</p><p></p><p>Problem with most of these extensions is that it requires a lot of knowledge to configure them correctly (only the Pro version of an expensive extension like Cydec has all data points covered*) and when blocking one API to your data, often another API provides similar data, so by combining stuff you are still fingerprinted.</p><p></p><p>The good thing about JShelter is that it is a subsidized project and related to a educational organization (so hopefully funds and knowledge are available for the long term). Many of the API-blurring extensions started with a first version, but stranded because it required to much manpower and knowledge. I am keeping an eye on JShelter because it may have a chance of actually succeeding in providing a version for the average user.</p><p></p><p>What may help them is that the browser developers also are working on ways to limit the use (retrieving info) using these API's. When I recall correctly Google has submitted an idea to the W3C (organization which defines the web standards) to give a website an API-budget. When a website exceeds its budgets, browsers will start to shield access to other API's. I thought that Microsoft supported the idea, but browsers which are a bit further on this field (Firefox, Brave and Apple) are opposed (because they would lose their advantage).</p><p></p><p>___</p><p>* As far as I know and I am retired so my knowledge is aging</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ForgottenSeer 92963, post: 972038"] [USER=88686]@SpiderWeb[/USER] Modern browsers have a lot of predefined services and functions which a website can use. These functions are accessed through interfaces called API's short for Application Program Interface. These API's provide a website all sorts of useful data to provide you with the best web experience (e.g. screensize, language, night time dark or day time light background etc). Over the years new and improved API's were standardized in browsers by the W3C, up to a point that a browser by default provides so much information that by combining this data you can be uniquely tracked. JShelter intercepts and changes the results when a website calls these API's (using javascript). For instance reducing the granularity of your time and geo-location. This makes it harder to pin-point you. Problem with most of these extensions is that it requires a lot of knowledge to configure them correctly (only the Pro version of an expensive extension like Cydec has all data points covered*) and when blocking one API to your data, often another API provides similar data, so by combining stuff you are still fingerprinted. The good thing about JShelter is that it is a subsidized project and related to a educational organization (so hopefully funds and knowledge are available for the long term). Many of the API-blurring extensions started with a first version, but stranded because it required to much manpower and knowledge. I am keeping an eye on JShelter because it may have a chance of actually succeeding in providing a version for the average user. What may help them is that the browser developers also are working on ways to limit the use (retrieving info) using these API's. When I recall correctly Google has submitted an idea to the W3C (organization which defines the web standards) to give a website an API-budget. When a website exceeds its budgets, browsers will start to shield access to other API's. I thought that Microsoft supported the idea, but browsers which are a bit further on this field (Firefox, Brave and Apple) are opposed (because they would lose their advantage). ___ * As far as I know and I am retired so my knowledge is aging [/QUOTE]
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