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July 20, 2019 02:30 pm PDT

Chrome is patching a bug that lets sites detect and block private browsing mode, declares war on incognito-blocking

The next version of Chrome will patch a bug that lets websites detect users who are in incognito mode by by probing the Filesystem API; they've also pledged to seek out and block any other vulnerabilities that will let servers detect users in incognito mode.

This will cause problems for sites operating "soft paywalls" that allow you to visit a limited number of times for free before blocking you, such as the New York Times and LA Times (disclosure: I am a book reviewer for the LA Times and have written editorials and articles for the New York Times). Users who hit the limit can bypass it by flipping to incognito mode and reloading the page.

Google acknowledges that this will cause problems for these soft paywalls and proposes that sites who rely on these can adapt by "reducing the number of free articles someone can view before logging in, requiring free registration to view any content, or hardening their paywall" and points out that blocking browsers that don't respond to Filesystem API would catch lots of different kinds of users, not just those using private browsing mode.

Any concern from paywall operators is difficult to credit in any event, as users who hit the limit on soft paywalls always had the option to simply delete their existing cookies from the site. On that note, can anyone recommend an advanced cookie-manager for Firefox that allows you to accept cookies from soft paywall sites, but delete them when the browser closes? Firefox's cookie management panel implies that it can do this natively, but it doesn't work for me (e.g. Read the rest


Original Link: http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/vTM8St9OLlY/cookie-managers-r-us.html

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