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Snippet: Google Continues to Be Creepy ☇

Shared on February 17, 2012

Circumventing privacy settings is always the way one should run a business:

To get around Safari’s default blocking, Google exploited a loophole in the browser’s privacy settings. While Safari does block most tracking, it makes an exception for websites with which a person interacts in some way—for instance, by filling out a form. So Google added coding to some of its ads that made Safari think that a person was submitting an invisible form to Google. Safari would then let Google install a cookie on the phone or computer.

Bonus points that the exploit was found by a Jonathan Mayer—no, not that one.

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