Loading Profile...
Twitter,
Facebook, or email.
Could you please explain some mechanics of your extension?
How does it find trackers? Can't it somehow notice new trackers on the pages I visit and upload them to your database to enlarge your list of the rules?
Or it only works with the list of the rules that was downloaded once and then gets updated?
I’m
suspicious
How does it work? Can it find new trackers?
-
It's the latter. Everything Ghostery knows about was found by people like you. This Wikipedia article explains the general concept:
Comment -
-
Thank you for the answer.
I know what crowdsourcing I just don't get how is it possible to detect a new tracker. I'm managing a few big subscriptions for the AdBlock+ and there - everything is clear and transparent: you can open the list of blockable items and create a rule to block any of them.
As I understood - your extension doesn't let users to pick something beyond the preset list and send it to some moderators who'd consider whether it is worth including into general list or not.
In other words: imagine that I'd like to help you enlarge your list. How could I do that?
What kinds of trackers can your extension block? Only the external scripts (e.g. which are not the part of the page's source code)?
If I block the same tracking scripts via AdBlock+ - do I get the same defense?
If so - then you could just copy many rules from one of anti-tracking subscriptions I manage and include them to your extension (everything you'll need is to gather info about those trackers to represent it in a small article for every tracker, like you do now).-
Hey Drudoy, thanks for asking this question.
So, essentially, Ghostery database is abstracted from the user: we do not want an average user to tinker with it, however, for anybody more advanced, the database is open for investigation. Physically, its stored in your Firefox profile folder/ghostery/bugs.db and lsos.db. Those files contain what Ghostery uses to match various page elements: regex patterns associated with company applications.
To add a new tracker, we generally ask people to post the potential culprit here or send it directly to me felix@evidon.com and we will qualify if they belong in our database. Once this is qualified, the database is updated with new pattern for matching. This pattern will be then passed on to all the installations of Ghostery that have auto-update for bugs on.
As mentioned above, once you have access to bugs.db file, you may add your own bugs: tho, what you really should do is create user.bugs.db, so we do not overwrite any new entries you put into the file with auto-updates.
As far as elements that Ghostery can block, its essentially the same as ABP: any html tags (1st or 3rd party), flash (sub-) objects, redirects, and prevent cookie creation. Our database is similar to EasyPrivacy, tho it is definitely not a 1-1 match at this point: EP has a larger list of trackers, but we have a more accurate list that gets reviewed monthly (and both lists mis-match). In terms of technology under the hood: whatever addon was installed first, will execute first, so if ABP misses something thats in Ghostery DB, Ghostery will stop it, and other way around.
Lastly, about what we need and do on our end to enter a tracker. This is a pretty big question since we've expanding out company pages. For example here is before: http://ghostery.com/apps/doubleclick and heres after: http://info.evidon.com/companies/doub... -- so its not a short description but rather a pretty in-depth research that our privacy team conducts to enter a full company and company application profile.
Does this answer your question? Please let me know. -
-
-
-
-
I’m
thankful
Yes, thank you for that answer. Now everything is clear to me: your extension duplicates adblock's features.-
Except that AdBlock is focused on blocking ads that you see, while Ghostery is focused on learning more about (and optionally blocking) invisible trackers.
-
-
-
-
-
No, AdBlock is focused on blocking any elements.
But AdBlock subscriptions are usually focused on visible ads - that is true.-
Ghostery for Firefox operates the same as ABP in terms of apis used. Ghostery for Chrome/Safari works a bit different than ABP.
In terms of real differences: Ghostery is designed to let the user know who are the companies on the pages and what they do vs ABP which merely blocks them silently -- another way of describing this is that Ghostery is a learning tool first, blocker after and ABP is just the opposite. -
-
-
-
CHAMP
