Verizon and supercookies

[chopnhack]

In the states we have a massive provider of internet,tv and telcom services called verizon. There was a recent article about them using supercookies that you can not disable - apparently they inject the code in on their end. Interesting read:
Verizon

 

[GreenGiant]

I saw this before, the thing that bugs me is the article that I read said that only the most knowledgeable of techs would be able to avoid the tracking, though your linked article gives a couple options.

There are questions though that it may be unconstitutional, which it really is an invasion of privacy.

 

[(*steve*)]

The answer to your question is "https everywhere" or an encrypted proxy server

 

[shrtrnd]

I think that most people in the U.S. are coming to realize that here in the U.S., the Constitution has been put on hold lately.
Laws don't mean much if the government is going to pick and choose which ones they feel like enforcing or ignoring, depending on the Administration.
Half the time anymore, I can't tell if it's a big company that's ignoring the law, or if the government is ordering the big companies to do somthing that's unconstitutional.
For those in other countries, my take, and the belief of most Americans used to be that the law was the law. Sometimes you agreed with it, and other times not; but most of us believed it was being enforced
evenly by the courts. It's not that way anymore. Most people here point to the U.S. 'Patriot Act' by ex-President Bush as the beginning of the erosion of the U.S. Constitution.
It is obvious to all of us here now, that our laws are NOT being fairly enforced upon everyone. An entity gets-off scott-free if the government wants it that way, or gets prosecuted if out of favor with the government.
A sad situation that most of us hopes will be corrected, instead of getting worse. Time will tell.

 

[chopnhack]

I think that most people in the U.S. are coming to realize that here in the U.S., the Constitution has been put on hold lately.
Laws don't mean much if the government is going to pick and choose which ones they feel like enforcing or ignoring, depending on the Administration.
Half the time anymore, I can't tell if it's a big company that's ignoring the law, or if the government is ordering the big companies to do somthing that's unconstitutional.
For those in other countries, my take, and the belief of most Americans used to be that the law was the law. Sometimes you agreed with it, and other times not; but most of us believed it was being enforced
evenly by the courts. It's not that way anymore. Most people here point to the U.S. 'Patriot Act' by ex-President Bush as the beginning of the erosion of the U.S. Constitution.
It is obvious to all of us here now, that our laws are NOT being fairly enforced upon everyone. An entity gets-off scott-free if the government wants it that way, or gets prosecuted if out of favor with the government.
A sad situation that most of us hopes will be corrected, instead of getting worse. Time will tell.

Not to get political, but nepotism and favoritism has been around a lot longer than the US governmental issues. The current administrations "czars" is an interesting slippery slope of unconstitutional abuse of power (eliminating the checks and balances of power by creating a one man task force?!), previous administrations have had their errors too, I seem to remember a certain real estate business partner of the Clinton's found dead on a "grassy knoll" with wounds not consistent with the loss of blood at the scene of the crime, etc...

Back to Verizon - https seems to be a good workaround for most sites that will allow it - I don't have a pc up and running 24/7 (that makes me a luddite these days I guess ;-P ) - does anyone else have a vpn that they use that is as fast as their normal direct connection? Do they leave it up and running all the time?

 

[shrtrnd]

I do. I just recognize that the NSA is collecting everything I do.

 

[Gryd3]

Not to get political, but nepotism and favoritism has been around a lot longer than the US governmental issues. The current administrations "czars" is an interesting slippery slope of unconstitutional abuse of power (eliminating the checks and balances of power by creating a one man task force?!), previous administrations have had their errors too, I seem to remember a certain real estate business partner of the Clinton's found dead on a "grassy knoll" with wounds not consistent with the loss of blood at the scene of the crime, etc...

Back to Verizon - https seems to be a good workaround for most sites that will allow it - I don't have a pc up and running 24/7 (that makes me a luddite these days I guess ;-P ) - does anyone else have a vpn that they use that is as fast as their normal direct connection? Do they leave it up and running all the time?

You don't need anything super-fast for this. Plug a RasPi into a phone charger and leave it running
This workaround may very well open people up to Man-in-the-middle attacks by malicious VPN hosts.
I won't be sharing VPN details though either, as that leaves me liable for any data transmission through my ISP's internet connection, and the "I was holding it for a friend" excuse will only go so far.
It may be worth attempting something like Tor on your device.

 

[Gryd3]

You don't need anything super-fast for this. Plug a RasPi into a phone charger and leave it running
This workaround may very well open people up to Man-in-the-middle attacks by malicious VPN hosts.
I won't be sharing VPN details though either, as that leaves me liable for any data transmission through my ISP's internet connection, and the "I was holding it for a friend" excuse will only go so far.
It may be worth attempting something like Tor on your device.

I should also mention that many routers are beginning to support VPNs.
So if your PC is not always on, you can route your connection through your home Router.
Of course, this is not always an option, as the firmware must support it. Alternative firmware could be installed to allow this feature if it does not exist on the stock image.

 

[chopnhack]

I should also mention that many routers are beginning to support VPNs.

That alone would be a worthy reason to buy a new router! I will have to look into that as an option. Thanks

 

[Gryd3]

That alone would be a worthy reason to buy a new router! I will have to look into that as an option. Thanks

Do your due diligence.
There are two parts required for a VPN... a client and server.
Just because a router says or mentions VPN does not mean it can act as a server. Once you have a model number though you can surf through the net for a manual.
Alternatively, I am a big fan of the alternate firmwares "Tomato" and "DD-WRT". They usually offer professional grade features on consumer grade hardware. (ie. VPN servers, advanced Quality of Service rules, bandwidth logging/graphing, and some can even double as an NFS server for networked files)

Alternative firmware are available for multiple different models and brands:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenWrt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wireless_router_firmware_projects

 

[chopnhack]

Do your due diligence.

LOL, there will be more than that, I can assure you! It will require a full detailed study on my part because I have very little experience in the network side of things aside from knowing some basic topologies and generalities.