So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell. But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;) http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: For the love of Mining Local Time: August 23, 2016 1:16 PM UTC Time: August 23, 2016 8:16 PM From: grarpamp@gmail.com To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell. But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;) http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token> I'm surprised they didn't start doing this long ago. Lots of juicy data to mine there. I'm guessing you can get around this by using IMAP or POP3 to read your email. I wonder what their monetization plan is for customers who read their mail with an email client?
I'm guessing you can get around this by using IMAP or POP3 to read your email. I wonder what their monetization plan is for customers who read their mail with an email client? Can't they also change the links to redirects before imap and pop3 download them? It's probably more work to implement, but still very possible.
On 08/23/2016 10:57 PM, Layxt wrote:
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: For the love of Mining Local Time: August 23, 2016 1:16 PM UTC Time: August 23, 2016 8:16 PM From: grarpamp@gmail.com To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
I'm surprised they didn't start doing this long ago. Lots of juicy data to mine there.
I'm guessing you can get around this by using IMAP or POP3 to read your email. I wonder what their monetization plan is for customers who read their mail with an email client?
On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 12:05:45AM +0200, Pinoaffe wrote:
I'm guessing you can get around this by using IMAP or POP3 to read your email. I wonder what their monetization plan is for customers who read their mail with an email client? Can't they also change the links to redirects before imap and pop3 download them? It's probably more work to implement, but still very possible.
For those who -do- still route through gmail, that would be the last straw. I think they value being able to scan the email more than breaking that camels back. But who knows how sane they are - let's see where it goes :)
Absolutely they could. Although I doubt they do, it seems far more intrusive somehow... Then again, I don't use Gmail. John On August 23, 2016 6:05:45 PM EDT, Pinoaffe <pinoaffe@gmail.com> wrote:
I'm guessing you can get around this by using IMAP or POP3 to read your email. I wonder what their monetization plan is for customers who read their mail with an email client? Can't they also change the links to redirects before imap and pop3 download them? It's probably more work to implement, but still very possible.
On 08/23/2016 10:57 PM, Layxt wrote:
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: For the love of Mining Local Time: August 23, 2016 1:16 PM UTC Time: August 23, 2016 8:16 PM From: grarpamp@gmail.com To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting
their
gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
I'm surprised they didn't start doing this long ago. Lots of juicy data to mine there.
I'm guessing you can get around this by using IMAP or POP3 to read your email. I wonder what their monetization plan is for customers who read their mail with an email client?
-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
On 08/23/2016 02:16 PM, grarpamp wrote:
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
So why use GMail?
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: For the love of Mining Local Time: August 23, 2016 2:07 PM UTC Time: August 23, 2016 9:07 PM From: mirimir@riseup.net To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org On 08/23/2016 02:16 PM, grarpamp wrote:
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
So why use GMail? I often wonder the same thing myself. I think the answer is that nobody who really cares about their privacy does. But then again, it's not like the other solutions available to the lay person are necessarily much better, particularly the free ones. 'cept maybe ProtonMail. (Let's hope.)
On 08/23/2016 03:44 PM, Layxt wrote:
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: For the love of Mining Local Time: August 23, 2016 2:07 PM UTC Time: August 23, 2016 9:07 PM From: mirimir@riseup.net To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
On 08/23/2016 02:16 PM, grarpamp wrote:
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
So why use GMail?
I often wonder the same thing myself. I think the answer is that nobody who really cares about their privacy does. But then again, it's not like the other solutions available to the lay person are necessarily much better, particularly the free ones. 'cept maybe ProtonMail. (Let's hope.)
Bro, grarpamp is _not_ a "lay person" ;) So I'm curious, that's all.
On 08/23/2016 02:07 PM, Mirimir wrote:
So why use GMail?
+1x10(6) I've heard SOME people use it b/c "Filtering". (scratches head wondering wtf is so special about gmail filtering) I (gasp!) use it for newsletters. GOOD LUCK trying to profile me from them. I get LeMonde Diplomatique, Strafor's newletter AND Animal Liberation Front Office bulletins. Rr
On 08/23/2016 02:16 PM, grarpamp wrote:
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
So why use GMail?
On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 6:28 PM Razer <rayzer@riseup.net> wrote:
On 08/23/2016 02:07 PM, Mirimir wrote:
So why use GMail?
+1x10(6)
I've heard SOME people use it b/c "Filtering". (scratches head wondering wtf is so special about gmail filtering)
I (gasp!) use it for newsletters. GOOD LUCK trying to profile me from them. I get LeMonde Diplomatique, Strafor's newletter AND Animal Liberation Front Office bulletins.
Yeah, Gmail filters pale in comparison to Procmail or Sieve, though I tend to do very little filtering these days. For the most part, I like Inbox's email workflow, except for that part about not disaggregating threads I've responded on if I'm not mentioned in the recipients of a reply. I had much better luck with Spamassassin than I do with Gmail's spam filtering, too. Gmail seems to err on the side of false positives, which IMO is unforgiveable because it forces people to go through their spam folder when they could otherwise just pretend it doesn't exist. Nearly all of the false positives are messages sent to mailing lists that some idiot probably marked as spam, which IMO is the fundamental problem with "crowdsourcing": the crowd are by and large morons. Spamassassin uses some crowdsourced data sources, but it weights them accordingly, and I imagine the people contributing to those datasources tend to be a bit more obsessive about properly identifying spam than your average gmail user.
On Tue, Aug 23, 2016 at 06:17:08PM -0700, Razer wrote:
On 08/23/2016 02:07 PM, Mirimir wrote:
So why use GMail?
+1x10(6)
I've heard SOME people use it b/c "Filtering". (scratches head wondering wtf is so special about gmail filtering)
Well, I currently use it on the rare occasion to be able to post to cypherpunks - discovered that gmail sends email where my ISP rejects an email (did ask Alex to forward an email for me once, before I figured out that gmail was the solution). Occasionally.
This is not new. Gmail has done link tracking via redirects for as long as I can remember. Google is always watching. On Aug 24, 2016 3:24 AM, "grarpamp" <grarpamp@gmail.com> wrote:
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
On 08/23/2016 01:16 PM, grarpamp wrote:
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
Tumblr did this after Yahoo! bought it. First it was only the 'official' links in the form fields. Later they came for the links in your html too. Gotta have a Revenue model, and selling info to the Army War College (or whomever) for "Academic metadata research" is one of them. Rr
Ackkkk fuck Gmail already! John On August 23, 2016 4:16:47 PM EDT, grarpamp <grarpamp@gmail.com> wrote:
So for the past six months or so google has decided to infesting their gmail webmail with tracking redirectors on all things that look like links. To be expected, and fuck em straight to hell.
But who else find it hilarious they chose 'usg' as the tracking parameter name ;)
http://www.google.com/url?q=http://<hostname>&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=<token>
-- Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
participants (9)
-
grarpamp -
Jason McVetta -
John -
Layxt -
Mirimir -
Pinoaffe -
Razer -
Sean Lynch -
Zenaan Harkness