[colug-432] IPv6

[Rick Troth]

On 12/01/2013 09:55 PM, Rick Hornsby wrote:
> Right now we can block (and delete) browser cookies to stop being tracked across the web sites we visit.  I've noticed recently a significant uptick in specific banner ads on unrelated sites (ie news) for specific products I've browsed at a shopping site like B&H.  This is troubling, and while I deleted my entire cookie cache when I realized it, I'm tempted to institute a per month full cookie delete.

There has been in increase in cookie use by advertisers with cooperation
from the major service providers (eg: Google). I say "increase", but
it's more about cross-site cookie coordination than about the total
number of cookies.

In English: they're actively tracking you for better targeting of the
ads which pay for the services.

> We can't reliably be tracked (or track our own customers, should we wish to) over time by our IPv4 address both because of NATs, and because of DHCP.  I'm not sure I've heard this yet in this discussion thread, but I have this distinct impression that an IPv6 address is more or less static, because it is based on the hardware address of the NIC?  If so, that would negate any efforts to delete tracking cookies.

NAT doesn't save you from the cookie monster.

IPv6 addresses are not necessarily static. The point of IPv6 is to
restore end-to-end uniqueness which the Internet once enjoyed. That does
raise your individual visibility, but is not a tracking risk of the kind
you report.

IPv6 addresses are not necessarily tied to the hardware address of the
NIC. The link local address shows up automagically and is derived from
the MAC addr (in the NIC at that time), but it is not routed beyond the
local LAN segment. Routable IPv6 addresses are independent of the MAC addr.

I am assuming DHCPv6 or other means aside from the autoconfig. Best
practice is to use DHCPv6 or manual and *not* use autoconfig.

If your objective is to not be tracked, it goes beyond just your address
(4 or 6). If you don't want to be tracked, you can use Tor or some VPN
or hide in a torrent. But you've still got to kill the cookies.

-- R; <><



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.colug.net/pipermail/colug-432/attachments/20131202/1778701d/attachment.html