this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2025
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Privacy

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/35972832

Native Android apps – including Facebook, Instagram, and several Yandex apps such as Maps, Navi, Browser, and Search – silently listen on fixed local ports on mobile devices to de-anonymize users’ browsing habits without consent, says a report published by a team of researchers from Spain-based IMDEA Networks Internet Analytics Group, and Dutch Radboud University.

Here is the technical report: https://localmess.github.io/

By embedding tracking code into millions of websites, Meta’s Pixel and Yandex Metrica have been able to map Android users’ browsing habits with their persistent identities (that is to say, with the account holder logged in). This method bypasses privacy protections offered by Android’s permission controls and even browsers’ Incognito Mode, affecting all major Android browsers. The international research team has disclosed the issue to several browser vendors, who are actively working on mitigations to limit this type of abuse. For instance, Chrome’s mitigation is scheduled to go into effect very soon.

These tracking companies have been doing this bypass for a long time: since 2017 in the case of Yandex, and Meta since September 2024. The number of people affected by this abuse is high, given that Meta Pixel and Yandex Metrica are estimated to be installed on 5.8 million and 3 million sites, respectively. It is also worth noting that evidence of this tracking practice has been observed only on Android.

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[–] LWD@lemm.ee -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

OP's post history demonstrates an interest in only one thing. As one example, look at the way they edited this article's title.

Original title: "...involving Meta and Yandex..."

This post: "...involving Meta and Russia's Yandex..."

I continue to wonder if OP is interested in privacy, or is simply upset at the Russianness of this particular thing.

[–] NotAGamer@lemmy.org 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Their ties to Russia is important "comrad".

[–] LWD@lemm.ee -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

So are Meta's ties to the US and the MAGA regime.

But for some reason, Hotznplotzn appears more interested in promoting an America First form of nationalism than privacy advocacy, because that interest in privacy evaporates when American entities do it.

[–] Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] NotAGamer@lemmy.org 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Stop responding to him. He's paid by Putin for propaganda.

[–] LWD@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I guess I'll ask you the same question I ask Putinists: Do you actually have a problem with propagandists? You get to see Hotznplotzn's profile too. If you think there's a different conclusion, a rational person would draw from it, be my guest in elaborate.

It's also a very funny you would accuse me of being a Putin shill.

[–] NotAGamer@lemmy.org -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Proving you're a Putin shill.

[–] LWD@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You should have looked at my comment history before making a fool of yourself.

Hotznplotzn is not a "good shill" for being on your side. They mix decent sources with abominably inaccurate and pro-surveillance ones.

[–] NotAGamer@lemmy.org 1 points 1 week ago

Putin SHILL!