674
Traitors (media.piefed.social)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
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Why would you do this to us?

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[–] 0 points 3 months ago* (17 children)

You'd rather have your browser use the bandwidth to download all 500 language versions and 200 otherwise localized versions of the website and use some random language as default, maybe chinese or spanish for being the biggest languages.

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  • [–] 18 points 3 months ago (5 children)

    Is it possible for URL to request the one that i want? I feel like i remember different language versions of webpages from before browser fingerprinting - though I guess I don't know long ago it started.

    Even so, it seems like it only needs to know my request as a one of 500 group. An individualised fingerprint of 1 in 10bn seems like overkill to me. Assuming that's what fingerprint means in this context.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 months ago

    browser fingerprinting

    Thing is, while it wasn't called "browser fingerprinting" immediately, it basically started as soon as JS was around. And feature-detection / media-queries actually make for better compatibility than just User-Agent strings (and other headers).

    Content negotiation never really caught on, as best as I can tell. There's a number of headers that the client can send so that the server can select a version by language, content-type, and a few other things, but in all the web deployments I've ever done content-negotiation was never a consideration.

    Almost any information can be abused.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Be requesting the specific language site you are giving them the information anyway.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 months ago

    I'm ok to give them 1 in 500 resolution (or whatever rough order of magnitude) to tell them i want to read the EN version. That's a lot less precise than 1 in 10 billion or whatever the fingerprint is.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 months ago (4 children)

    I just go to /fr for French. That sounds like a non-issue.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

    Then you just tell them your language anyway, but it's more cumbersome to you.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    As someone not in the USA, I cannot tell you how absolutely annoying and terrible it is when the website automatically selects a language/region for you. It happens so often.

    "Oh, you have a Polish IP? Here is the whole website in Polish. Also, the address field will now only accept Polish addresses!". Nah bro, I just live near the border. I wish I could select language by adjusting the path, that would be so much better than what some sites do.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Your example isn't even the worst. Polish IP and Polish language.

    I have an Estonian IP so I've had websites determine I want everything in Russian.

    There was some website at one point that didn't even give me an option for English. Estonian IP? Okay, you speak Russian. You don't speak English. And we don't support Estonian.

    IT'S NOT EVEN AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE FOR THE COUNTRY WHERE MY IP ADDRESS IS LOCATED

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  • [+] 6 points 3 months ago (4 children)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

    And which language would it start in, in order to offer you this list?

    Imagine if every site did this, it would be so cumbersome. Worse than the cookie banners.

    And either way, when you select the language, you've given them the fingerprinting data anyway. 😂 Completely pointless.

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  • [–] 5 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

    The language that is chosen in the top level domain of the URL.

    If it is a domain.es it is in Spanish.

    If it is a domain.co.uk it is in English.

    If it is a domain.it it is in Italian.

    Or just the main language where the website is located. It isn't difficult to add a language icon somewhere at the top or bottom.

    Nothing about it needs to track the user. The only info you give them is that you can speak a certain language. Not that it is your main language. Or that you can only understand one.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago

    Like the other person said, you've already become a data point by visiting the page.

    Nothing about it needs to track the user. The only info you give them is that you can speak a certain language. Not that it is your main language. Or that you can only understand one.

    Needs to, no, but they will. Regardless of whether or not it's your main language, you will be a data point by selecting your preferred display language. Unfortunately, of course.

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