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ChatGPT now knows what you do on other websites via ad collector

764 points · 395 comments · lmbbuchodi

gruez · 1789928271 · focus · HN ↗
I spent 10 seconds skimming this blog post until realizing it's just AI generated (ironic) slop describing how third party cookie tracking works. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_cookies#Mechanism" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-party_cookies#Mechanism
Everyone would be far better off if the author just posted "OpenAI uses third party cookies [wikipedia link]", except maybe the author who wouldn't as many subscriptions for his "threat intel" newsletter.
1. buchodi · 1789928517 · focus · HN ↗
  There are specific details about how the mechanism works like the cookie name (__obi) that can help defenders.
  1. gruez · 1789928668 · focus · HN ↗
    I'm not aware of any filter lists that blocks based on cookie name. It's almost always done at the URL level. Moreover it's bog standard 3rd party cookie tracking. At least for the purposes of "help defenders", there's nothing in the blog post that couldn't be found in 10s with browser devtools.
    zahlman · 1789928940 · focus · HN ↗
    > there's nothing in the blog post that couldn't be found in 10s with browser devtools.
    The audience of people who can read and understand an explanation like this one is probably quite a bit larger than the ones who can replicate the experiment themselves.
    gruez · 1789929582 · focus · HN ↗
    That just goes back to my original point, which is that this is AI slop and everyone would be better off if OP referenced a canonical description of what's happening, rather than wasting everyone's time by generating 1200 words of AI slop for them to wade through, all for some "threat intelligence" newsletter.

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