data collection, botnets and browser addons

[mr moose]

I was talking to a guy at football last night and he asked me if there was anyway to scramble the data in his browser to stop companies keeping a track of him.  I thought it's great that the average user is starting to think about these things. But it got me thinking, is there any way to use browser extensions, botnets or other similar systems and malware to to intercept data collection at the users end and seed in a whole lot of noise?  It would be pretty amazing if people could just use a simple extension or someone more serious could create malware that does nothing but over load data collection systems with junk to the point most data loses value.  Obviously it would have to not interfere with normal cookies for the purposes of shopping carts, login details and legitimate uses.

 

If you are only going to post outright claims that it's futile then don't bother posting, I would like to hear/see people brainstorm and throw up suggestions (no matter how silly they might seem) to explore what might be possible.

 

 

[BobVonBob]

So basically a slow DDoS on data trackers?

 

The biggest issue here is it's unbelievably easy to block this. Some IP sends 20k records in 10 seconds? Delete all the records from that IP from that time and block them from sending more.

[BobVonBob]

1 minute ago, Ultrasnoop said:

although how would a VPN do @BobVonBob

What do you mean "how would a VPN do"? A VPN won't block trackers and data collection from the websites you visit, it can only stop outside sources from seeing it. A plain box will stop the mailman from knowing you ordered a dragon dildo, but the dragon dildo company will still know.

[mr moose]

13 minutes ago, Ultrasnoop said:

as i'm fairly sure VPNs do not allow your internet provider to see what your browsing.

or like de dos'ers, you just throw heaps of useless data and hide your browsing data init.

i'm no genius, i'm simply taking this all off my own theory without the help of google. so most of what i just said is probably a load of bs

I actually want people to do this, it doesn't matter if it amounts to nothing, but it might spark an idea for someone.

 

8 minutes ago, BobVonBob said:

So basically a slow DDoS on data trackers?

 

 

I was thinking more something that would either replace data sent (e.g website visited) with false information so the browser might be looking at coke.com but the new program/addon would send walmart.com or just add three other URLs to the the data to make it harder for data miners to separate good data from false data.  If data harvesters were inundated with 3 or 4 websites for every real website visited and random cookies taken from other computers and sent back to specific trackers the noise might be enough to devalue the data. 

[mr moose]

3 minutes ago, comander said:

If you care about privacy
  Use firefox, use a DNS like 1.1.1.1 or 9.9.9.9 over DoH; bonus points if it hits a local DNS (think PiHole) first
  Only use FOSS plugins
  Use privacy enhancing plugins
  Clear cookies regularly

Consider using a VPN. This is to make your IP blend in with a bunch of other people using the same VPN. 

This assumes you aren't doing anything egregiously illegal. If you are, what I'm doing probably isn't good enough. 

 

I'm not so much looking for ways to hide from data collectors, but ways to overload data collectors with so much data they can't separate good from bad. 

[mr moose]

3 hours ago, comander said:

Use incorrect data where possible. 

Already do. The only sites that have correct data are my bank and the government.

 

3 hours ago, comander said:

Other than that you're looking at a bot that goes to random places. I would avoid that Incase it goes somewhere that flags you as a pedophile.  

That's really good point.  Maybe questionable data could be generated using pre determined lists.

[mr moose]

1 minute ago, comander said:

It's probably better to be boring than random. 

My general strategy is to block scripts/tracking where I can and to be boring when it requires effort. 

I'm a boring enough person that it shouldn't matter. What're they going to do, figure out that I spend a ton of time at work, go home and play games/watch videos and occasionally look at non-illegal porn?

With that said, I do hedge what I say. I assume that within 20 years there WILL be a correlation attack and that everything I say will be used against me. 

Which is why I want to see the creation of a major tool that will devalue automated data collection to the point no one does it anymore.