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by _noqo
3153 days ago
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Thanks for clarify that, with "screen recordings of the users interacting with your site" I mean what you describe ("track of user actions, and replays the same"), is not the same technically but is equally immoral for me, and that is one of the default default features that the Internet has by design from the beginning that I'm questioning, today a regular internet user just download a popular browser and is affected by that without knowing. |
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Well, it's not technically a problem of the internet (the protocol of networked-communication between arbitrary machines), but specifically having a turing-complete language in the browser. The browser sandboxes the language to an extent (so you can't load a webpage and it goes and deletes all files on your computer), but it can't offer protection against any arbitrary program without being able to understand the goal of the program, and whether or not you as a user actually want that goal (or any of its sub-goals).
The problem comes down to: Freedom to act well is also the freedom to act poorly. The browser can't delete all your files, but it also can't organize your files for you. It can track your mouse position across the screen for the sake of recording it... but it can also track your mouse position for the sake of a game.
So it's really a question of how much do you actually want from the browser? Another alternative is to not give it a proper language at all, such that it can only do a predefined subset of behaviors (ie Web 2.0), and thus users are kept safe from any malicious behavior, but of course, at the cost of being kept from any "innovative" behaviors as well. Just fyi, you can enforce this rule if you'd like, by something like the noscript extension, to kill javascript everywhere (and optionally disable it for sites you trust). Half your webpages will break because developers assume javascript, and you can't play any games or fancy websites without opening yourself up to recording, but you'll be safe.
So the choice is yours: Self-impose limitations, or accept the risk.
Most people choose risk (by market-selection), though they may not have realized they ever made a choice, or understood it if they did.