Tag Archives: Chrome

Is Facebook Fingerprinting Chrome extensions?

This morning I noticed something new in my Chrome Console while working on a Chrome Extension. It looks like Facebook is now looking to see if you have a set of Chrome extensions installed in your browser. Most of the extensions I looked up on Google’s web store and via their search engine and they look like they are Malware of some sort, but a few of them look like they are much less harmless. It’s hard to see what the extensions actually do because they have been pulled from the Chrome Web Store, but some of these look like they modified the appearance of Facebook intentionally.

Some users don’t like being forced to see walmart colors all over the web and have used various tactics to customize the web to their liking. Some other users might do it for usability reasons or just plain augmentation of the web.

Does Facebook have the right to do this? It feels like an invasion of my privacy. I think the latest version of Chrome protects us from this sort of attack but that does not mean that Facebook won’t invest in other ways to discover this information or that they won’t lobby google to discover it. Some extensions also have the ability to open up channels to other extensions so if facebook had it’s own extension it might still try to fingerprint which extensions are there.

This isn’t all bad, in fact it really depends on how it’s being used. If it’s only used to defend our privacy and security then it seems fine, but if this little trick is being abused this could really sour things.

I guess I am mostly just surprised that Facebook is doing this.

Screen Shot 2012-09-05 at 10.30.49 AM

To get this to occur in your own browser you will need to be a bit sneaky and use a private session. Once Facebook runs the finger print they don’t do it all of the time, I think they only do it on auth and then they cache the result in some way. In fact since some extensions have access to the cookies I wonder if one could ‘skip’ the finger printing by setting the proper cookies or localstorage setting.

Finger Printed Extension IDs

kjafndplmofcedgddaoceenkcbfankem
kincjchfokkeneeofpeefomkikfkiedl
iejbljbhhoclgfiapmomcpkpkcmihfib
lkfhadffdnjnogmgjfihlcmmjhcfchaj
afnnkheojlgkipfabekmdkngocfhegck
hkpibllecmidllaojdmkcmfnoinmejco
gpllafflnmgjjcakjloknldkndnkmcpi
pkhidkonipdjidjglnkfcfhnkfnlefbk
kjafndplmofcedgddaoceenkcbfankem
kincjchfokkeneeofpeefomkikfkiedl
iejbljbhhoclgfiapmomcpkpkcmihfib
lkfhadffdnjnogmgjfihlcmmjhcfchaj
afnnkheojlgkipfabekmdkngocfhegck
hkpibllecmidllaojdmkcmfnoinmejco
gpllafflnmgjjcakjloknldkndnkmcpi

Apps I can’t Live without

Apps I can’t Live without

Every now and then there are a few applications that I just can’t live without.  Right now I’ll tell you about a few of my favorite ones for windows xp.

Launchy (micro utility)

http://launchy.net/#introduction

Launchy is a micro utility that launches when you type ‘alt+space’ ( I set mine to ctrl+space), and then you just start typing the name of the app or web address you want to launch.  The app makes it possible to use a lot more of Windows XP without using a mouse.  A few of the mondern operating systems have something simular, but if you are still on Windows XP, you will love launchy as much as you love your keyboard. 😉

jEdit (text editor)

http://www.jedit.org/

Since being a developer these days means writing scripting languages on linux, windows, and mac os you will need a great text editor that works in all three.  jEdit is great because it runs in java, and thus works on windows, linux (ubuntu), and mac osx.  It’s lighter weight than using eclipse and supports 30+ languages with syntax highligting.  jEdit also has an easy to use plugin interface kinda like Firefox, that manages plugin installs, and plugin updates.  When I set up jEdit, I usually set the tab ( buffer )controls up to be the same as they are in Firefox.

Firefox 3.5 (development browser)

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/firefox.html

Firefox 3.5 is a huge speed improvement over 3.0, and it now supports all of your favorite dev plugins.  One of these days, I will have to see if I can configure different FF Profiles to load different plugin sets.  Maybe I would have one profile for speed, one for dev,  and maybe one for demos.

Google Chrome (performance browser)

http://www.google.com/chrome

Google Chrome is the fastest web browser, not just because the browser renders javascript at blazing speeds, but because the browser has several other optimizations in the user interface to make it light, powerful and fast.  You can even use chrome with a choice of themes now, and change the default search engine to something other than Google’s, but who would want to use that?  I use chrome whenever I don’t need all of the dev plugins loaded in FF.

Steam ( game app store )

http://store.steampowered.com/

I know a lot of you like the Apple app store, but for those of us that game, Steam is the best place to buy, download, and manage the updates for all of your video game needs.  Steam, produced by Valve Software, allows you to buy a game through there small desktop client and then it will download it on your idle bandwidth, and update your games in the background.  You basically never have to worrry about keeping your games or drivers uptodate again.  I now hate it when I have to buy a game any other way.  Oh, yeah the best part, no more annoying CD checks for games that you paid for.  I love this service so much, I have rebought games just so I don’t have to manage them or deal with CD cracks any more.  You can even gift games to your friends. 😉