Senate votes to let ISPs sell your Web browsing history to advertisers

[perknh]

Here's an episode from last Friday's ScienceFriday, with Ira Flatow, discussing the new law.  The program then gives a link 
on how to setup a VPN .  I haven't had a chance to dig deeply into VPNs at this point, but I hope the link will be helpful.

[PCNetSpec]

I read a couple of old threads, in these forums, concerning Flash on Opera. 

For shiggles, I decided to test Flash in the Opera 46 dev release.

Gotta say, the options are rather compelling ... and, I'm a Flash hater. 

'Click-to-play' might be a viable compromise ...   

Odd that yours says you don't have the latest version of flashplayer .. mine says I **do** have the latest version, yet it still says I have 25.0.0.127

Opera Developer 46.0.2556.0

But yeah, click to play is a MUST .. and something I always do via flashblock in FF

[VinDSL]

@ perknh

Thought you might find this interesting ...   

I've been busy, building my Dell E6430 Peppermint/'10' 'Road Warrior' lappy.  I need to have it finished by the first week of May, for a maiden voyage to Vegas. 

I ordered an OEM backlit LED keyboard yesterday.  It should be here in a couple of days -  and that'll be the last hardware upgrade I'll be doing to it.

On the software end, I've tried three different vers of Opera, and truthfully, the only one I like is the dev release - currently at 46.0.2567.0.  I like it so much that I purged Chromium and Firefudge from this machine.

Anyway, I just got done doing the 'window-size' trick in Opera-Developer, and it didn't work - just like you.  So, I tried twice and thrice, and still no difference 

Then, it dawned on me that I was clicking the Opera button that I had placed on the panel, last week, pre-haxor.  When I tried the Opera button in the Whisker Menu, it resized just fine.  So, I removed the Opera button from the panel, and replaced it with a new copy from the Whisker Menu ... Bingo !





I wonder if that's the same problem you've been experiencing.  Which button were you clicking ?

BTW, I added the 'Internet' category to the Opera-Developer .desktop file, just to be sure.  Here's what it looks like:

Code: [Select]

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Opera developer
GenericName=Web browser
Comment=Fast and secure web browser
TryExec=opera-developer
Exec=opera-developer --window-size=1100,739 %U
Terminal=false
Icon=opera-developer
Type=Application
Categories=Internet;Network;WebBrowser;
MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml_xml;x-scheme-handler/http;x-scheme-handler/https;x-scheme-handler/ftp;application/x-opera-download;
Actions=NewWindow;NewPrivateWindow;

[Desktop Action NewWindow]
Name=New Window
Exec=opera-developer --new-window

[Desktop Action NewPrivateWindow]
Name=New Private Window
Exec=opera-developer --private

Okay, back at it ... 

[PCNetSpec]

Okay now I'm genuinely annoyed .. I must be loosing my touch, I couldn't break it when I tried .. normally something I have an unnerving knack for
(you don't get good at fixing stuff sans that knack)

[VinDSL]

Heh, ikr ?   

I presumed when you add a link to the Xfce4 Panel, it simply links back to the Whisker Menu .desktop entry - but, now I *think* it  copy n' pastes the original.

I don't have time to do forensics, right now.  But, I'd be curious to see what's going on in the background.

I did a restart, and the panel button still wasn't picking up the haxored .desktop file - until I removed the button from the panel and added it again, post-haxor, via the Whisker Menu 'Add to Panel' option.

[PCNetSpec]

When you add a launcher to the xfce4-panel a .desktop file gets created in

~/.config/xfce4/panel/launcher-n/gibberish.desktop

(where "n" is a number)

(and "gibberish" is some random string of 11 digits)

You'll have to hunt through the "launcher-n" directories opening the .desktop files within until you find the one for Opera .. then make your edits to that file.

HTH

[VinDSL]

Good job, detective ! 

Needs a sanity check ...   

[perknh]

@ perknh

Thought you might find this interesting ...   


Anyway, I just got done doing the 'window-size' trick in Opera-Developer, and it didn't work - just like you.  So, I tried twice and thrice, and still no difference 

Then, it dawned on me that I was clicking the Opera button that I had placed on the panel, last week, pre-haxor.  When I tried the Opera button in the Whisker Menu, it resized just fine.  So, I removed the Opera button from the panel, and replaced it with a new copy from the Whisker Menu ... Bingo !

I wonder if that's the same problem you've been experiencing.  Which button were you clicking ?

Hi VinDSL,

My solution was absurdly simple:  I just needed to install Opera beta from Opera itself, and not from the command line.  PCNetSpec helped me with the detective work.  And, after installing from Opera, I discovered I had a corrupted Opera installation in my .config folder.  Also, by doing this, I ended up with two icons in my .desktop folder.  Unfortunately I deleted the wrong icon by mistake.  That meant that I kept the icon that sized my desktop incorrectly.  I've since uninstalled everything from Opera.  I haven't had a chance to get back to it yet, VinDSL --but it certainly is a beautiful browser.

I'm not sure if Opera has issues with Flash or not --but I suspect it does. So, for quick and dirty when I need Flash, I installed Chrome beta as my backup browser.

perknh

[PCNetSpec]

Nope, Opera can be  made to work with flash.
https://forum.peppermintos.com/index.php/topic,4802.msg53995.html#msg53995

[spence]

Okay that may have clarified things, but as I'm lazy and can't be *rsed to check .. does this mean they can't sell your history/data ?

It means the playing field has been leveled, allowing ISPs access to what every website on the planet already has... if people were truly worried about their data, they'd not be signed up with most of the websites they already are giving all that telemetry to...  #fakeNews #disingenuous

[PCNetSpec]

There's a BIG difference between what a website knows about you and what your ISP potentially has access to (which is everything you do online) ?

[EDIT]

I'm not saying I understand the intricacies of this "bill" (?) and/or that it allows them to sell everything .. just that the potential for misuse is probably a few of orders of magnitude larger.

Is it not akin to your telephone company or the USPO being able to sell lists of who you called/mailed (if not the actual contents) ?
(again, please understand I'm NOT really following this, so make no claims of understanding it)

But I'm not seeing a "level playing field" between what your ISP has access to and what a visited website can garner about your browsing habits.

[perknh]

It means the playing field has been leveled, allowing ISPs access to what every website on the planet already has... if people were truly worried about their data, they'd not be signed up with most of the websites they already are giving all that telemetry to...  #fakeNews #disingenuous

That's the argument in a nutsehell, but IMO it's a weak one.  Also, to add with what PCNetSpec has just said, this is nothing having numerous email providers to choose from --say from potentially nosy Outlook and Gmail to privacy-conscious Tutanota.  People do have choices with what email provider they use.  But, when it comes to highspeed ISPs, one third of Americans have not choice at all.  One third!  And, for folks like me who live in a rural market, I have a choice between two ISPs --one is expensive, and the other is prohibitively expensive. (I've wisely chosen the expensive one. )  Maybe, MAYBE, I could put a dish on my roof, but I've heard the connection is so-so at best, and the dish has lots of hidden costs and fees.  I don't see more dishes on people's roofs these days; I see fewer.  At its best, this is a rotten bill regarding privacy.  Adios, privacy --bye-bye!

[VinDSL]

I ordered an OEM backlit LED keyboard yesterday.  It should be here in a couple of days -  and that'll be the last hardware upgrade I'll be doing to it.

Dern it !   There's a fart in every carload ...

The backlit keyboard worked, but it's in used condition and filthy -- not new, as described.  Plus, a couple of keys are cracked or chipped -- backlight shining through.

The topper is, the 'Caps Lock' key is in Spanish.  It says 'Bloq Mayús'.  All the rest are in English 

I can put up with cookie crumbs, dried Coke stains, and chipped keys, but that Bloq Mayús button is going to drive me crazy.

I've sent a message to the seller.  We'll see what happens ...