Re: Bug 23934 - Proposal: Always launch permission prompt to avoid leakage

On 12/5/13 2:25 PM, cowwoc wrote:
> If you read https://panopticlick.eff.org/browser-uniqueness.pdf 
> section 6.3 it explicitly states that "Fingerprintability is inversely 
> proportional to Debuggability".

Uhm, no it doesn't. The closest actual quote I could find is:

" Plugin and browser developers want the option of occasionally 
excavating the micro-version numbers of clients when trying to 
retrospectively diagnose some error that may be present in a particular 
micro-version of their code. This is an understandable desire, but it 
should now be clear that this decision trades off the user's privacy 
against the developer's convenience"

Do you realize you're quoting from a polemic against fingerprinting? :-)

> There is no getting around this fact. Any time we take steps to 
> protect against Fingerprinting we *will* suffer worse usability and 
> debuggability.

You're conflating usability with debuggability. I find no mention of 
usability in the document.

> Section 6.3 makes a very interesting point: "There is a spectrum 
> between extreme debuggability and extreme defense against 
> fingerprinting, and current browsers choose a point in that spectrum 
> close to the debuggability extreme. Perhaps this should change, 
> especially when users enter private browsing" modes.

Thanks for making my point. Here's a direct quote from 'Conclusion':

"Browser developers should also consider what they can do to reduce 
fingerprintability, particularly at the JavaScript API level."

> Gili

.: Jan-Ivar :.