Cookies and Chrome

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Daveski17, Nov 22, 2014.

  1. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I sometimes use Google Chrome (x64) on my Win 7 machine although Maxthon or Firefox are my preferred browsers. I’m normally in Maxthon on Windows although I find Firefox useful for many sites. Occasionally after quite long browsing sessions I routinely run SUPERAntiSpyware to check for tracking cookies and normally it comes up clean.

    However, I have noticed that after only using Chrome for five minutes or so I inevitably contract tracking cookies.

    Typical examples from recent scan logs:


    Adware.Tracking Cookie
    .doubleclick.net [ C:\USERS\USER\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\COOKIES ]


    Adware.Tracking Cookie
    .doubleclick.net [ C:\USERS\USER\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\COOKIES ]
    [ C:\USERS\USER\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\COOKIES ]

    After a little research I discovered that the doubleclick.net cookies are a direct result of actually browsing with Chrome!

    ‘DoubleClick is a subsidiary of Google which develops and provides Internet ad serving services. Its clients include agencies, marketers (Universal McCann, AKQA etc.) and publishers who serve customers like Microsoft, General Motors, Coca-Cola, Motorola, L'Oréal, Palm, Inc., Apple Inc., Visa USA, Nike, Carlsberg among others. DoubleClick's headquarters is in New York City, United States.’ ~ Wikipedia

    I know this isn’t exactly news to many, but I just couldn’t understand why Chrome seemed to be such a tracking cookie magnet compared to Maxthon or Firefox. I should have known lol. :rolleyes:
     
  2. Pilou42

    Pilou42 Registered Member

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    So in settings you disabled "cookies", and noticed there were still Doubleclick cookies ?
    Did you try to disable all extensions and all plugins before ?
     
  3. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    The only extensions I have are ABP, Clearly, Google Docs and WOT. I haven't disabled them or any cookies yet. What fascinates me is that Chrome contracts these cookies so quickly. I know they aren't harmful but I really have to work hard to get them at all in the other two browsers I mentioned.

    The reason I haven't disabled cookies in Chrome is that I use it on pages (like Photobucket for example) where Maxthon's inbuilt adblocker can't cope with the sheer amount of flash ads on the page, and NoScript on Firefox has a tantrum and won't let me disable it totally, thus breaking the page functionality.
     
  4. Kilmore

    Kilmore Registered Member

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    Do you need third party cookies?
    I block them in Chrome (and all browsers normally) and don't get doubleclick cookies.

    Out of interest I allowed all cookies in Firefox and got a doubleclick cookie almost instantly. It doesn't strike me as a Chrome issue to be honest.
     
  5. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Well, it's only a Chrome issue to me as I only actually noticed it in Chrome. I've never altered the cookie settings in Firefox or Maxthon and I rarely acquire tracking cookies in those. I never had this issue with SRWare Iron or Opera (Blink) either.

    OK, I've disabled 3rd party cookies. I'll see what happens.
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2014
  6. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    Privacy Choice has an extension for Chrome that sets 'opt out' cookies for over 300 ad and tracker services including doubleclick.

    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keep-more-opt-outs/eoibfeagdaaoimfpfalgbmmegagdconp

    It hasn't been updated for some time but as it's almost impossible to find through the Chrome webstore I figure it works pretty well. There are complaints that this causes high cpu usage but once the opt out cookies are set you just disable the extension until you need to reset them because your cookies were erased for whatever reason.
     
  7. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    That's interesting, what's even more interesting is that I disabled 3rd party cookies in Chrome and within minutes I get:

    Adware.Tracking Cookie
    .doubleclick.net [ C:\USERS\USER\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\COOKIES ]

    This just doesn't happen in Firefox and Maxthon.
     
  8. wat0114

    wat0114 Registered Member

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    I'm using Chromium v37.0.2062.120 on Linux, disabled all my extensions except LastPass, cookies: "Keep local data only until you quit your browser" & "Block 3rd party...", and I'm seeing anything doubleclick-related blocked, as well as several other 3rd party adware and tracking cookies blocked under "Show cookies and other site data..."

    It's strange, for sure, that you're seeing those type cookies leak through.

    EDIT

    tried the same setup/test with Chrome and it also blocks 3rd-party content as intended.
     
    Last edited: Nov 22, 2014
  9. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    Since you just use it for Photobucket block all cookies by default and then allow Photobucket. You shouldn't see any cookies that way except for Photobucket.

    I use the 'edit this cookie' extension also which works with Chrome's poor cookie management and blocks cookies much easier than working directly with the built in cookie manager.
     
  10. Kilmore

    Kilmore Registered Member

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    I will revise what I said. It clearly is a Chrome issue in your case and is very odd.
    That said, I'm relying on the cookie list in Chrome and CCleaner to find them, I don't have Superantispyware installed. It seems unlikely that is a factor, but it is possible I suppose.

    My approach with anything odd in Chrome is to test a new (temporary) profile. I see they have reworded the settings menu and now call the quick and easy method "add person". Worth a try perhaps??
     
  11. SpousalMilk

    SpousalMilk Registered Member

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    In ABP, did you uncheck the "allow some non-intrusive advertising" setting?
     
  12. Minimalist

    Minimalist Registered Member

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    You could check out your Chrome search engines (right click on address bar and select Edit search engines). Check what engines you have installed and remove unwanted (ask search...).
     
  13. TairikuOkami

    TairikuOkami Registered Member

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    Blocking all cookies disables some webpages from working, I have allowed all, then whitelisted mine and Vanilla Cookie Manager removes the rest every 5 minutes.
     
  14. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Thanks, that sounds like a good idea on Linux. I use Chromium sometimes in Ubuntu and will check out LastPass.
     
  15. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    That looks like a worthwhile extension, I've not seen it before, thanks.
     
  16. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Good point. I have Start Page as my default usually.
     
  17. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    Yes, it was one of the first things I did when I first noticed Chrome's strange predilection for acquiring tracking cookies almost immediately.
     
  18. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    At this point in time I suppose any factor can't be ruled out. I always thought Chrome was always prone to the collection of tracking cookies anyway. I've used the x86 Chrome for a while because it could be easily synched with my other devices and was a back-up to Maxthon in that respect. I can also synch Chromium with it on Ubuntu as Maxthon doesn't work for me on Linux. When the x64 Chrome was released I totally uninstalled (well, as near as you can uninstall Chrome) the x86 version then installed the 64 bit Chrome. I am not sure if that's a factor in some way.
     
  19. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I don't just use it for Photobucket, that was just an example. But I don't use it a lot on Windows. If I open it and just read the papers and do a little email it will pick up doubleclick cookies within minutes of surfing. This just does not happen with any other browser I use. I will have a look at 'edit this cookie' extension, thanks.
     
  20. SpousalMilk

    SpousalMilk Registered Member

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    I'm curious as to where you are contracting this cookie from. That cookie has a creation date so try to look at your history and find out which site you were on when that cookie was created.

    Settings > Cookies > All cookies and site data > search for doubleclick and click the rectangles and find the Created date for those cookies. Coupled with Chrome's browser history which is accurate to the minute I think you will find the site responsible.

    I have Chrome configured to block third party cookies since forever and having always been logged into Google services I went to https://www.google.com/settings/ads and poked around and I decided to OPT OUT of two things near the bottom (interest-based ads on Google and interest-based ads across the web). I then noticed I had some doubleclick cookies which were not present before. In Settings > Cookies > All cookies and site data > doubleclick, it says: Site: doubleclick.net ; Locally stored data: "3 cookies, Channel ID." The two cookie contents were reported to say nothing but OPT OUT as the "contents." One cookie is called pm_sess which expires in 30 minutes. The Channel ID cookie just said Domain: doubleclick and Certificate Type: ecdsa_sign.

    Although I hate tracking cookies I think it matters what the contents of the cookie is. If I can get the cookies to become opt out cookies I'm fine with that. Of course I will always try hard to block them first.
     
  21. SpousalMilk

    SpousalMilk Registered Member

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    This was what I did too and I have no issues whatsoever.
     
  22. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    It is a bit of a mystery.
     
  23. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    OK thanks, I'll do that. I was trying to think of a specific site that might be responsible too.

    Edit: All I could find concerning doubleclick was this:

    Domain: doubleclick.net
    Certificate Type ecdsa_sign
    Created: Wednesday, 25 September 2013 13:36:18

    This seems to be related to Channel ID, my guess would be YouTube or something like it. I do have a Gmail account which will sign me in to other Google sites.

    There is an extension or plug-in which enables you to opt out apparently.

    https://www.google.com/settings/u/0...OmKuNnbqgMZUEGHSs1FeJHQu9b4qbaxKWx_pEH51MVetA
     
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2014
  24. AutoCascade

    AutoCascade Registered Member

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    The extension I mentioned earlier loads 300+ opt out cookies so that the cookies from the trackers can't load onto Chrome. Opt Out cookies are not tracking cookies. I believe AVG took control over PrivacyChoice some time ago which is why this extension hasn't been updated for some time now.

    The AVG Privacy Fix extension, which I never tried, claims to block over 1,200 tracking cookies from setting onto Chrome. I may give that a try and see if I can disable the extension after the opt out cookies are set.

    http://blog.privacychoice.org/2011/01/31/keep-more-opt-outs/


    Google purposely makes poor cookie management part of Chrome so it's difficult to control them. That's how they pay the bills.
     
  25. Daveski17

    Daveski17 Registered Member

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    I tend to agree, this is almost certainly a deliberate Google policy. Well, most of their stuff is free after all. This is one of the reasons why lol.
     
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