Safe Preference Header implemented in Internet Explorer and Firefox
Some Internet sites make use of a safe mode to filter out objectionable contents. This is true for search engines such as Google Search, Startpage or Bing, or video sites like YouTube.
When enabled, contents with adult themes may be filtered out automatically by sites. The safe mode is usually set to a moderate level so that select contents get filtered out while others don't.
One issue that arises out of this is that it is difficult to make modifications. It is not only necessary to make sure the mode is correctly configured for each site and browser used, but also for each account on the system.
The Safe Preference header aims to simplify this approach not only when it comes to configuration, but also in terms of automation.
The request is added to the user agent that gets transferred automatically when websites or services are accessed on computer systems.
If the safe preference is included in the user agent, websites can use it to set safe mode filters automatically.
How it is set up
- Parental Controls need to be enabled on Windows or Mac OS machines.
- Firefox and Internet Explorer recognize that parental controls are enabled for an account and will automatically add the safe preference header to requests made by the browser.
- The sites in question need to support the preference. If they do and honor it, they set filters automatically based on it, usually by restricting access to adult themed contents.
Caveats
If you analyze the effectiveness of the new preference, you will notice two core issues. First, it is only supported by Firefox and Internet Explorer. If a user switches to another browser that is not supporting the preference, it won't be effective at all.
The second issue is that websites need to support it. If no website or only select ones support it, it is not helping at all on websites that do not.
Mozilla has not mentioned which versions of Firefox support the Prefer:Safe preference while Microsoft has added it to Internet Explorer 10 and 11 only. Update: Mozilla has integrated it into Firefox 31.
Internet Explorer users need to make sure that this update is installed on the system.
Conclusion
It is unclear how successful the Safe Preference will be. It has been submitted as a draft to the Network Working Group. On the plus side, it is implemented by Internet Explorer and Firefox which together hold a sizable browser market share.
Including safe in the header does not necessarily mean that only safe contents will be displayed to users of the browser. As mentioned earlier, if a site does not support it, it may display unsafe contents to the user by default or filter only some contents but not all.
There is also fingerprinting to consider as sending the information add one information bit to the fingerprint.
Will it be successful? It depends a lot on Google and whether the company will implement it in its Chrome browser. Last but not least, it is also of importance that websites implement it as it has no meaning otherwise.
Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?
Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.
I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/saved
@Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!
@Martin
The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/
Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.
Omg a badge!!!
Some tangible reward lmao.
It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.
With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.
This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)
Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.
And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.
First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[
Yes. Please. Fix the comments.
With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.
Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.
The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.
If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.
And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.
When will you put an end to the mess in the comments?
Ghacks comments have been broken for too long. What article did you see this comment on? Reply below. If we get to 20 different articles we should all stop using the site in protest.
I posted this on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/] so please reply if you see it on a different article.
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Article Title: Reddit enforces user activity tracking on site to push advertising revenue
Article URL: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
No surprises here. This is just the beginning really. I cannot see a valid reason as to why anyone would continue to use the platform anymore when there are enough alternatives fill that void.
I’m not sure if there is a point in commenting given that comments seem to appear under random posts now, but I’ll try… this comment is for https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
My temporary “solution”, if you can call it that, is to use a VPN (Mullvad in my case) to sign up for and access Reddit via a European connection. I’m doing that with pretty much everything now, at least until the rest of the world catches up with GDPR. I don’t think GDPR is a magical privacy solution but it’s at least a first step.