SIGforum
Changed browsers and now I'm up to my eyeballs in spam

This topic can be found at:
https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/230601935/m/2340081764

March 03, 2020, 07:16 PM
PHPaul
Changed browsers and now I'm up to my eyeballs in spam
I dumped Chrome due to concerns over Google's policies and went to Bravo.

I like Bravo overall, it's much quicker than Chrome and seems less invasive.

I use Yahoo as my generic email address for all my online shopping and keep my ISP email for private use. When I was using Chrome, my Yahoo spam filter worked VERY well and it was a rare thing...like maybe 2-3 times a month...to see spam in my inbox. Even then, if I flagged it as spam, I never got more mail from that source.

Now with Bravo, I'm getting 4-5 a DAY again. Hopefully the spam filter will re-learn and fine tune, but it's damned aggravating at the moment.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
March 03, 2020, 08:22 PM
Paten
What does your browser choice have to do with your web based email? I don't understand how they are related. Is it because you access your email through the browser? I use Firefox to browse but I use Thunderbird to access my gmail and Outlook.com email. Virtually all spam goes directly into the Junk/Trash folders with no intervention on my part.
March 03, 2020, 09:27 PM
airbubba
i switched to firefox with bing search after chrome got too slow/not responding.

i use chrome incognito if i need to translate something.

adblock plus on both.
March 03, 2020, 10:19 PM
V-Tail
quote:
Originally posted by Paten:

What does your browser choice have to do with your web based email? I don't understand how they are related. Is it because you access your email through the browser?
That was my question too, but then I thought about those folks who use a web mail (browser) interface for their mail, as my wife does, instead of using an email client.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
March 03, 2020, 11:30 PM
cjevans
DuckDuckGo for the MacOS, Win10 and Pixel 3a.

With Surfshark VPN.



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March 04, 2020, 05:19 AM
PHPaul
quote:
Originally posted by Paten:
What does your browser choice have to do with your web based email? I don't understand how they are related. Is it because you access your email through the browser? I use Firefox to browse but I use Thunderbird to access my gmail and Outlook.com email. Virtually all spam goes directly into the Junk/Trash folders with no intervention on my part.


That was sort of my question. I do use my browser to access my Yahoo mail. Perhaps it's coincidence, but my spam count jumped WAY up as soon as I switched to Brave.

I access my personal ISP email account via Thunderbird and get virtually NO spam. It no doubt helps that I'm VERY careful who gets that address and I NEVER use it for on-line shopping.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
March 04, 2020, 05:54 AM
fpuhan
Brave has become my default browser on multiple computers running different OSes (MacOS, Windows, Linux) and I have had no issues with SPAM on any of them. Brave's claim to fame is its privacy security.

I have a web-based email account, but it's not Yahoo (I use a mail client to fetch my Yahoo mail). There is quite a bit of SPAM coming from Yahoo, but that's irrespective of the browser.




You can't truly call yourself "peaceful" unless you are capable of great violence. If you're not capable of great violence, you're not peaceful, you're harmless.

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March 04, 2020, 11:40 AM
sigmonkey
Paul,

Did you create an account and log in to Bravo?




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
March 04, 2020, 01:45 PM
PHPaul
quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Paul,

Did you create an account and log in to Bravo?


Not that I'm aware of. Just installed the browser and imported my favorites from Chrome.

Should I?




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
March 04, 2020, 02:20 PM
sigmonkey
I would not.

But, you may have (without realizing) also "imported" your browsing history, cookies and such. That would pretty much have "cloned" your other browser "life history" into Brave (Bravo?).

That said, technology is being used for pushing/targeting ads and you are pretty helpless to fight against it if you use technology.

For example, you and others have a desktop at work and/or at home, as well as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, TV with any online subscription, Ring, Alexa, Sirius, Pandora and such in vehicles, etc. And all of those use the same public-facing IP addresses, so the companies that are gathering your habits of websites you view, as well as searches you do, create "links" to all those devices and your "breadcrumbs" lead advertisement back to you on any and all of those devices.

You can be found pretty fast, even if you get another new piece of gear, a new account, new phone number, and surf from another IP, you can be "discovered", by matching you to the already known database of your past, as you will likely do the same thing again that you have done in the past.

For a while, (many years ago) I did some testing and use of biometric protection on network systems that used "fingerprinting" of how each person types, that was used to verify if the person actually typing in their password, was the person that provided the "master sampling".

Found a few things that were interesting. One person had a hand injury and could not access the system only typing with one hand.

Another person, had never used a computer before, and over time had more frequent "failure to login" issues, and the vendor suggested the person had "learned" to type differently after months of using the computer for data entry. (They took this into account and added a routine to re-sample over time, and "updated" the "master sample" on the fly).

So, I do not know if any of that is also being used, but I am certain, any and all information that can be gleaned and used to make a penny, is "fair" in the world of tech-based marketing.

And I did a lot of "secret squirrel" work in the earlier days of all of this, and am only mentioning one tiny part of a big picture.

Bottom line? "They" have us like fish in a barrel. And there is no sense in worrying over it. You can run, but you'll only die tire.

And if you sign up for anything, a donation, petitions, letters to representatives and so much more, you will be "opted in".

Having a "handful" of "throwaway" email accounts gets tiresome, and if you "cross contaminate" the use, eventually, it gets back to your "good one".


Oh, And all the "we only collect non-personal identifying information" or similar statements.

Let's say you move into a new city, like New York, where you are just another unrecognizable, plain face in the crowd.

You frequent a busy restaurant a few times. Never speak, but in short order, you become "known", what beverage you like, what foods you eat, and even the times/days you visit. Now, imagine, everything you do, every day, being tracked. It would take little time to know more about you via your "non-personally identity", then your best friend, your family, or your spouse.




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
March 05, 2020, 08:01 AM
nhracecraft
WOW, thanks for making me check! I've been using Firefox ESR almost exclusively for years, but I just updated Brave and holy crap, the new Brave Kicks Ass! Cool

Sorry for your SPAM headache, but thanks for the tip! Wink


ETA - Sooo, after using the 'new' Brave for a couple of days, it is now my 'Default' Browser! It's very clean, very fast and provides the right level of Ad Filtering (I haven't seen any at all!) embedded w/o having use any Add-on Extensions! Cool

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nhracecraft,


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March 05, 2020, 09:05 AM
ensigmatic
Hmmm... Gonna have to try Brave.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
March 05, 2020, 09:35 AM
smschulz
Yeah, Brave is a nice way to stop ads.
March 05, 2020, 10:23 AM
ensigmatic
It sure is fast, I'll give it that.



"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher
March 07, 2020, 08:22 PM
K0ZZZ
Brave works well enough, but they recently took out their sync for bookmarks and such. It never worked well honestly, but would be nice to have one that feature back.


... Chad



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March 09, 2020, 02:21 PM
jimb888
I'd all but given up on their sync feature as worthless. I checked and hopefully they get it fixed so it works. I see:

"NOTICE: Brave Sync has been temporarily disabled for all version v1.3 and higher, due to a bug causing issues for many users that we are currently working to resolve now. Sync will be re-enabled with an update as soon as that issue is closed. Thank you for your understanding."
March 09, 2020, 03:50 PM
HRK
quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
..................For a while, (many years ago) I did some testing and use of biometric protection on network systems that used "fingerprinting" of how each person types, that was used to verify if the person actually typing in their password, was the person that provided the "master sampling".

Found a few things that were interesting. One person had a hand injury and could not access the system only typing with one hand.

Another person, had never used a computer before, and over time had more frequent "failure to login" issues, and the vendor suggested the person had "learned" to type differently after months of using the computer for data entry. (They took this into account and added a routine to re-sample over time, and "updated" the "master sample" on the fly).

So, I do not know if any of that is also being used, but I am certain, any and all information that can be gleaned and used to make a penny, is "fair" in the world of tech-based marketing.

And I did a lot of "secret squirrel" work in the earlier days of all of this, and am only mentioning one tiny part of a big picture.

Bottom line? "They" have us like fish in a barrel. And there is no sense in worrying over it. You can run, but you'll only die tire.

And if you sign up for anything, a donation, petitions, letters to representatives and so much more, you will be "opted in".

Having a "handful" of "throwaway" email accounts gets tiresome, and if you "cross contaminate" the use, eventually, it gets back to your "good one".


Oh, And all the "we only collect non-personal identifying information" or similar statements.

Let's say you move into a new city, like New York, where you are just another unrecognizable, plain face in the crowd.

You frequent a busy restaurant a few times. Never speak, but in short order, you become "known", what beverage you like, what foods you eat, and even the times/days you visit. Now, imagine, everything you do, every day, being tracked. It would take little time to know more about you via your "non-personally identity", then your best friend, your family, or your spouse.


This could be quotes from Enemy of the State

Bril! is that you!

March 09, 2020, 04:25 PM
PHPaul
Just a quick update: The longer I use Brave the less spam I get.

I still don't get the connection between the browser and Yahoo mail, so this may all be coincidental.




Be careful when following the masses. Sometimes the M is silent.
March 12, 2020, 08:24 AM
patw
I use Firefox and so far so good.