What is the point of all the information given out by your browser? (literature.cafe)

submitted 2 days ago by NannerBanner@literature.cafe to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.ca

19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So the other day someone linked to a website that highlighted how much information is just gifted to any place you visit on the web.

I'm aware of some of it being intrinsic to the manner of connection. A website knowing your IP (even if that is the IP of the vpn or tor exit node you're using) is basically essential to the function of the internet. Why everything else though? What fucking idiot/asshole decided to even have an api for your gpu? Why the fuck is my browser reporting on the battery status? Light/dark mode? Visibility (whether or not the tab is 'active', the fuck?!? My OS?!!???!?!!!?!?!?

As a side question, why is the capability built in by a browser, but the user is never given a choice about whether or not any of this is shared?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 points 12 hours ago

Don't shoot the messenger, that's just how these things are.

And it actually is possible to put all the light and dark mode stuff into one place and switch on the fly without any additional downloads but then people would complain about having to download stuff they don't need on their end. And if the site showed different images depending on light and dark they would again be able to figure it out.

Most of these APIs were added when more and more applications were built on the web. You can even access USB-devices from the web.

I'm not saying these things are good. Just that there definitely were reasons beyond telemetry for creating them.

this post was submitted on 23 May 2026

17 points (81.5% liked)

No Stupid Questions

4105 readers

48 users here now

There is no such thing as a Stupid Question!

Don't be embarrassed of your curiosity; everyone has questions that they may feel uncomfortable asking certain people, so this place gives you a nice area not to be judged about asking it. Everyone here is willing to help.

ex. How do I change oil
ex. How to tie shoes
ex. Can you cry underwater?

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca still apply!

Thanks for reading all of this, even if you didn't read all of this, and your eye started somewhere else, have a watermelon slice 🍉.

founded 4 years ago

MODERATORS

admin@lemmy.ca