Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Meta and Yandex are de-anonymizing Android users’ web browsing identifiers

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

One thing that should be clear about presenting one's identity to a web service or application is that it should be voluntary (defined more formally as 'informed consent'). The tracking deployed here by Meta and Yandex are exactly the opposite of that. "Browsers access (localhost ports on the 127.0.0.1 IP address) ports without user notification. Facebook, Instagram, and Yandex native apps silently listen on those ports, copy identifiers in real time, and link them to the user logged into the app." There's only one real solution: "refrain from installing the Facebook, Instagram, or Yandex apps on Android devices."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2025
Last Updated: Jul 18, 2025 6:29 p.m.

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