Microsoft is running one of the largest corporate espionage operations in modern history. Every time any of LinkedIn’s one billion users visits linkedin.com, hidden code searches their computer for installed software, collects the results, and transmits them to LinkedIn’s servers and to third-party companies including an American-Israeli cybersecurity firm.
That sounds… normal? and maybe even sensible, especially if LinkedIn does SSR, since that could allow the servers know how to tailor the content to the specific browser requesting a page.
In what fucking world is it “normal” or “sensible” to scan your browser extensions to decide how to render a page? Please explain.
I’ve been doing web development for 30 years (since the time when “SSR” was just called “building a web app”) and I have not once ever had the desire or need to do this.
The reason is fingerprinting. Verrrry old technique. Adtech stuff. You might collect browser extension, webgl information, CPU core count, screen resolution, IP address, reverse dns, locale, headers, user agent, akamai hash, etc. The reason is so that these metrics can then be enriched to build a consumer profile and used in analytics
I can only think of reasons that are meant to block you based on what you are using to augment your browsing experience.