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Add Google's new iOS URL parameters to the query string filter #18758

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fmarier opened this issue Oct 14, 2021 · 3 comments · Fixed by brave/brave-core#10815
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Add Google's new iOS URL parameters to the query string filter #18758

fmarier opened this issue Oct 14, 2021 · 3 comments · Fixed by brave/brave-core#10815
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@fmarier
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fmarier commented Oct 14, 2021

Google has announced two new URL parameters for iOS 14: gbraid for deep linking into apps, and wbraid for web links originating from an app. They claim that these new parameters comply with Apple's new privacy guidelines and that they therefore do not require asking for permission via the App Tracking Transparency.

Since these parameters replace the Google Click Identifier (gclid) which we block and which is against Apple's tracking rules, we should consider blocking these new parameters.

According to Google, wbraid uses:

  • Aggregation techniques that only use the parameter when a group of users complete a similar conversion path e.g; campaign ID
  • De-identification techniques that ensure cross-site behavior cannot be tied back to a user’s identity

Campaign-level parameters are out-of-scope for the Brave query filter, but until more details about their aggregation and de-identification schemes are published, it may be safer to strip these out.

Some examples in the wild:

@fmarier fmarier added privacy priority/P4 Planned work. We expect to get to it "soon". OS/Android Fixes related to Android browser functionality OS/Desktop privacy/query-filter labels Oct 14, 2021
@fmarier fmarier changed the title Add gbraid and wbraid to the query string filter Add Google's new iOS URL parameters to the query string filter Oct 14, 2021
@fmarier
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fmarier commented Nov 1, 2021

Also being discussed on privacycg/nav-tracking-mitigations#11

@stephendonner
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Verified PASSED using

Brave 1.33.57 Chromium: 95.0.4638.69 (Official Build) nightly (x86_64)
Revision 6a1600ed572fedecd573b6c2b90a22fe6392a410-refs/branch-heads/4638@{#984}
OS macOS Version 11.6.1 (Build 20G224)

Steps:

  1. new profile
  2. launched Brave
  3. opened https://brave.com/?untouched=yes and confirmed the query-string parameter ?untouched=yes remains in the URL bar
  4. opened https://brave.com/?wbraid=foo and confirmed the query-string parameter ?wbraid=foo gets dropped from the URL bar
  5. opened https://brave.com/?gbraid=bar and confirmed the query string parameter ?gbraid=foo gets dropped from the URL bar
?untouched=yes ?wbraid=foo ?gbraid=bar
Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 11 18 11 AM Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 11 18 49 AM Screen Shot 2021-11-03 at 11 19 14 AM

@stephendonner
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Verified PASSED on Android 9, using Brave 1.33.69, Chromium 96.0.4664.35 on a Google Pixel XL.

?untouched=yes loaded ?wbraid=foo loaded ?gbraid=foo loaded
Screenshot_20211108-154748 Screenshot_20211108-154755 Screenshot_20211108-154814 Screenshot_20211108-154820 Screenshot_20211108-154847 Screenshot_20211108-154852

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