Not true, Disconnect detects 13 trackers on http://www.washingtonpost.com/. If you're running multiple filtering extensions all at the same time, install order matters as far as which extension sees which HTTP requests.
For HTTP Switchboard, I could easily identify glancing at the matrix that what was requested was a CSS file, I then proceeded to block with one click anything coming from `echoenabled.com`. The page still displayed properly for all three blockers.
Also of note, with Disconnect and Ghostery, there were some scripts running requesting data from api.echoenabled.com and echoapi.wpdigital.net every few seconds. These requests were blocked by HTTP Switchboard without my intervention to prevent this.
[You think maybe you should start identifying that you're promoting your own product with these comments?]
The first thing I tried when I wrote Disconnect was to block every third-party domain. Within an hour, I realized that I broke the whole web. So I built a crawler to identify and categorize the most prevalent third-party services instead. The domains you list under Disconnect would all be categorized as content by our crawler - resources that most people would consider pages broken without and that Disconnect doesn't block by default.
> "[You think maybe you should start identifying that you're promoting your own product with these comments?]"
Your going personal. I am talking about the extensions, not you. If for-profit companies are going to claim to care about user privacy, expect this claim to be taken to task, especially in the current era.
Above I am providing hard data, not an opinion.
> "The domains you list under Disconnect would all be categorized as content by our crawler"
The page works fine if whitelisting only the page domain. If someone want the comments, then it's a matter of whitelisting `echoenabled.com`. The rest doesn't appear so important, so I personally rather not ping them. But the point is, I am of the opinion that people need to have the ability to know exactly where their browser connects, then they can agree/disagree/not care. I don't see how one can make an informed decision without proper information.
There is no way this 1x1 pixel gif would break a web page. And yet it's not blocked by Disconnect as reported in another comment below. I also reported how adobetag.com is reportedly blocked by Disconnect and yet a script from adobetag.com was downloaded by Disconnect.
Can't you appreciate why I am rather skeptical? Going personal rather than provide a credible answer is not going to dispel this skepticism.
oh, interesting - can you explain the details? is it simple or random? if i install disconnect and then ghostery wil ghostery help with anything disconnect misses or is it more complicated than that? thanks!
I also like how Ghostery provides URLs for each tracker source (actual payload) that you can easily view on their site.
There's also a database with short description, affiliations and privacy terms for each tracker (e.g. https://www.ghostery.com/apps/google_analytics).
I really appreciate an ethical alternative to tainted Ghostery and hope you guys will catch up soon.