[OU] Updating to 9.51 don't respect my preferences.

Sun Aug 3 09:55:41 UTC 2008

Hi,

ISSUE 1:
If I read it correctly you were upgraded from 9.2x to 9.51. On windows the  
default profile directory paths were modifed, it might be true to Unix/Max  
versions as well. Also there is an option during the install if you want  
it multi user or not. This also affects the profile directory. It is  
highly probable that your settings were not lost just you have installed  
opera in a wrong directory, thats probably why your setting got misplaced.

ISSUE 2:
FF also does this with an additional violation, it contains the google  
toolbar as well. It is possible to get a version without it but it is  
several pages deep in their website, or accessibe from their get.... site.  
I have just installed it to check it (then removed it), during the install  
and first start screens I haven't found options regarding the start page.  
It is possible that I misssed the option.

Also nowdays all browsers are cut a deal with google, ff included as well  
with the exception of IE (for obvious reasons). If google is used with  
those browsers the browser type is get to sent to google and google gives  
support money for the browsers after every search. Remember this is your  
way of paying that the browser can be used for free and support its  
continued development.
Yahoo and Ask has similar dealings with opera and/or other browsers.
So thats leaves msn among the bigger search engines.

If you relly want to check the settings of your fressly installed browser  
disconect your system from the net, this is the only way to be sure to  
prevent some of the initial phone home events. When ff starts it also  
phones home for checking, if there are new updates are avalaible (this is  
the actual way, how ff track instalations), opera only does this once a  
week, at least it used to work that way.
You can disable this of course:
opera:config#UserPrefs|BrowserJavaScript set it to 0
opera:config#UserPrefs|CheckForNewOpera set it to 0
http://www.opera.com/support/usingopera/operaini/

If you really want to predefine site preferences take a text editor and  
point it to the profile directory / override.ini If I remember correctly  
it supports wildcards, like "*".

ISSUE 3:
The only thing I can add here is this is the offical standard
http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec14.html#sec14.43
This is the official definition of the capital letter SHOULD  
ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2119.txt
After this have fun with the hexeditor, but remember Opera is a  
properitary software reverse enginering is prohabited by local and  
international laws.

But I might have found you a lawful way, however you have to work a bit  
more. In the profile directory there is the browser.js If you serach for  
"MSIE" without the quotes, you can see several ways to modify it.
Create an user javascript use the above metioned file as a reference,  
don't mess with the orignal or it will hurt the site comaptibility.
CTRL-F12 / Advanced / Content / Javascript options point the User  
Javascript files to the directory you have put your user javascript file.

If you want to use it on HTTPS sites you have to check the following in  
the opera configuration opera:config#UserPrefs|UserJavaScriptonHTTPS
However note that this allows any user javascript to run on the secured  
pages as well.

http://www.w3schools.com/htmldom/dom_obj_navigator.asp

The above is an identical solution used in the ff profile on the jondo  
website. I have done my homework the first time and also mentioned that it  
need some adaptations. I gave it a bit more detail this time. I hope it  
now more helpful, this way you can do whatewver you want with the user  
agent string, also I have mentioned a way to make it work with secured  
sites as well.

Also don't forget to use proxies and anoynmizer networks.

Br,
BB

On Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:43:48 +0200, macintoshzoom  
<macintoshzoom at lavabit.com> wrote:

> Hi Andrew Gregory? or HTH?,
>
> Are you from the Opera staff? Hopely yes.
>
> Thanks for answering.
>
> Andrew Gregory wrote:
>> If it looks like a troll and walks like a troll...
>>
>> What the heck, I'll bite!
>
> Well I couldn't read the above lines, are they important or relevant to
> the question?
> When a matter doesn't like someone interests is easy to blame him and
> flag him as a troll.
> It's and oldddd strategy from mail-lists non-authorized censors, spyers
> and surveillance agencies staffs.
> As I cannot bann nor delete your posting(s), I will infect you with shit.
> Sorry, we are not child nor ignorants any more.
>
>>
>> On Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:14:06 +0800, macintoshzoom
>> <macintoshzoom at lavabit.com> wrote:
>>
>>> SUMMARY REPORT:
>>> ISSUE 1: Updating to 9.51 don't respect previous preferences settings.
>>
>> We'll need a lot more details than that! Anything will be better than
>> zero. I don't recall any of my preferences being altered by an upgrade.
>
> Well it happened to me.
> You may tell me a lier.
> Have any of you guys experienced this issue? Please post.
>
> Yes, you may like more details about this issue, sorry, If I know it
> would happen before I would be very happy to grab the whole thing in a
> flash video to send it to you and to everyone interested.
>
>>
>>> ISSUE 2: Updating to 9.51 forces you to start at a preset "opera
>>> 9.51welcome/firstrun" site.
>>
>> This has happened for every update install for as long as I can
>> remember. Happens with every other browser I've updated too. Often
>> happens when I update some software packages. Just close the tab when it
>> opens. It won't come back. Not until your next update, anyway.
>
> Yes, these are bad manners from most browser creators from long time
> ago, but it don't justify bad manners.
> You force people to browse where they didn't ask to go for, and to leave
> their fingerprints and logging to your site, without user permission.
>
> I understand that you like this behavior for statistical and commercial
> profiling purposes, it's your business after all, but at least you may
> ask about it politely and leave the user the choice if they want to do
> it or not, and, if you want, you are on your right to even deny
> installation if the user choose "No, I don't want to go to Opera welcome
> first run site, I want to start a clean blank page to verify all
> settings before going online".
>
>>
>>> ISSUE 3: Preferences setting identify as and mask as a different
>>> browserDON'T WORK. These are faking preferences to deceive users.
>>
>> Those preferences work fine.
>
> Not, you are wrong, Those preferences DON'T work fine.
>
> You are lying or deceiving all opera users intentionally:
>
> Test your browser at the sites that I specified in my post , and that
> you deliberately have not shown here (WHEN YOU SPEAK ABOUT WHAT OTHERS
> SAID, ALWAYS INCLUDE THEIR FULL TEXT, not what you like others hear
> about them):
>
> From my original post:
> Test sites to verify this user-agent/settings ISSUE:
> https://www.jondos.de/en/anontest
> https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 (shieldup>browser headings)
>
> Do you home job, and tell me and tell all in this list that those tests
> doesn't shows Opera 9.51 and your OS in their user-agent results.
>
> Well, I will eat my socks if I am wrong, promise!
>
> Nobody is being deceived. Sometimes site
>> problems aren't related to browser identity settings, so changes to
>> those settings will have no effect. There's no way to tell without
>> analysing the site code.
>
>
>>
>> Nothing to see here. Move along.
> Well I couldn't read the above line, are they important or relevant to
> the question?
>
>>
>> HTH,
>
> Please note that if I am a bit crude protesting and denouncing this
> privacy rights violations, but Opera staff lives in comfortable well
> being in Sweden, and cannot understand that privacy/anonymity is a need
> for free-speech and non-censorship humanity progress in many fascist
> governed areas in the world (China, Cuba amongst others, see
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_International and
> http://www.privacyinternational.org/ ) in the millions users.
>
> Life, torture, imprisonment, even family relatives severe punishment are
> what we are talking about when resisting Internet logging, profiling,
> privacy, free-speech worldwide users fundamental Human Rights.
>
>
>
> Note that I started a post some weeks ago asking for "How to anonymize
> Opera?", with no real success yet for a real answer: "How to anonymize
> Opera?". Nobody could be able to give me the answer.
>
> This is a vital question for using Opera for millions of (potential)
> users worldwide in need of it.
>
> Some months ago, some on on this mailist posted that the only way to
> tweak opera user-agent to a real Masked browser andto hide you OS is to
> take the opera binary and hexedit it...reverse engineering!!
> Pleaaaaase, that should not be required if Opera is a serious browser
> company.
>
> Thanks Andrew Gregory anyway to spend your time and efforts giving us
> your opinions and solutions about this to all Opera users and
> privacy/human rights activists.
>
> Mac.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Note: Here is a copy of my complete posting thread, for proper reference
> to all readers, as Andrew Gregory published above a partial/censored one:
> ****************************
> Subject: Updating to 9.51 don't respect my preferences.
> or Subject:[OU] Updating to 9.51 don't respect my preferences.
>
> SUMMARY REPORT:
> ISSUE 1: Updating to 9.51 don't respect previous preferences settings.
> ISSUE 2: Updating to 9.51 forces you to start at a preset "opera 9.51
> welcome/firstrun" site.
> ISSUE 3: Preferences setting identify as and mask as a different browser
> DON'T WORK. These are faking preferences to deceive users.
>
> All this issues are good for Opera to earn money because that`s the way
> they have chosen to do so: Selling users data and taking commissions
> from users buys.
>
> All this ISSUES are against established key HUMAN RIGHTS (UN): privacy,
> non-surveillance, non-censorship, free-speech.
>
> this is not an honest, clean, fair way to do business for Opera (much
> better the old paid way), it's against UN HUMAN PRIVACY RIGHTS, and
> sooner or later this behavior will end in UN Hague tribunals.
>
> FULL REPORT:
> Once updated, I started my brand new opera with the -pd command to point
> to my old 9.27 personal directory, where all my customizations and
> preferences for Opera are set.
>
> But WARNING!, Opera started WITH ITŚ DEFAULT preferences instead of my
> carefullly crafted ones:
> COOKIES ON, JAVASCRIPT ON, ETC.
> SHIT!
> I was test browsing to some sites WHERE IN NO WAY I WANT TO LEAVE
> JAVASCRIPT NOR COOKIES ALLOWED, and I was fucked.
> I realize then that Opera DIDN'T RESPECTED my preferences.
>
> Is this happening to you also guys?
>
> OPERA DON'T RESPECT PRIVACY HUMAN RIGHTS, they are acting as google
> orwellian subjects.
>
> This behavior, with the forced (NOT OPTION GIVEN!) "firstrun" opera web
> page shown at every update, gives opera a way to
> NOT-ASKED-FOR-SURVEILLANCE of our installs, worst, with all privacy
> protection settings out! Using javascript, cookies, plugins, Opera guys
> are monitoring your installs and are logging you in its databases: IP,
> OS, etc.
> What the orwellian ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwellian ) hell
> behavior is this!
>
> And worst, new 9.51 is still exposing to Internet details about your
> Operating System (OS), browser specs, and other details, (suculent to
> profile you for decades but worst, succulent also for hackers (human and
> robots) to sniff, infect or steal your PC data and communications),
> .. even when you chose the (fake!) given preferences "mask as firefox"
> !!!!
> THEY (Opera/Google guys) DON'T WANT to really allow NOBODY to MASKS
> OPERA, AS THEY EARN THEIR HUGE MONEY WHEN GIVEN THIS INFO TO linked
> advertisements (google, adsense, etc) AND SO.
> So Opera is lying AND DECEIVING ALL OF US when saying it is possible to
> mask our browser details.
> Test sites to verify this:
> https://www.jondos.de/en/anontest
> https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 (shieldup>browser headings)
>
> I am very angry.
> I am only a few steps away to start a massive campaign against Opera and
> to denounce to the UN because of it´s current lack of user's privacy
> human rights respect.
>
> And I love(d?) Opera as the best browser ...
>
> Please give me your results from the above user-agent test sites, and
> your opinions.
>
> Mac
> *********************
>
>

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