fp.

> UPDATE: As of June 3rd 7:45 CEST, Meta/Facebook Pixel script is no longer sending any packets or requests to localhost. The code responsible for sending the _fbp cookie has been almost completely removed. Yandex has also stopped the practice we describe below.

mozvalentin•9h ago

Chrome and Firefox have deployed / are deploying local-network-access which prompts the user when apps try this.

Tade0•9h ago

I've seen it and at least in Chrome it seems to be treating all URLs which are based on an IP address as "local", regardless of the class of the address.

kibwen•8h ago

I'd be inherently suspicious of any website in the wild attempting to contact a bare IP address. Aside from localhost, my default assumption would be that such a website is either trying to circumvent my hosts file (or circumvent my other DNS configuration, e.g. pi-hole or DNS-over-HTTPS), malware trying to reach a command-and-control server, or malware trying to circumvent my adblocker.

shit_game•9h ago

I was just about to say that my question in regards to this was "what are web browsers doing about it?"

pezgrande•8h ago

I guess that's why I am getting so many "Allow to find devices on your network" alerts. Good feature overall.

SoftTalker•8h ago

Only a good feature if users have a clue what that question means. Most will click "Yes" because they want to get on with whatever they want to do.

Change it to something like "This website is trying to spy on your local devices, do you want to allow this?"

dpoloncsak•7h ago

I honestly don't think the average Google Chrome user knows what a 'local' device is, and we should go something more ELI5 "This website wants to spy on every other device connected to your network" or something

lukan•3h ago

Since I can see legitimate use case (complex web apps, one sharing data with another) - I would not use the word spying.

But still make it clear what can happen.

"Attention! This website wants to get access to other web apps running on this device, do you want to allow this?"

And then a link explaining some more. But better words are surely possible.

Aachen•2h ago

I need to turn on location access for all software on my system globally to read the battery status of a device over Bluetooth. These "could be used for" warnings are nice and all, but usually goes beyond what makes sense. Proposing that we need to press "be spied upon" just to view photos stored on your NAS is way out there

I'm sorry if people don't know what "access local devices" means but actively lying to them about the mechanisms is not going to inform anyone

crtasm•7h ago

I just discovered that MacOS was blocking Firefox from connecting to devices on my LAN - there's per-app toggle in system settings.

Access to my router's web interface was not blocked (understandably) but this left me rather confused for a while.

apitman•4h ago

Any idea if Safari is on board?

applfanboysbgon•9h ago

> Meta must face a lawsuit alleging that it secretly tracked Android users' browsing activity on mobile websites that embedded Meta's analytics pixel, and linked that activity to users' identities, a federal judge ruled Monday.

> The decision, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco, grew out of a class-action complaint initially brought last June by California resident Devin Rose (and later joined by other Android users).

> Rose alleged that between September 2024 and June 2025, Meta exploited Android's localhost -- a feature that allows software developers to test applications -- to connect users’ mobile web browsing to their Facebook and Instagram profiles.

May 12, 2026

gruez•8h ago

docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70448987/in-re-meta-and...

Retr0id•7h ago

Not at all to defend Meta but "a feature that allows software developers to test applications" is a dubious definition of localhost. I also can't come up with a better one.

istumbler•4h ago

“A network interface which allows processes on the same internet host to communicate without the need for a network connection”

Retr0id•4h ago

There's a lot of layperson-unfriendly words in there! Iterating on that:

"A feature that allows multiple programs on the same device to communicate without the need for an internet connection"

woodrowbarlow•9h ago

i would love to have a software engineer's union, not so much to get better working conditions but to be able to say stuff like "i can't implement that unethical feature, it's against union rules and i'd lose my membership".

absqueued•9h ago

Take a lead, let me sign up :)

hasahmed•8h ago

same

SoftTalker•8h ago

And this is why we don't have one. Someone else is expected to do the hard part.

volkercraig•8h ago

Start one. Unions are worker owned. You could also join the IWW.

actionfromafar•8h ago

Unions in the US are nerfed, by law.

greyface-•8h ago

Collective bargaining is nerfed. Other structures remain viable and legal.

throwa356262•8h ago

Off topic: I wonder how hard it is to poison this type of data gathering?

Aachen•2h ago

Is that a question?

1vuio0pswjnm7•5h ago

A timely question. Hopefully someone will share the recent Order and Third Amended Complaint

Since that discussion in 2025

Rose v Meta was consolidated with some other privacy cases against Meta

A first amended complaint was filed,^1 Google was added as a defendant

Defendants motion to dismiss was denied

A third amended complaint was filed on Monday

Here are the PDFs

1st amended complaint

https://dn711508.ca.archive.org/0/items/gov.uscourts.cand.45...

Meta motion to dismiss

https://dn711508.ca.archive.org/0/items/gov.uscourts.cand.45...

Google motion to dismiss

https://dn711508.ca.archive.org/0/items/gov.uscourts.cand.45...

Plaintiffs response

https://dn711508.ca.archive.org/0/items/gov.uscourts.cand.45...

Meta reply

https://dn711508.ca.archive.org/0/items/gov.uscourts.cand.45...

Google reply

https://dn711508.ca.archive.org/0/items/gov.uscourts.cand.45...

Order

(Payment required)

https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov/csologin/login.jsf?pscCourt...

2nd amended complaint

(Payment required)

https://pacer.login.uscourts.gov/csologin/login.jsf?pscCourt...

apitman•4h ago

I've recently been exploring options for allowing web apps to access LAN services. For example, a WebDAV server so you can watch local videos in the app without streaming them through a server.

You can actually achieve a form of discovery if your service registers itself using mDNS for something like `service.local`. Browsers will allow direct navigation/redirection to `http://service.local`, but they'll block any fetch/XHR requests due to mixed content rules, even if you have CORS configured. And of course you can't get a cert for `.local` domains.

Newer things like Chrome's LNA[0] are actually really helpful, because (for now at least) if the user grants the permission, fetch/XHR will go through, but you'll get a bunch of mixed content warnings in the console.

It seems like the only way to fully support this use case currently is with WebRTC, which is pretty sad.

[0]: https://developer.chrome.com/blog/local-network-access

theodorejb•8h ago

You don't need to join a union to push back against unethical feature requests.

jakubadamw•8h ago

The collective leverage of a union gives you significantly more power to do something like this.

theodorejb•8h ago

Only if the union is against the unethical request. In some cases the union may be for it, which makes it even harder to push back.

jackb4040•2h ago

Fellow software engineers aren't incentivized to destroy their company's reputation in the same way that boards of directors have proven to be time and time again.

chrncirurp•8h ago

> You don't need to join a union to push back against unethical feature requests.

If you push back against unethical feature requests:

No union: you get fired

Union: you still get fired

jeffgreco•8h ago

Still a better outcome than tossing your ethics overboard.

garciasn•8h ago

Why bother to join a union, pay dues, potentially have your career limited, and have another layer to deal with?

Just leave or be fired without the song and dance.

Henchman21•7h ago

Because you’re a person who cares about your fellow citizens and realize that collectively bargaining helps to lift all boats, not just yours

josefritzishere•7h ago

union strong, bro.

HWR_14•27m ago

How would your career be limited?

woodrowbarlow•8h ago

maybe, but the union could provide a lot of services to someone who loses their job this way (like income insurance and legal services) and could leverage collective power over companies that demonstrate a pattern of behavior.

dylan604•8h ago

This is something that has just never sat well with me. How exactly will the union provide this insurance? That insurance isn't free, so paid for by member dues? How many members are required to be able to afford the payout for just one member? How about the other services unions are touted as being able to provide? They all come from the same dues? I know that unions will put money into investment funds to attempt to grow the coffers, but that just means the money isn't liquid.

Unions are always touted as a panacea, but logically, it doesn't compute for me. They feel more like ponzi schemes than anything else.

woodrowbarlow•8h ago

that's definitely a big question and i don't pretend to have enough expertise to answer fully; however, i will point to the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan which is (per Wikipedia[1]) "one of the world's largest institutional investors [...] over $266 billion in net assets, with a one-year total-fund net return of 9.4%, and a 7.4% 10-year total-fund net return". the union runs their own investment fund; it's an extension of collective power into the financial realm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Teachers%27_Pension_Pl...

hluska•7h ago

That is only a pension plan. It provides no insurance to teachers who are still employed.

grayhatter•8h ago

I didn't get fired.

dzikimarian•1h ago

Maybe don't apply to Meta in the first place? With their track record it's pretty obvious that you'll be part of building something morally dubious.