To be clear, does this extension send every URL you visit to Dissenter immediately on page load when enabled?

[propolisor]

When it's enabled, I immediately noticed that its icon would display a comment counter for every page visited. This would suggest that the URL is immediately being sent to Dissenter without any interaction with the button. I, for one, am not comfortable with having my entire browsing history sent out to anybody.

I think it would be much more privacy-friendly if the URL were only sent to Dissenter after you choose to use the button to open up the comments. (Or, at the very least, it should be an option, to preserve the immediate comment count viewing feature for those who want it.)

[ohmotive]

its icon would display a comment counter for every page visited

Interesting because that goes against what their FAQ states:

.....
Does the browser extension track every URL I visit across the web?

No, the browser extension does not track you across the web. We respect your privacy and value your trust. The Dissenter browser extension is open source, meaning any developer can confirm that it is not tracking you across the web. When not in use, the extension is idle. When you click the extension, it calls to the Dissenter servers to check if there are any comments on that URL. When you leave a comment, that comment is sent to our servers and recorded on the URL.
.....

When you click the extension, it calls to the Dissenter servers to check if there are any comments on that URL.

So which is it? Personally I disabled the ext. when it demanded broad access the other week. This has been queried serveral times on reddit, without any official reply, that I've seen. So I'm not touching this ext. for now. I rather paste a url directly into dissenter.com

In Dissenter/Gab's defence they are no doubt fighting many fires, so updating FAQs might not be a priority. That said, this ext. needs to be 'on-demand' when I want it, and not following my every move online.

[remyroy]

For now, I think an easy work around is to enable the This can read and change site data > When you click the extension. You can right-click the extension icon in your bar and change this option.

[remyroy]

I can confirm that the FAQ is now outdated and that Dissenter can now be used to track every URL you visit across the web in its default configuration.

You can read the source code yourself. Around 7 days ago, a new section was added to fetch the comments count on every page load by sending your page URL to https://dissenter.com/notification/comment-count?url= thereby enabling Gab/Dissenter to track your every move.

[remyroy]

I believe you can disable this default behavior, getting the comment count on every page load and the potentially tracking feature, by unticking the Comment Badge Enabled checkbox in the Dissenter Extension - Options.

[ohmotive]

@remyroy Cheers for input.

Personally I'm not going to rely/trust unticking a checkbox, and having to read through future code. So I've created an Alfred App search query. I just paste any URL. It'll do for now :)

[nobuyukinyuu]

It would be nice if they tried to partially anonymize what was being sent by sending a hash instead of the actual URL of the site you're visiting and using that to cross-reference, but it would need a change to both the extension and the site hosting the discussion itself.

[mattatobin]

The real questions for the moment are.. What is the default setting out of the box and how is the data used serverside and can it be trusted.

The last two are seconday to the first though. Due to the nature of the world today the obvious answer to the question of default out of the box should be on demand when you click the button.

Else the second and third answers loose credibility no matter what they are.

It would be in everyone's best intrests if the out of the box default does not appere to be automatic tracking of every site you visit even IF the server doesn't actually store or use anything about the request except the query parameter.

The next point is, is the server using or storing anything else except the query parameter? Because if it is, this will continue to overshadow any good this webextension, the service, and the people behind it are doing.

Lastly, can users trust the answer to the last question regardless of what it is?

These questions need answered and the default behavior needs to be considered carefully and I hope I have given you all something to consider so that blaintant misconceptions can be avoided.