########################################################################################## ADBLK-9: Block Google Play Log ########################################################################################## Issue Type: Improvement ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue Information ==================== Priority: Major Status: Closed Resolution: Done (2019-06-13 18:07:55) Project: Adblock Lists (ADBLK) Reported By: btasker Assigned To: btasker Time Estimate: 0 minutes Time Logged: 0 minutes ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue Description ================== Google seems to be tracking things like where Android users click on Google News and sending it to an endpoint under the Google Play domain: -- BEGIN SNIPPET -- play.google.com/log?format=json&hasfast=true -- END SNIPPET -- The POST is a (long, long) JSON array. -- BEGIN SNIPPET -- [[1,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,[null,null,null,null,"en",null,"boq_dotssplashserver_20190607.02_p1"]],241,[["1560445114424",null,[],null,null,null,null,"[1560445114414,[[\"2397168675742140944\",null,[[632,1]]],[\"16147638372540442232\",null,[[1175,1]]],[\"14719340685975485085\",null,[[2139,1]]],[\"17077408715954654437\",null,[[6733,1]]],[\"3318688667027929436\",null,[[1171,1]]],[\"5790177495296899286\",null,[[0,1]]],[\"16829267986558572790\",null,[[39,1]]],[\"16339156775003354937\",null,[[70,1]]],[\"749851692583976763\",null,[[822,1]]],[\"15419336178855610526\",null,[[294,1]]],[\"8257051839445688306\",null,[[6731,1]]],[\"7792735449360349632\",null,[[6733,1]]],[\"7094487270460551484\",null,[[94,1]]],[\"12563104964214410683\",null,[[6730,1]]],[\"15605813632677093659\",null,[[4488,1]]],[\"17914751415692637656\",null,[[18,1]]],[\"9797767207516844257\",null,[[8,1]]],[\"4553553160178503526\",null,[[4926,1]]],[\"15768337714740149157\",null,[[2936,1]]],[\"7099598553576769501\",null,[[0,1]]],[\"14906952326733574741\",null,[[2,1]]],[\"4891744519482609478\",null,[[447,1]]],[\"14307859671070593733\",null,[[318,1]]],[\"7494582641517049914\",null,[[1,1]]],[\"6667106912793420619\",null,[[75,1]]],[\"8147743178319688099\",null,[[6730,1]]],[\"13378126313938116970\",null,[[5583,1]]],[\"8519598536373642887\",null,[[0,1]]],[\"10118692516388306266\",null,[[1,1]]],[\"408159237941253787\",null,[[150,1]]],[\"476083397694989718\",null,[[150,1]]],[\"8791060314450143495\",null,[[1,1]]],[\"6342145065879578001\",null,[[16,1]]],[\"13596961294000664596\",null,[[4741,1]]],[\"2107494750385856652\",null,[[148,1]]],[\"1309831198388189068\",null,[[16,1]]],[\"13872498202689960064\",null,[[1,1]]]],null,null,\"[1,\\\"lszMMd_PL\\\"]\"]",null,null,null,1643849814,null,null,null,[null,[],null,"[[],[],[1709118],[]]"],null,null,null,[],1,null,null,null,null,null,[]]],"1560445114425",[],null,null,null,null,null,null,null,null,0] -- END SNIPPET -- And periodically gets resent whenever you click somewhere This gets sent to There's also a POST to https://news.google.com/_/DotsSplashUi/browserinfo?f.sid=-4076287043254377427&bl=boq_dotssplashserver_20190607.02_p1&hl=en-GB&gl=GB&_reqid=464709&rt=j (note the boq_dotssplashserver string, that's in the earlier psot too). The POST data for this request is at least a little more concise -- BEGIN SNIPPET -- f.req=%5B9%2C2%2C1%2C%5Bnull%2C1080%2C1920%5D%2C%5Bnull%2C945%2C1920%5D%2C%5Bfalse%2Cfalse%2Ctrue%2Ctrue%5D%2C%5Bfalse%2C0%2C0%5D%5D&at=AKqDUn-TbjC8MXq3_5IU3WSxhKTX%3A1560445105644& -- END SNIPPET -- Which results in a response with content-type application/json but with a response body that looks like this -- BEGIN SNIPPET -- )]}' [[["f.mt"] ,["di",29] ,["af.httprm",28,"7560588162509945946",13] ,["e",4,null,null,95] ]] -- END SNIPPET -- Tested blocking both with the following in ABP -- BEGIN SNIPPET -- ||news.google.com/*/browserinfo* ||play.google.com/log?format=json&hasfast=true -- END SNIPPET -- No ill impact, so it seems that whatever they are, they're not essential for delivery of the requested content. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Activity ========== ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019-06-13 18:05:06 btasker ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No sign of these requests when the user-agent isn't set to be an phone. Visible when user-agent is set for Iphone or for an Android phone ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019-06-13 18:06:46 git ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- BEGIN QUOTE -- Repo: adblocklists Commit: b5b6b1439841e8ca01cfcae4d15ee4ff715c7e35 Author: B Tasker