Another idea for humane tech from The Center of Humane Technology :)
Background
With some browser there used to be functionality to selectively erase the cache, including cookies that were set, for that site only. Nowadays clearing browser cache is an all-or-nothing approach (though maybe you can still do this using a plugin or some developer toolbar that support it).
There is a setting to always clearing the cache after closing the browser, but this is very rigorous.. the caching also has its advantages.
However, when erasing all cached data you'll have to re-login to the sites you frequently use, you loose preference settings, etc. I find I often do not clear the cache after accidentally visiting a site with loads of nasty trackers in it, because of all the valuable stuff that's still in it. Wouldn't it be nice to have better control over the cache?
The problem with not clearing the cache is that - even with something like Privacy Badger installed - over time you will still collect a significant amount of trackers and such.
The idea
A solution would be a browser plugin that provides the ability to maintain a whitelist (or multiple ones, or even blacklists) of the sites that I trust and visit most often, and then - when I do want to clear the cache - have all site data + cookies of the whitelisted site remain untouched.
With this functionality I could even set the browser option to clear cache automatically after each setting, know that my whitelist is safe.
The browser plugin should offer an easy, intuitive way of managing whitelists / blacklists, adding and removing sites URL's, etc.
License
The license below only pertains to this idea, as described above, and any code you create as part of the hackathon can, of-course, be published under the license of your choice with no attribution requirement, though I encourage choosing a FOSS-compatible one.
If this idea is not used for the hackathon, but is viable, it may be followed up upon in a repo under engagingspaces, or under the umbrella of The Center for Humane Technology, also under a (to be determined) appropriate FOSS license. In that case - if you are interested to take this further - you can contact me on the CHT forum, where I am a community moderator.
Another idea for humane tech from The Center of Humane Technology :)
Background
With some browser there used to be functionality to selectively erase the cache, including cookies that were set, for that site only. Nowadays clearing browser cache is an all-or-nothing approach (though maybe you can still do this using a plugin or some developer toolbar that support it). There is a setting to always clearing the cache after closing the browser, but this is very rigorous.. the caching also has its advantages.
However, when erasing all cached data you'll have to re-login to the sites you frequently use, you loose preference settings, etc. I find I often do not clear the cache after accidentally visiting a site with loads of nasty trackers in it, because of all the valuable stuff that's still in it. Wouldn't it be nice to have better control over the cache?
The problem with not clearing the cache is that - even with something like Privacy Badger installed - over time you will still collect a significant amount of trackers and such.
The idea
A solution would be a browser plugin that provides the ability to maintain a whitelist (or multiple ones, or even blacklists) of the sites that I trust and visit most often, and then - when I do want to clear the cache - have all site data + cookies of the whitelisted site remain untouched.
With this functionality I could even set the browser option to clear cache automatically after each setting, know that my whitelist is safe.
The browser plugin should offer an easy, intuitive way of managing whitelists / blacklists, adding and removing sites URL's, etc.
License
The license below only pertains to this idea, as described above, and any code you create as part of the hackathon can, of-course, be published under the license of your choice with no attribution requirement, though I encourage choosing a FOSS-compatible one.
If this idea is not used for the hackathon, but is viable, it may be followed up upon in a repo under engagingspaces, or under the umbrella of The Center for Humane Technology, also under a (to be determined) appropriate FOSS license. In that case - if you are interested to take this further - you can contact me on the CHT forum, where I am a community moderator.
The idea "Selectively erase browser cache and cookies using a whitelist" by Arnold Schrijver is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.