Ad Tracking - GoKawiil

OpenAI's ChatGPT ad system links your browsing on other sites to your account via '__obi' cookie

OpenAI runs an advertising collector at bzr.openai.com that sets a persistent, account-linked cookie called __obi on the openai.com domain. When companies that advertise on ChatGPT embed OpenAI's tracking code on their own websites, that cookie is transmitted back to OpenAI along with details of the page being viewed, including products searched, articles read and purchases made. A security researcher says they reproduced the mechanism on their own device and found it active across 936 advertiser pixels spanning 1,029 hostnames.

buchodi.com · 2026-09-20

Pentagon disables ad-tracking IDs on military devices after troop-targeting concerns

The US military has turned off advertising identifiers on Windows, Android and Apple devices used by service members, aiming to stop adversaries from purchasing commercially available location data to track troops. The disclosure came in letters to Senator Ron Wyden, revealing that Windows machines had trackers disabled since before 2021, while mobile devices only got default protection starting in early 2026. The move follows earlier reporting that such tracking data had already been used to target American forces in the Middle East.

yro.slashdot.org · 2026-09-07