Simon Willison (@[email protected])
fedi.simonwillison.net
It turns out Google Chrome ships a default, hidden extension that allows code on `*.google.com` access to private APIs, including your current CPU usage You can test it out by pasting the following into your Chrome DevTools console on any Google page: chrome.runtime.sendMessage( "nkeimhogjdpnpccoofpliimaahmaaome", { method: "cpu.getInfo" }, (response) => { console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2)); }, ); More notes here: https://simonwillison.net/2024/Jul/9/hangout_servicesthunkjs/
  • @[email protected]English
    4•2 months ago

    Thank you for this info. If this is just an extension, can we just uninstall it or turn it off?

    • @[email protected]English
      16•2 months ago

      This is not a typical extension and it cannot be removed. It doesn’t even show up in the list of installed extensions.

        • JackbyDevEnglish
          6•2 months ago

          Chromium is open source. Google Chrome is not open source.

          • @[email protected]English
            1•2 months ago

            Seems like a great option. Can anyone more familiar with the code confirm this removes the aforementioned CPU-fingerprinting plugin?

            • Andromxda 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼OPEnglish
              3•2 months ago

              It does. You can even try it out yourself. Install Ungoogled Chromium, go to google.com and paste the following code in the Developer console (which you can bring up by pressing F12 and clicking on ‘Console’ at the top of the DevTools interface):

                  chrome.runtime.sendMessage(
      "nkeimhogjdpnpccoofpliimaahmaaome",
      { method: "cpu.getInfo" },
      (response) => {
        console.log(JSON.stringify(response, null, 2));
      },
    );

              If it returns nothing or an error, you’re good. If it returns something like this:

              {
  "value": {
    "archName": "arm64",
    "features": [],
    "modelName": "Apple M2 Max",
    "numOfProcessors": 12,
    "processors": [
      {
        "usage": {
          "idle": 26890137,
          "kernel": 5271531,
          "total": 42525857,
          "user": 10364189
        }
      }, ...

              it means that the hidden extension is present, and *.google.com sites have special access in your browser.