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Re: [LUG] Possible browser security problem

 

Welcome to UNIX where everything is more complicated than it initially seems...

There are multiple types of buffer in play in X unlike for example Microsoft Windows - this will be most visible to Linux end users as the different mechanisms for copy/paste and select+middle clicking text.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_selection

There are a lot of other things in play here as well which muddy the waters - on different systems applications access to polling the system's buffers may be restricted (or not), different web browsers behave differently, there are OS level tunables that can be tweaked...

Perhaps Tom's original concern about the security aspect of this is in part because of other recent news:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/06/tiktok-and-53-other-ios-apps-still-snoop-your-sensitive-clipboard-data/

I guess I'm surprised that anyone's surprised by this, as is Gordon by the sound of it. "What do you mean, there's a copy buffer that $STUFF can access if it's not prevented from doing so? Of course there is, doesn't everyone know that?"

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