YouPorn.com at Top of History-Sniffing List

SAN DIEGO — Researchers say YouPorn.com is at the top of a list that reveals sites that use a technique that exploits a browser bug revealing all places where surfers go.

Computer science researchers surveyed 50,000 of the web's most-visited sites and found 485 sites using a history-tracking bug. In all, 63 sites were copying the data it reveals and 46 were found to be hijacking a user's history.

"Many of these websites seem to try to obfuscate what they are doing," UC San Diego researchers wrote in the paper, "An Empirical Study of Privacy-Violating Information Flows in JavaScript Web Applications."

"For example, the inspected URLs on YouPorn.com are listed in the JavaScript source in encoded form and decoded right before they are used. On other websites, the history-sniffing JavaScript is not statically inserted in a web page, but dynamically generated in a way that makes it hard to understand that history sniffing is occurring by just looking at the static code.

"We also found that many of these websites make use of a handful of third-party history-sniffing libraries."

The researchers also looked at other popular techniques that sites use to map and monitor what visitors do.

In the case of YouPorn, operators run scripts that track the trail a user's mouse pointer takes on and across pages.

Operators of YouPorn.com, which is owned by Curacao-based Midstream Media International N.V., did not respond by post time to XBIZ for comment on the findings.

YouPorn operators also own YouPornGay.com and YouPornCocks, which also were on the UC San Diego study's history-sniffing list.

The study also revealed YouPorn's attack code.

Chrome and Safari, researchers said, are not vulnerable to history hijacking and that the most recent version of Firefox has closed loopholes. Internet Explorer users can turn on "private browsing" to stop the flaw from divulging histories.

"Our study shows that popular Web 2.0 applications like mashups, aggregators, and sophisticated ad targeting are rife with different kinds of privacy-violating flows," the researchers wrote.

View Study on Web History Sniffing

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Penthouse Announces Digital Archive Launch

Penthouse Magazine has announced that it will launch a comprehensive digital archive in 2026.

Dreamcam Joins Pineapple Support as Supporter-Level Sponsor

Dreamcam has joined the ranks of over 70 adult businesses and organizations committing funds and resources to Pineapple Support.

AEBN Publishes Popular Searches by Country for August, September

AEBN has released the list of popular searches from its straight and gay theaters by country in August and September.

AV in Focus: A Guide to Unlocking Compliance With Clarity

The age verification era isn’t coming — it’s here. Laws are already on the books in numerous U.S. states, as well as in the U.K., France and beyond.

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Endorses National AV Bill

Philippe Dufresne, privacy commissioner of Canada, has voiced support for a bill that would impose fines of up to $500,000 on adult sites that do not implement age verification for Canadian viewers.

Ricky Johnson Launches 'Ricky's Resort' Through YourPaysitePartner

Ricky's Room studio honcho Ricky Johnson has launched his latest site, RickysResort.com, through YourPaysitePartner (YPP).

Industry Attorney Paul Cambria Retires After 50 Years of Practicing Law

After more than a half-century in practice, during which he provided the defense in some of the adult industry's most notable legal cases, attorney Paul Cambria has retired.

2026 XMA Nominations Party Set for Nov. 19 in Hollywood

The 2026 XMA nominations reveal party will take place at Keys on the Sunset Strip on Wednesday, Nov. 19, with red-carpet arrivals starting at 8 p.m.

New VR Membership Site 'DeepInSex.com' Launches

The new 8K VR membership site DeepInSex has officially launched.

NATS Launches Integrated Content Management System

Too Much Media (TMM) has rolled out an integrated, no-charge Content Management System (CMS) to its NATS platform.

Show More