Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (Cyborg)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Brand Logo

CIRCLE WITH A DOT

  1. Home
  2. Uncategorized
  3. You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Uncategorized
80 Posts 64 Posters 186 Views
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

    You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

    They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

    elronxenu@mastodon.cloudE This user is from outside of this forum
    elronxenu@mastodon.cloudE This user is from outside of this forum
    elronxenu@mastodon.cloud
    wrote last edited by
    #26

    @aesthr Fukkkkk me

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • J janriemer@floss.social

      @eggg

      > Like, eventually we may have to tell people "search for these terms" if we want to share things untracked

      This won't be possible either, because apparently YT is frequently changing titles of videos (or rather give creators the option to do so).

      Just insane!

      @aesthr

      eggg@hachyderm.ioE This user is from outside of this forum
      eggg@hachyderm.ioE This user is from outside of this forum
      eggg@hachyderm.io
      wrote last edited by
      #27

      @janriemer @aesthr oh that's gross

      1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • risc@wetdry.worldR risc@wetdry.world

        @sanityinc uh, no? the "share" feature in the web interface gives a https://youtu.be/<video ID>?si=<junk> link, at least in my case (not logged in).

        @eggg @aesthr

        eggg@hachyderm.ioE This user is from outside of this forum
        eggg@hachyderm.ioE This user is from outside of this forum
        eggg@hachyderm.io
        wrote last edited by
        #28

        @risc @sanityinc @aesthr sounds as though its already in a/b testing then 😕

        risc@wetdry.worldR 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • eggg@hachyderm.ioE eggg@hachyderm.io

          @risc @sanityinc @aesthr sounds as though its already in a/b testing then 😕

          risc@wetdry.worldR This user is from outside of this forum
          risc@wetdry.worldR This user is from outside of this forum
          risc@wetdry.world
          wrote last edited by
          #29

          @eggg oh right, a/b.. would make sense ;w;

          @sanityinc @aesthr

          1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • joknopp@chaos.socialJ joknopp@chaos.social

            @aesthr On android I can recommend url-checker to preview the url and control the parameters when opening an link on the client side. You can set it as your standard browser, then it will always display the url to open and has options to remove unwanted tracking parameters.

            It is an extra step to open a link, so it can be inconvenient. But it can also save you from visiting sites you dislike before firing them up in a browser.

            Link Preview Image
            URLCheck | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

            Allows analyzing (or sharing) URLs before opening them.

            favicon

            (f-droid.org)

            Link Preview Image
            URLCheck - Apps on Google Play

            Allows analyzing (or sharing) URLs before opening them.

            favicon

            (play.google.com)

            bryce@mastodon.brycedixon.devB This user is from outside of this forum
            bryce@mastodon.brycedixon.devB This user is from outside of this forum
            bryce@mastodon.brycedixon.dev
            wrote last edited by
            #30

            @joknopp @aesthr Better yet: YouTube ReVanced is a mod package that has dozens of options to make the app more usable. Being able to remove Shorts from all feeds and search results (and the Shorts button entirely) has been fantastic.

            9 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

              You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

              They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

              leonardof@bertha.socialL This user is from outside of this forum
              leonardof@bertha.socialL This user is from outside of this forum
              leonardof@bertha.social
              wrote last edited by
              #31

              @aesthr Even worse because the person you sent the link to could send the same link, with the same tracking code, to other people you don't care about

              1 Reply Last reply
              0
              • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                alivedevil@tauri.earthA This user is from outside of this forum
                alivedevil@tauri.earthA This user is from outside of this forum
                alivedevil@tauri.earth
                wrote last edited by
                #32

                @aesthr
                At least theoretically, this should be configurable:
                https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/16650958
                „share without channel details“ somewhere in the expander sections.

                @mvsde

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • ryan@social.miyaku.mediaR ryan@social.miyaku.media

                  @sanityinc @eggg @aesthr fwiw, every youtu dot be link i see in the wild currently uses the opaque identifier for the global video id (sometimes with the tracking identifier after the question mark that you can strip in the same way). of course they could eventually start switching this to a slightly different opaque unique per-user identifier that looks similar to the video id and it would probably take people a while to notice, but they don’t seem to be doing it yet

                  sanityinc@hachyderm.ioS This user is from outside of this forum
                  sanityinc@hachyderm.ioS This user is from outside of this forum
                  sanityinc@hachyderm.io
                  wrote last edited by
                  #33

                  @ryan @eggg @aesthr hmm, actually yeah, that's what I'm seeing now too. for some reason I thought I'd recently seen such a link without a query string where the id didn't match the video id. I could be mistaken, sorry.

                  sanityinc@hachyderm.ioS 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • mrmasterkeyboard@mastodon.socialM mrmasterkeyboard@mastodon.social shared this topic
                  • slangc5326@mastodon.socialS slangc5326@mastodon.social

                    @barryallen2023 @joknopp @aesthr FB share embeds their "who sent it" ID into the codes with no easy "?..."

                    I paste my share link into a non-logged-in mobile browser, get rid of the "[Name] sent you this blah blah" pop over, and THEN you can copy the plain URL.

                    I don't share FB content much. It adds 2 steps but I don't really want them to know I shared with X and Y IRL friends.

                    I see more platforms adopting this more invasive method in the surveillance-heavy future.

                    raymaccarthy@mastodon.ieR This user is from outside of this forum
                    raymaccarthy@mastodon.ieR This user is from outside of this forum
                    raymaccarthy@mastodon.ie
                    wrote last edited by
                    #34

                    @SlangC5326 @barryallen2023 @joknopp @aesthr

                    1. Don't use facebook
                    2. Don't log in on YouTube if sharing.

                    leanderlindahl@social.folkdata.seL slangc5326@mastodon.socialS 2 Replies Last reply
                    0
                    • sanityinc@hachyderm.ioS sanityinc@hachyderm.io

                      @ryan @eggg @aesthr hmm, actually yeah, that's what I'm seeing now too. for some reason I thought I'd recently seen such a link without a query string where the id didn't match the video id. I could be mistaken, sorry.

                      sanityinc@hachyderm.ioS This user is from outside of this forum
                      sanityinc@hachyderm.ioS This user is from outside of this forum
                      sanityinc@hachyderm.io
                      wrote last edited by
                      #35

                      @ryan @eggg @aesthr And yeah, there's the si query param in the share link produced by both the mobile and web apps

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                        You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                        They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                        nawanp@fe.disroot.orgN This user is from outside of this forum
                        nawanp@fe.disroot.orgN This user is from outside of this forum
                        nawanp@fe.disroot.org
                        wrote last edited by
                        #36

                        @aesthr@wandering.shop You can do that with Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop#w_copy-clean-link

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • J janriemer@floss.social

                          @eggg

                          > Like, eventually we may have to tell people "search for these terms" if we want to share things untracked

                          This won't be possible either, because apparently YT is frequently changing titles of videos (or rather give creators the option to do so).

                          Just insane!

                          @aesthr

                          tay@tech.lgbtT This user is from outside of this forum
                          tay@tech.lgbtT This user is from outside of this forum
                          tay@tech.lgbt
                          wrote last edited by
                          #37

                          @janriemer @eggg @aesthr this thing? https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/16391400?hl=en

                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                            You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                            They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                            flavimakes@toot.gardenF This user is from outside of this forum
                            flavimakes@toot.gardenF This user is from outside of this forum
                            flavimakes@toot.garden
                            wrote last edited by
                            #38

                            @aesthr linkcleaner.app <- I run every link through that these days 🙂

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                              You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                              They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                              erin@blahaj.zoneE This user is from outside of this forum
                              erin@blahaj.zoneE This user is from outside of this forum
                              erin@blahaj.zone
                              wrote last edited by
                              #39

                              @aesthr@wandering.shop does ppl still use google account?

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                                You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                                They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                                fiend_unpleasant@mastodon.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                                fiend_unpleasant@mastodon.socialF This user is from outside of this forum
                                fiend_unpleasant@mastodon.social
                                wrote last edited by
                                #40

                                @aesthr we could also send invidious links instead of direct YouTube links. That should really chap their ass.

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                                  You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                                  They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                                  connynasch@mastodon.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                                  connynasch@mastodon.socialC This user is from outside of this forum
                                  connynasch@mastodon.social
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #41

                                  @aesthr my browser is DuckDuckGo which blocks cookie pop-ups and tracking attempts. When I watch youtube through them I have no adverts breaking the video.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                                    you can anonymize the link by removing the part of the link after the “?”

                                    (at least for youtube currently, this can be different on other platforms and may also change in the future)

                                    sheamuspatt@mstdn.caS This user is from outside of this forum
                                    sheamuspatt@mstdn.caS This user is from outside of this forum
                                    sheamuspatt@mstdn.ca
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #42

                                    @aesthr If you're on Desktop and use Firefox, it's simple. There's a "Copy Clean Link" command to copy a link without the tracking parameters.
                                    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop#w_copy-clean-link

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    1
                                    0
                                    • R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
                                    • tay@tech.lgbtT tay@tech.lgbt

                                      @janriemer @eggg @aesthr this thing? https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/16391400?hl=en

                                      J This user is from outside of this forum
                                      J This user is from outside of this forum
                                      janriemer@floss.social
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #43

                                      @tay Yes, exactly this! Thank you for the link.🙏

                                      @eggg @aesthr

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                                        You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                                        They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                                        tpaau17db@mastodon.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                                        tpaau17db@mastodon.socialT This user is from outside of this forum
                                        tpaau17db@mastodon.social
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #44

                                        @aesthr That might actually motivate some people to remove them from their URLs

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                                          You REALLY should remove the tracking codes from Youtube links now.

                                          They started showing a popup about who sent the link and offering a (maybe new) DM feature, potentially revealing your personal account name to anyone who opens the link.

                                          maddiem4@raphus.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
                                          maddiem4@raphus.socialM This user is from outside of this forum
                                          maddiem4@raphus.social
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #45

                                          @aesthr been removing these for probably a year now out of a sense of resistance and care for my people. I always figured that ceding this usage information would be a visible problem eventually, and an invisible one before that.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          0
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • World
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups