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CIRCLE WITH A DOT

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

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

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  • 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 ๐Ÿ˜•

    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 ๐Ÿ˜•

      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
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        • 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
            โ€žshare without channel detailsโ€œ somewhere in the expander sections.

            @mvsde

            1 Reply Last reply
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            • 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 donโ€™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
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                  • 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 ๐Ÿ™‚

                        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
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                              • aesthr@wandering.shopA aesthr@wandering.shop

                                you can anonymize the link by removing the part of the link after the โ€œ?โ€

                                (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
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                                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.๐Ÿ™

                                  @eggg @aesthr

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • 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
                                      • 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.

                                        sonjdol@ohai.socialS This user is from outside of this forum
                                        sonjdol@ohai.socialS This user is from outside of this forum
                                        sonjdol@ohai.social
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #46

                                        @aesthr it's what they already do with insta and Tiktok links

                                        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.

                                          glitc_@corteximplant.comG This user is from outside of this forum
                                          glitc_@corteximplant.comG This user is from outside of this forum
                                          glitc_@corteximplant.com
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #47

                                          @aesthr afaik it's similar to tiktok and instagram. Another brick in the walled garden slash surveillance capitalism nightmare.

                                          1 Reply Last reply
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