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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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  • batterpunts@mastodon.socialB batterpunts@mastodon.social

    @aesthr Firefox has a Copy Clean Link option in its link context menu, which strips the "pp=" part of a youtube tracking url.
    Unknown if it also strips "is="

    niko@social.nikopoikulainen.fiN This user is from outside of this forum
    niko@social.nikopoikulainen.fiN This user is from outside of this forum
    niko@social.nikopoikulainen.fi
    wrote last edited by
    #22

    @batterpunts @aesthr It does.

    1 Reply Last reply
    0
    • sanityinc@hachyderm.ioS sanityinc@hachyderm.io

      @eggg @aesthr that's already the case if you use "share" from within the YouTube app or web interface itself: youtub dot be domain links with an opaque unique identifier.

      ryan@social.miyaku.mediaR This user is from outside of this forum
      ryan@social.miyaku.mediaR This user is from outside of this forum
      ryan@social.miyaku.media
      wrote last edited by
      #23

      @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 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.

        niko@social.nikopoikulainen.fiN This user is from outside of this forum
        niko@social.nikopoikulainen.fiN This user is from outside of this forum
        niko@social.nikopoikulainen.fi
        wrote last edited by
        #24

        @aesthr I noticed maybe a week ago that Facebook does the same. Quite uncomfortable.

        1 Reply Last reply
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        • eggg@hachyderm.ioE eggg@hachyderm.io

          @aesthr
          I'm foreseeing soon that the share button will no longer include the video URL but is a bespoke share link which is harder/not possible to reverse engineer / strip out the share metadata.

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

          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
          #25

          @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 tay@tech.lgbtT bweller@mstdn.socialB aesthr@wandering.shopA 4 Replies 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.

            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
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