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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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  • 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
    0
    • 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
                                      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
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