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.
  • 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
                                        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
                                          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