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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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  • 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
        „share without channel details“ 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 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
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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
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                • 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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                          • 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
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                            • 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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                              • 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
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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.

                                  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
                                      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.

                                        walruths@mastodon.socialW This user is from outside of this forum
                                        walruths@mastodon.socialW This user is from outside of this forum
                                        walruths@mastodon.social
                                        wrote last edited by
                                        #48

                                        @aesthr

                                        On that note -delete your 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.

                                          berniedoesit@mstdn.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
                                          berniedoesit@mstdn.socialB This user is from outside of this forum
                                          berniedoesit@mstdn.social
                                          wrote last edited by
                                          #49

                                          @aesthr Oh wow, do not want!

                                          1 Reply Last reply
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