ClearURLs extensiom needs the ability to read and modify every link you visit, which is very dangerous. Highly recommend just using uBlock Origin because it can do the same thing.
Another useful rule:
If you are on a gargantuan site with millions of unique content items, and the link is unreasonably short, it is likely a personalized link tied to your account.
Facebook does this, I think TikTok too, which might even show the viewer which account generated the link, hence doxing your real identity.
Always try to get the content link from the web url through a private browser window, instead of clicking dedicated "Share" buttons on pages.
Examples (from memory, so inaccurate) :
facebook.com/share/GPQR221
instead of
facebook.com/video/10000021928282/...
Some websites do have required information after the ? which is needed for linking to the correct page/section.
If you're not sure, try deleting it and pasting the modified link in a new tab. If it doesn't work, try again with one additional argument (the text separated by ? or &) at a time until the link works.
also, like, look at what the text is. If it says ?tracking=8kk90902q then it's probably a tracking string, if it says ?video=k8a9r it's probably important to get the actual content you're linking to.
The ? part (parameters) sometimes do play a role. But by removing parts like ?maxheight=300, you can sometimes get higher quality images.
Then there's the # part (section). If you're referencing a section in a long document, check if there's a ToC linking to headings, or a # link next to them. For PDFs, #page=X usually works. BTW it is mostly harmless: just identify the HTML element ID to scroll into view and most browsers don't send it to the server (but JavaScript can access it).
Also for the love of god please stop sending/pasting/using those "www.google.com/ (insert like 200 characters of random bullshit) google tracking links to an image you saw"
So you'll see these refers in lots of sites, and it's likely just statistics collection. If the referring text is always the same, it's that the site legitimately just wants to know hwo many people are clicking a particular link.
You'll see it really often in email newsletters that they will end in ref=fromemail or ref=fronsocial when posted to social media. On the database side, all the tracking information would be aggregated under the same one.
As with everything, this can be used in a harmless way or more maliciously, but at end of the day, all it helps is identify where particular traffic is coming from. For YouTube, the ID is connected to who shared the link, when it was shared, etc. It attempts to use that information against the person who clicked the link to try and work out better ads and YouTube recommendations for both of them, so you'll stay in YouTube longer and see more ads.
On iOS the GNATCleaner app works for most websites. Just install and when you go to share, select the app as where to share to first, and then it gives you a clean url to share.
Only issue is very recently it stopped working for YouTube. Hopefully soon they update it.
I leave it depending on whats contained. Like if it's clear that it communicates the link came from the Fediverse or an RSS feed I want them to know to keep using those things. Other wise I take em out
I used to do this when I used Instagram and YouTube. I don't bother sending urls to those sites to anyone nowadays, but if I did, I wish there was a hack to remove that shit automatically.
30 Comments
Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 36 pts · 1d
Instead of using a whole new extension (which increase your attack surface), just
ClearURLs extensiom needs the ability to read and modify every link you visit, which is very dangerous. Highly recommend just using uBlock Origin because it can do the same thing.
Hadriscus@jlai.lu · 11 pts · 1d
From a layman, thank you
onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works · 20 pts · 1d
Another useful rule:
If you are on a gargantuan site with millions of unique content items, and the link is unreasonably short, it is likely a personalized link tied to your account.
Facebook does this, I think TikTok too, which might even show the viewer which account generated the link, hence doxing your real identity.
Always try to get the content link from the web url through a private browser window, instead of clicking dedicated "Share" buttons on pages.
Examples (from memory, so inaccurate) :
facebook.com/share/GPQR221
instead of
facebook.com/video/10000021928282/...
YouTube is an exception to this rule.
Live_your_lives@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1d
Amazon does this too.
birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 17 pts · 1d
On this regard, Reddit also no longer lets you sort by top/all without getting TONS of trackers.
assholes. good thing i left for lemmy
Varesti@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 1d
Yay, me too! 🥳
KyuubiNoKitsune@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 14 pts · 1d
uBlock has an option to remove these..
Here it is on mobile.
18107@aussie.zone · 12 pts · 1d
Some websites do have required information after the
?which is needed for linking to the correct page/section.If you're not sure, try deleting it and pasting the modified link in a new tab. If it doesn't work, try again with one additional argument (the text separated by
?or&) at a time until the link works.Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 23h
also, like, look at what the text is. If it says
?tracking=8kk90902qthen it's probably a tracking string, if it says?video=k8a9rit's probably important to get the actual content you're linking to.uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 6 pts · 1d
Save this in your bookmarks:
https://linkcleaner.app/
thethunderwolf@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 1d
this has not many users so pretty trackable, so more of us should use it to make it work better
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/refer-deez-nuts/
its like clear urls but sets the string to deez_nuts
FuyuhikoDate@feddit.org · 5 pts · 1d
If you are on android here is my favorite piece of software:
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.trianguloy.urlchecker/
Every time I get a link from friends, it goes trough that tool and it also supports regex, so you can automate some shit :D
tb_@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 12h
+1 for urlchecker.
You can set it to open any link first (as if it were you primary browser), then have it link you through to whatever app.
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org · 5 pts · 1d
The
?part (parameters) sometimes do play a role. But by removing parts like?maxheight=300, you can sometimes get higher quality images.Then there's the
#part (section). If you're referencing a section in a long document, check if there's a ToC linking to headings, or a#link next to them. For PDFs,#page=Xusually works. BTW it is mostly harmless: just identify the HTML element ID to scroll into view and most browsers don't send it to the server (but JavaScript can access it).notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 1d
I’ve been deleting these tags for ages, it takes just a few seconds, and it is useful.
Funkt4st1c@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1d
Also for the love of god please stop sending/pasting/using those "www.google.com/ (insert like 200 characters of random bullshit) google tracking links to an image you saw"
verdare@piefed.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 1d
A little something for those of you on iOS:
Malyca@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 1d
Thanks for the tip, I'll do that from now on
jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1d
Does Peertube also try to spy on me, or do I only have to do this for google?
Fontasia@feddit.nl · 1 pts · 23h
So you'll see these refers in lots of sites, and it's likely just statistics collection. If the referring text is always the same, it's that the site legitimately just wants to know hwo many people are clicking a particular link.
You'll see it really often in email newsletters that they will end in ref=fromemail or ref=fronsocial when posted to social media. On the database side, all the tracking information would be aggregated under the same one.
As with everything, this can be used in a harmless way or more maliciously, but at end of the day, all it helps is identify where particular traffic is coming from. For YouTube, the ID is connected to who shared the link, when it was shared, etc. It attempts to use that information against the person who clicked the link to try and work out better ads and YouTube recommendations for both of them, so you'll stay in YouTube longer and see more ads.
waldfee@feddit.org · 2 pts · 1d
I've been seeing youtube links with an
&is=, is that the same thing or something else?uncommoncorvid@piefed.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 1d
yep. different websites have different identifiers but are functionally the same
Feathercrown@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1d
The only important ones to keep for youtube are
v=<whatever>, since that's the video ID, andt=<whatever>, the timestamp.recklessengagement@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d
I call these "tainted links" when I'm calling them out.
cybervseas@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d
On iOS the GNATCleaner app works for most websites. Just install and when you go to share, select the app as where to share to first, and then it gives you a clean url to share.
Only issue is very recently it stopped working for YouTube. Hopefully soon they update it.
zjti8eit@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 1d
I leave it depending on whats contained. Like if it's clear that it communicates the link came from the Fediverse or an RSS feed I want them to know to keep using those things. Other wise I take em out
k0e3@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 23h
I used to do this when I used Instagram and YouTube. I don't bother sending urls to those sites to anyone nowadays, but if I did, I wish there was a hack to remove that shit automatically.
bazelgeuse@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 23h
If you use an ad free front-end like Tubular for YouTube, it sanitises the URL before copying to clipboard.
I assume the same is true for Revanced et al. But I haven't confirmed personally.
k0e3@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 22h
Thanks!
tb_@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 12h
ReVanced can do it, but you may need to enable the option. I forget.