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YSK: You might be unknowingly doxxing yourself by sharing links containing trackers (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 weeks ago by shadysus@lemmy.ca to c/youshouldknow@lemmy.world
70 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/31187638

Earlier today I came across a Reddit comment with a link to an Instagram post. The link had ?igsh= at the end.

When I clicked on the link, I got this popup. It had a name and profile photo that was different from that of the post being shared.

Join Firstname Lastname on Instagram

See photos, videos, and more from Firstname Lastname.

[ Open Instagram ]

not now

I avoid link trackers. However, I did not realize it was this bad.

To my knowledge, TikTok does the same thing and lists the name of the person that shared the link. Assuming this increases engagement, any website could enable such a feature, even on old links that you shared in the past.

You should manually remove any trackers before sharing, or use an app for it.

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[-] tal@lemmy.today 105 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I tend to manually strip out anything random hash-looking from URLs. Not so much because I'm worried about identity being exposed, but because it just encourages data-mining and figuring out what causes people to post links places.

There's some open-source app I recall on Android in F-Droid that will do this for a set of known sites, "Link Cleaner" or something.

kagis

"Leon -- URL Cleaner". I assume that this is an allusion to the movie.

https://github.com/svenjacobs/leon

I also strip off the extension that the Wikipedia app adds to indicate that Wikipedia links are from the app.

I also strip off "m." leading URLs, like "m.wikipedia.org", since that, by convention, forces desktop users to see a mobile version of a site, which is not normally what they want, whereas a non-.m link will still show the mobile site to mobile users.

[-] oce@jlai.lu 46 points 2 weeks ago

Latest versions of Firefox offer to copy and paste URL without trackers. I am not sure how it compares to specialized tools.

[-] aleq@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

How do I use this feature? I'm a Firefox user since quantum and had no idea this was a thing.

[-] my_hat_stinks@programming.dev 35 points 2 weeks ago

Just right click a link, it's the option directly under copy link.

[-] aleq@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Never knew it, very neat!

[-] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 2 points 2 weeks ago

Apparently it doesn’t work with YouTube. That’s an elephant sized hole.

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[-] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 2 weeks ago

There is a Firefox addon called ClearURLs that automatically removes all of the tracking crap. It works on PC and Android.

[-] tb_@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

uBlock Origin also has a filter built-in, though you have to enable it. It's under Filter Lists > Privacy > AdGuard URL Tracking Protection

[-] JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you, I had no idea. Already had uBlock Origin on my phone (FF), so that's one less extension needed. Works perfectly!

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[-] tb_@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago

Generally anything that comes after a questionmark in a URL can be safely stripped out, though not always. The random string of characters you get after a youtu.be link is tracking, the ?t=123 is a timestamp.

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 8 points 2 weeks ago

YouTube has an even better example of it being problematic to strip the parameters. The original video links look like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

The thing is, the stuff after the question mark isn't inherently bad, we just have the convention that the path (/watch) should identify a static resource on the server, whereas the stuff after the question mark is more variable or user-specific.

But YouTube is older than that convention. If YouTube got built today, that URL would look more like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch/dQw4w9WgXcQ

On the other hand, the URL of a specific search result page would still look the same, even with today's conventions, because it doesn't identify a static resource:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=never+gonna+give+you+up
[-] tb_@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Nice example link you used there

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks, although I don't believe there's any other link I could've used. 🙃

[-] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

I also strip off “m.” leading URLs...

Bless you kind netizen

[-] kambusha@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

URLCheck may be the app you're thinking of.

Edit: the way it works, is that you set it up as your default browser. Then, whenever you hit a link, it will open up URLCheck first, and you'll get to decide what to do with the link, strip away query parameters, and which app to open the link with.

[-] Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

Omg I've wanted something like this for a long time. Thanks!

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[-] Asifall@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I have a habit of doing this and then testing the link to find the smallest possible version. Mostly because I find it annoying when I want to text a link to someone and it takes up an entire page of the chat.

[-] wrekone@lemmyf.uk 3 points 2 weeks ago

Leon is great. I try to remember to use it anytime I share a link. As a result, I have found that that some links are just the base url plus a UUID (e.g. mycoolshoppingsite.com/GAJEBKT), so you can't strip out the tracking without breaking the link entirely.

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[-] huginn@feddit.it 50 points 2 weeks ago

Note that a TikTok link is un-cleanable. It will always trace back to you. Do not ever share TikTok links unless you're willing to expose your identity to the person you're sharing with.

[-] danda@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 weeks ago

I think you can go find the video in an incognito tab, then grab the link from there

[-] subtext@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

Specifically, you can “share” it to yourself, open that link in an incognito tab, then strip out everything but the user and video id

https://www.tiktok.com/@USERNAME/video/LONGSTRINGOFDIGITS

You have to do the same thing with Amazon a.co links I think

[-] LaSirena@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

This. Alternatively, share the link to URL Cleaner, unshorten it, and remove the extra junk. It's an extra few steps, but worth it.

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[-] jherazob@fedia.io 42 points 2 weeks ago

MANY apps currently have these unneeded tracker parameters, here's Youtube

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 41 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

LPT, delete the ? and everything after the link. For example,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256674765393?_skw=random+search+query&epid=305107635&itmmeta=01JAGAT958A3194F0WWPP0BMWT&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAAA8HoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlSz7A1nMKFudzMiZtdw6tFu1nh5DJKvXzdjdjHu2RfZAvgDUXQuOSGPo67%2BY3QcM0uz9PYr%2Fm3VgxgBHBi7PN6fzImAOW7S5fPSFRVcKGSbutH5wdKRELjEOI4BoKo0eh0DDrIUR%2FdtTPl9uhzogmFkFB4a47JGFzRO0bqDgnbCfvsInjL1niuaHX%2FSOQFhBjgPKb%2BWrV6D1mf1N0MUU2ckMNZmVhFrxx2422VJE%2FWAVMNowtm4wSnpquUv5dtQmnjdjda8SrXg%2BuARie%2B9k9hT9jThvNFQ8ORlJNg5t%2BA3EXTJ1q%2Fyw%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABFBM2pLpitRk

Becomes

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256674765393

While retaining the same product and removes your fingerprinting data.

This also applies for things like youtube, amazon, social media, etc. I have the cleanurls extension on firefox, yet it doesn't do a good job at removing this stuff, so I often have to manually do it before sharing links.

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 weeks ago

Mind that just removing everything after the question mark can break the link, because these parameters can also do useful things.
For example, if you use the search functionality on a webpage, you'll typically be redirected onto a URL with a parameter containing your search query.

And Firefox also has this tracking parameter removal built-in these days. In the right-click menu, you can select "Copy Link Without Site Tracking".
I cannot say, though, if this works better than CleanURLs. Because these parameters can do useful things, it's tricky to automatically remove them without breaking links.

[-] TheCoralReefsAreDying69@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

There's gotta be an extension that does do a good job, right?

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 12 points 2 weeks ago

Firefox already has a copy without tracking built in

[-] Ephera@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 weeks ago

The problem is that these parameters can also do useful things, i.e. removing them might break the link. There's no inherent criteria to determine whether a parameter is used for tracking or not.

The way these extensions or Firefox' built-in feature works, is that they check for 'well-known' parameters. For example, lots of URLs contain parameters starting with utm_, which is from Google Analytics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTM_parameters

As such, it's for example unlikely that someone would build a website which uses a parameter utm_medium with a value of social, without it being used for tracking, so that gets removed.
But if someone builds a website that puts your full name into a parameter called potato, there's just no way to automatically detect and remove that.

[-] DillyDaily@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago

Yuuuup, found out the hard way that tiktok shows you when someone watches a link you sent them.

My dad loves sending me cat videos on the tiktok, he sends me the links on Facebook.

I have two tiktok accounts because I knew there was a risk that my dad would be able to find me on tiktok through contacts. My dad is a transphobe, so in order to not poke the bear I maintain a cis persona when dealing with him.

But it took him 0.3 seconds to realise that he sent his daughter a link, and then an openly transmasc account user with a similar name opened that link, and then his daughter replied to his message reacting to the link...my ears are still bringing from the phone call he made to me.

So thats how my misunderstanding of tiktok trackers outted me to my transphobic father.

(fortunately I'm a fully grown adult and can cut him out of my life if he doesn't calm down)

[-] mouserat@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 weeks ago

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. And so terrified that anonymity is wiped out that easily

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

I don't remember which site this was, but I remember it being a pretty big one...

Anyway - I shared a link on reddit about 10 years ago, and I got a PM from a user addressing me by my first name telling me to delete the link.

Not only did it say who I was - the link logged people into my account.

[-] DillyDaily@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Jesus, now that its terrifying!

What would even be the point of a link that allows you that? Like, why was it designed to do that!?

Props to that person who PM'd you the warning.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

They were probably just lazy in their site design and the link itself contained the token for the login or whatever.

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[-] GeneralInterest@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago

Good PSA. Personally I'm not that worried because

  1. I don't use Instagram
  2. Firefox has an option to copy links without site tracking, which hopefully would work on Instagram links
  3. I try to only write stuff online that wouldn't be massively embarrassing if anyone does happen to figure out who I am
[-] AlexanderESmith@social.alexanderesmith.com 4 points 2 weeks ago

Wait, you conduct yourself in a manner consistent with a reputation you'd like to maintain? Even when you don't think anyone will find out who you are?

What kind of responsible shit is that? Don't you know you're on the Internet?

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[-] XeroxCool@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

The fingerprinting goes waaaaay beyond Instagram. Maybe not frequently username specific, but it's still kinda weird to always be throwing out your device type, browser, and prior we page among other things

[-] _____@lemm.ee 18 points 2 weeks ago

another PSA if you have an Xbox account (even for PC) and have added anyone to friends they get to see your full name, state city. It is very cool to play games while also doxing yourself. thanks Microsoft

[-] QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

You can go into settings and change it so that it doesn't show to anyone. But at some point they made an update and it reset those options to the default setting even if you had previously set it to hidden.

At that point I just went in and changed my name on my account settings.

[-] subtext@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Hi yes, my name is Tim Microsoft, I live at 123 Microsoft St, Microsoft, CA 12345-6789

[-] sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 weeks ago

I actually have MS Seattle HQ address as my Xbox address lol

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

if I ever start a multibillion dollar company, I am totally going to name the road [Company] St, with the address being 123.

Just so everyone thinks the HQ address is fake.

[-] _____@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

it was on me to use my real name. at the same time for any online purchase I use my real name so I didn't give it second thought.

I just thought it was very wrong of them to expose that to friends list. I pick a nickname for a reason, so people see my nickname.

[-] femtech@midwest.social 2 points 2 weeks ago

I thought the default was only favorite friends could see that.

[-] balder1991@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Ever since I realized TikTok creates a unique share URL that tells the person you’re the one sharing it, I became paranoid with any social media share links that are created dynamically. I won’t share them unless I try them out first.

[-] Shameless@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Its more effort but I do this if I think its worth sharing a link, test the link in a private browser first. I just also don't want to be doxxing friends and family to the platform in question either.

Let's just share content and not track people and accounts

[-] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 weeks ago

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.svenjacobs.app.leon/

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this post was submitted on 18 Oct 2024
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