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.
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)
I’m so sorry you have to deal with this. And so terrified that anonymity is wiped out that easily
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.
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.
He’ll come around, some people just take longer
I’ve been out as queer since I was 14. I’m in my 30, he still hasn’t come around.
Given his age and health, if he’s planning too come around he’d better get on it quick, at this rate he’s dying a bigot.
I’m not waiting any more, I put my whole life on hold waiting for him to come around so I could live my life safely. If I need to cut him out of my life I will.
I appreciate they kind words, but please keep in mind mind that it’s not always smart or safe to tell a trans person to be patient. The individual will know their level of safety, and advice to be patient and understanding can in some cases case be very, very harmful.
LPT, delete the
?and everything after the link. For example,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.
Good PSA. Personally I’m not that worried because
- I don’t use Instagram
- Firefox has an option to copy links without site tracking, which hopefully would work on Instagram links
- I try to only write stuff online that wouldn’t be massively embarrassing if anyone does happen to figure out who I am
MANY apps currently have these unneeded tracker parameters, here’s Youtube
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.
Latest versions of Firefox offer to copy and paste URL without trackers. I am not sure how it compares to specialized tools.
How do I use this feature? I’m a Firefox user since quantum and had no idea this was a thing.
Just right click a link, it’s the option directly under copy link.
There is a Firefox addon called ClearURLs that automatically removes all of the tracking crap. It works on PC and Android.
uBlock Origin also has a filter built-in, though you have to enable it. It’s under Filter Lists > Privacy > AdGuard URL Tracking Protection
How does it work?
I assume it blocks something from loading, but I wouldn’t exactly know. I haven’t looked into it.
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.
I think you can go find the video in an incognito tab, then grab the link from there
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
