6 ms·

Easily defeated by having a secondary server access the url, strip any remaining parameters, then returning the URL to the user. You will have to really trust y

Easily defeated by having a secondary server access the url, strip any remaining parameters, then returning the URL to the user. You will have to really trust your browser, however. A gambit I am willing to take. It is Facebook we are talking about, after all. The game of cat and mouse continues.

Spivak 4y ago
Nobody is gonna go through that effort though, and it’s not possible to translate the params back because only the server decrypts them. This seems like the tipping point where cat wins for all but like 5 people. I’m actually kinda surprised this hasn’t happened earlier.
- dimitrios1 4y ago
  I used to go through the effort of manually stripping tracking params out of my URLs until the browsers integrated it. I will go through this effort until browsers integrate it, or until there is a secondary service that's easily runnable. This would just be pi-hole but for the internet instead of your local network.
stargrazer 4y ago
Wouldn't it just be easier to 'not use facebook'?
- Bud 4y ago
  No. I imagine you already know why.
camkego 4y ago
This brings up an interesting point. If you have a secondary server do this operation as opposed to the browser, the only thing that has changed from the receiver's point of view is the source IP. So maybe privacy protecting browsers will start to do double loads: 1. First to get the real URL 2. Next to do the browsing with the association information stripped from the URL/cookies/etc
- dimitrios1 4y ago
  Yep.
anonymoushn 4y ago
FB still gets to know whose shared URL is being accessed how much and when.
- dimitrios1 4y ago
  They will not be able to reliably tell their users if the end user landed on the page, and most importantly, specific users. They will only be able to guess. Today, the tracking mechanism works in tandem with the facebook pixels or tracking scripts on the receiving end to give full E2E campaign clarity. This will break that, or at least introduce heavy uncertainty that will definitely impact their revenue model.
- j0057 4y ago
  The secondary server can cache the result, so that only the first time there's a signal to FB.
  - dimitrios1 4y ago
    Then the game of cat and mouse will continue in this fashion: facebook will generate unique URLs for each user (if they aren't planning to do so already)
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]

Spivak 4y ago

Nobody is gonna go through that effort though, and it’s not possible to translate the params back because only the server decrypts them. This seems like the tipping point where cat wins for all but like 5 people. I’m actually kinda surprised this hasn’t happened earlier.

dimitrios1 4y ago
I used to go through the effort of manually stripping tracking params out of my URLs until the browsers integrated it. I will go through this effort until browsers integrate it, or until there is a secondary service that's easily runnable. This would just be pi-hole but for the internet instead of your local network.

stargrazer 4y ago

Wouldn't it just be easier to 'not use facebook'?

Bud 4y ago
No. I imagine you already know why.

camkego 4y ago

This brings up an interesting point. If you have a secondary server do this operation as opposed to the browser, the only thing that has changed from the receiver's point of view is the source IP. So maybe privacy protecting browsers will start to do double loads: 1. First to get the real URL 2. Next to do the browsing with the association information stripped from the URL/cookies/etc

dimitrios1 4y ago
Yep.

anonymoushn 4y ago

FB still gets to know whose shared URL is being accessed how much and when.

dimitrios1 4y ago
They will not be able to reliably tell their users if the end user landed on the page, and most importantly, specific users. They will only be able to guess. Today, the tracking mechanism works in tandem with the facebook pixels or tracking scripts on the receiving end to give full E2E campaign clarity. This will break that, or at least introduce heavy uncertainty that will definitely impact their revenue model.
j0057 4y ago
The secondary server can cache the result, so that only the first time there's a signal to FB.
- dimitrios1 4y ago
  Then the game of cat and mouse will continue in this fashion: facebook will generate unique URLs for each user (if they aren't planning to do so already)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]