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Because I wouldn't want Google to know what links I click on. When I used to use Google, and they added such redirects that included the destination URL as a pa

by JohnFen 14d ago

Because I wouldn't want Google to know what links I click on. When I used to use Google, and they added such redirects that included the destination URL as a parameter, I'd edit the link to make it just that URL before resolving it. This new scheme would make that impossible.

what 14d ago
They already knew which links you clicked on though…
- googapologist 14d ago
  [flagged]
- deleted 14d ago
  [deleted]
- JohnFen 14d ago
  How? I never allowed Javascript or anything.
- smart_asslop 13d ago
  Even with JS enabled, they did not. Linked below is an explanation which includes confirmation of that fact by a member of the uBlock Origin team. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680338
brainwad 14d ago
They own the JS on the page, they don't need the redirects to know where you clicked...
- googapologist 14d ago
  [flagged]
- deleted 14d ago
  [deleted]
- smart_asslop 13d ago
  Hello! It appears that you are disseminating misinformation. A uBlock Origin developer now confirms, regarding Google results click tracking: It existed in a way or another, but it could be blocked. Now it can't. Which corroborates the mysteriously flagged sibling comment. https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1we7491/how_to_bypass_googles_goto_url_rewrite_for_search/p9fnjzq/ https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1we7491/how_t... Next time, please consider listening to people who know how the web works and avoid overconfidently parroting what Big Tech gatekeepers want you to think. Thanks!
  - brainwad 13d ago
    It's not misinformation. By default Google has been able to click track with JS. If you disable JS, they don't serve you search (https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/ https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/). Yes, if you are tricky, you can block just the part of the JS that does click tracking, probably. But most users can't do that. They therefore were already getting 99% complete click tracking before this change. This change is not about click tracking, it's about blocking scrapers. And btw about the result filtering the uBlock dev wants to do: of course this can still be done, if you preload all the goto links on the page and then inline the real URLs returned by the preload requests. Perhaps not easy to do as an extension but at a browser level (Brave?) totally possible. Though Google might then think your users are scrapers...
    - smart_asslop 13d ago
      >By default Google has been able to click track with JS. If you disable JS, they don't serve you search (https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/ https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/). This discussion is about search results pages with JavaScript enabled. >And btw about the result filtering the uBlock dev wants to do For a long time, uBlock Origin has kept up with blocking Google's click tracking out of the box with the default Privacy filter list (privacy.txt). https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/blob/master/filters/privacy.txt https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/blob/master/filters/... This means that all uBlock Origin users (even people with no Google account) would NOT be click-tracked, WITH JavaScript enabled. You say "They own the JS on the page", so the topic of discussion here is simply whether users could block click tracking on the client side. And until now, they could have: by installing uBlock Origin or any content blocker with a sane privacy list. Now, they cannot.

by JohnFen 14d ago

what 14d ago

They already knew which links you clicked on though…

googapologist 14d ago
[flagged]
deleted 14d ago
[deleted]
JohnFen 14d ago
How? I never allowed Javascript or anything.
smart_asslop 13d ago
Even with JS enabled, they did not. Linked below is an explanation which includes confirmation of that fact by a member of the uBlock Origin team. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49680338

brainwad 14d ago

They own the JS on the page, they don't need the redirects to know where you clicked...

googapologist 14d ago
[flagged]
deleted 14d ago
[deleted]
smart_asslop 13d ago
Hello! It appears that you are disseminating misinformation. A uBlock Origin developer now confirms, regarding Google results click tracking: It existed in a way or another, but it could be blocked. Now it can't. Which corroborates the mysteriously flagged sibling comment. https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1we7491/how_to_bypass_googles_goto_url_rewrite_for_search/p9fnjzq/ https://old.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/1we7491/how_t... Next time, please consider listening to people who know how the web works and avoid overconfidently parroting what Big Tech gatekeepers want you to think. Thanks!
- brainwad 13d ago
  It's not misinformation. By default Google has been able to click track with JS. If you disable JS, they don't serve you search (https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/ https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/). Yes, if you are tricky, you can block just the part of the JS that does click tracking, probably. But most users can't do that. They therefore were already getting 99% complete click tracking before this change. This change is not about click tracking, it's about blocking scrapers. And btw about the result filtering the uBlock dev wants to do: of course this can still be done, if you preload all the goto links on the page and then inline the real URLs returned by the preload requests. Perhaps not easy to do as an extension but at a browser level (Brave?) totally possible. Though Google might then think your users are scrapers...
  - smart_asslop 13d ago
    >By default Google has been able to click track with JS. If you disable JS, they don't serve you search (https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/ https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/). This discussion is about search results pages with JavaScript enabled. >And btw about the result filtering the uBlock dev wants to do For a long time, uBlock Origin has kept up with blocking Google's click tracking out of the box with the default Privacy filter list (privacy.txt). https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/blob/master/filters/privacy.txt https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/blob/master/filters/... This means that all uBlock Origin users (even people with no Google account) would NOT be click-tracked, WITH JavaScript enabled. You say "They own the JS on the page", so the topic of discussion here is simply whether users could block click tracking on the client side. And until now, they could have: by installing uBlock Origin or any content blocker with a sane privacy list. Now, they cannot.