Impossible to find the answer to this Q on search engines or youtube.
I use a desktop-laptop, not smartphone. On various discussion boards, i often find myself wanting to link to an item on Amazon, Walmart etc.etc. But those #@$! sites keep my geolocation permanently on their site, even after i logout.
There’s no way to tell from the URL linking to a store item, whether that URL also happens to include my geolocation embedded within it, due to their cryptic URLs.
So: Is it safe to publicly post links to items of any/all online stores, despite said stores permanently recording your geolocation/zipcode?
I’ve never used VPN’s so (VPN notwithstanding) are you saying that privacy is compromised when posting a link to say, Amazon or Walmart - once you’ve become a member?
I.E. rather than an alt. solution, I rather just wanted to know whether, when sundry Amazon-members or HomeDepot-members post links to an Amazon or HomeDepot item while using an outside forum, do those links divulge the members’ geolocation?
Totally agree with you about the amount of invasive tactics used by these websites. I watched the large number of “tracking” links they are using on us with an add-on called “NoScript”. The list is incredibly large.
I believe the best advice is to use a VPN. Also, the browser we use makes a difference. Currently I’m using both Mullvad browser with Mullvad VPN.
I see, thanks but for example, URLs in Amazon can consist of lines and lines of encrypted text. Nothing like those parameters displayed on your semrush link.
Also, to help clarify, can you please refer to the red text in the following image?
Take this link as an example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-Android-Manufacturer-Extended-Warranty/dp/B0CMD7BJPM/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=UCkyP&content-id=amzn1.sym.d34f0209-4c72-4201-9a13-969800aecf87&pf_rd_p=d34f0209-4c72-4201-9a13-969800aecf87&pf_rd_r=FXSGW74C5TVEB73JQGSC&pd_rd_wg=SRs5a&pd_rd_r=fabb0a76-2d59-49b8-916a-c7bf2ee36bf6&ref_=pd_hp_d_atf_dealz_cs&th=1
everything behind B0CMD7BJPM is basically used for tracking, probably except the encoding=UTF8 part.
The simplest way to sort this issue is to install uBlockOrigin and install relevant filter lists.
In my opinion the point of defense shouldn’t primarily be at the point of pasting a link to the website, it should be preventing most websites from knowing your geolocation in the first place, unless you explicitly allow it (and adopting a default deny mindset when deciding whether to allow or not). Very few websites need to know and store your zip code. Very few websites need persistent cookies across sessions.
Using a VPN, clearing cookies with some regularity, and minimizing the data you give out would all be strategies that help address the underlying root of the issue.
For addressing your specific concern, an adblocker with URL tracking protection would be one partial mitigation, that could strip away some of the URL’s potential tracking parameters. I believe Firefox now has functionality like this built-in to the context menu. You have the option to “copy link” or “copy clean link” the latter will attempt to strip away tracking parameters. A more “manual” solution if you do stay logged in to many sites all the time, would be to only copy links from private browsing windows where you are not logged in.
The point here is, that if i remove tracking parameters from Amazon/WalmartEtc. URLs, then those URLs become dead-end links, thus useless for purposes of linking to an item on a public forum.
So even lets say there would be a tutorial on how to remove tracking parameters. Of what use is it?
I’ve been running uBlockOrigin all along, but have never dabbled in filter lists.
How does that work? (to resolve this invasive-geolocation topic)
How difficult is VPN to master, and is there any worthwhile free one? I’m a very low-power user. I.E. i use the www to occasionally shop, info-browse, watch-vids, and use forums.
Re: firefox & private-windows, interesting! i will try to check those out.
UPDATE: I just now tried “Copy-Clean-Link” on Amazon and Walmart. Guess what - while the clean-link feature worked via Amazon, it was greyed-out on Walmart.
2nd UPDATE: I then tried out private windows via Walmart. Problem is, it was a tedious process, because while i was on the item page, i didn’t know how to achieve a private-window. So i pasted the link to the tracker-filled-URL into the Brave search-engine, in order to find the Walmart-site. That’s how i could right-click the link (on Brave) to enter a private window in Walmart, thus displaying the item in a private-window. Somehow the item-in-private-window had its formerly-cryptic URL truncated. However, the numbers which display directly after the URL-item-description, had changed into a different number. I’m clueless.
Pretty easy to use. Occasional annoyances if a server is blocked or something, but a VPN is not generally something that requires much tech-savviness to use.
it was greyed-out on Walmart
I think (but haven’t confirmed) that when that option is greyed out, it means that no tracking parameters were detected in the URL.
Problem is, it was a tedious process
With Firefox you can right click any link and click “Open Link in New Private Window” I believe that Chromium based browsers like Brave have a similar option as well. It may be a little tedious but if it will give you a little peace of mind when pasting links publicly then it may be worth it to you.
If you’d like something more automatic but a little less certain, you can use a filterlist in uBlock Origin (such as the Adguard “URL tracking protection” filterlist, or Dandelion Sprout’s “Actually Legitimate URL Shortener” filterlist) in combination with the “copy clean link” option to strip away most of the unnecessary tracking parameters.
Let me put it a different way. In the below Walmart product (light-bulbs), is the 10-digit number which displays after 4-Pack some sorta tracking number? For that matter, is there any sorta tracking after the word 4-Pack?
If you go to that Walmart product page, you’ll see that you cannot open in “private-window” because you are within the product page. But you can achieve it a different way, by searching for that URL within a search engine.
That is when you can right-click to open the Walmart URL within private-window.
But you will then find that (within private window) the aforesaid 10-digit number will have changed to a different set of 10-digit numbers.
The digits are necessary as it seems to be a ProductID, site param starts from “?” which you can safely remove, in the case above would be ?classType=VARIANT&athbdg=L1300. In most if not all cases, site param starts after ?
Not all site params are for tracking, in this case it is used to specify the variant of a product.
Edit: Walmart seems allocate a different ProductIDs for each variants, now I have no idea what ?classType=VARIANT&athbdg=L1300 means, still not all site params are for tracking.
but for example, URLs in Amazon can consist of lines and lines of encrypted text. Nothing like those parameters displayed on your semrush link.
