Do you notice the URLs before you click? If you do, you will notice that sometimes the link is very large and that the URL contains random or descriptive characters.
An example with a Google url. I searched for the term microsoft
While the required URL is the following:
https://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft
Why are there so many characters in the first link? They are watching us, they are spraying us… I do not know about the spraying, but I am sure about the monitoring.
All sites save cookie in your browser to display the content on their websites, to help you log in and to show you advertisements from products that interest you. Cookies are one of the ways websites can track you, but they are not the only method used for this purpose.
A seemingly harmless URL can be used to track user activity. The most common example is a referral link that takes you to a specific site (landing page). The link states the page you are coming from:
For example https://iguru.gr/?ref=some_code_name
The link will take you to iguru.gr, but the last part of the link states in code (or not) where you come from.
So does Google, the Twitter, Facebook, but they collect much more data, as you can tell from the size of the link above.
In e-mail newsletters (newsletters) too many such links are used. When you click on them, the website it will know if you opened the email, if you opened the page, but also how long you stayed on it. Below we will see how you can reduce URL tracking with the help of an add-on.
Extensions like uBlock Origin (and ad filters) help prevent most trackers, but they do not clear tracking data from "normal" URLs. Here comes the additional Neat URL.
Download the Neat URL extension for Firefox or him Chrome . After installation you will see the icon in the toolbar. You can click the button to turn off the add-on at any time. The icon displays a mark on it that represents the number of trackers cut from a URL.
How does it work;
All tracking URLs use specific patterns. For example, many URLs use a random string used for tracking.
Many times we see additions to the URL that state "utm_source" and "utm_medium". The first parameter refers to the site from which I visited the page. The second is useful for marketing purposes: to show the direction / origin of traffic (direct link, Google, etc.).
Neat URL uses a system based on the parameters commonly used to locate and remove unwanted content from links.
Nevertheless except from the ordinary ones conditions that indicate tracking in a link with the Neat URL you can add others that may not be included in the plugin. That is, you can add custom parameters that only use a few domains.
Neat URL is an add-on open source and is based on the Lean URL.
