Comment on YouTube is now flagging accounts on Premium family plans that aren't in the same household
ronigami@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Meanwhile I installed the User Agent Switcher extension for firefox to change my user agent every 30 seconds to something random to avoid tracking. A few websites don’t accept it. I just quit those websites and find a non-billionaire-owned alternative like Kagi or Fastmail. So far it’s working out well.
blurb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
That likely makes you easier to track. User agents don’t really matter all that much if an advanced tracking script is used. When your IP address is the same, your browser engine is the same, your canvas data stays the same, your window size stays the same, your operating system stays the same, then they will just know that you also use an extension that makes your user agent not reflect your system and track you based on that too.
Use Mullvad Browser without changing anything important (change the default search engine at most) and preferably use a proper VPN to actually avoid tracking during regular internet usage. Or use LibreWolf to at least fool naive scripts.
I would suggest reading this too:
github.com/…/3.3-Overrides-[To-RFP-or-Not]
ronigami@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
How is that easier? That’s just only very slightly harder, not easier. Most sites will not have such sophisticated logic. And anyway, the purpose is to suss out which websites do this kind of tracking and avoid them entirely, not to thwart the tracking.
blurb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Technically, yes, most sites won’t have such sophisticated logic. But any Google, Microsoft, or Meta service you use most definitely will.
I really liked CreepJS’s “Visits” feature where it would show a counter for how many people have visited with exactly the same browser fingerprint (which would usually be 1 unless you were using Tor Browser or Mullvad Browser), but they seem to have removed it for some reason along with “Lies” and “Trust Score”. You can still check it out here to see just how much identifying information even a simple hobby project can gather in less than a second though.
ronigami@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
That’s a good example of why the goal should be to find services which are less intrusive and less monitoring heavy.
Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
YT forces me to login if I am using a VPN these days, if I use Firefox or Safari. Brave avoids this. I will have to try Mullvad.
blurb@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Try a different VPN server if you get the “Sign in to confirm you’re not a bot” error. If you’re using Mullvad VPN, the Netherlands Amsterdam 203 server should work.