Google and Facebook Peeping over your Shoulder

humbert

I'm becoming increasingly irritated by the above two for hijacking links so that what what is presented is actually redirected by the respective host. E.g. links posted on Facebook appear as guardian.co.uk/news but actually link to facebook.com/[encoded link], likewise with Google search results.

I seem to remember with Google it was some results and now it seems to be all results though I'm not sure how accurate that is.

Secondly pan-internet cookies. I realise that they are actually just Google/Facebook sections on these pages but when I'm not explicitly browsing Facebook or checking my mail I don't want to be signed into these networks. I presume logging out of Facebook every time I leave would do the trick but Google's new 'lets aggregate all your data from the accounts you've explicitly kept separate' initiative causes me to assume signing out wouldn't be enough since upon signing out of one account you're presented with a list of your other accounts next time you sign in.

I've tried a raft of Firefox addons recently that block this tracker and that tracker but what I really would like is an addon/method that doesn't send Google/Facebook cookies unless the URL in the address bar contains facebook.com or gmail/mail.google.com.

I don't have anything to hide but it's the dickishness of it that irritates me like some knobhead peering over your shoulder while you're texting. I'd probably be less bothered if they actually had some specific malicious intent but the blithe disregard for my privacy infuriates me. (I haven't mentioned the obvious scanning of your mail even though it does depress me that the world is such that it's both normal and acceptable behaviour because it's a condition of having a Gmail account so one can like it or lump it)

I'd doubt there's much that can be done about the URL hijacking though some method of translating the redirects to the originals would be great. Not ever sure if the entire original URL is available.

(I'm aware of the likes of duckduckgo but having tried it I'd sooner root out my copy of the yellow pages.)

Khannie

Disabling javascript would show you the real URL when you "on mouse over" it. Pain in the bum being without javascript though.

humbert

Khannie wrote: »

Disabling javascript would show you the real URL when you "on mouse over" it. Pain in the bum being without javascript though.

The sneeky thing is that when you 'mouse over it' it does show you the direct link but when you click on it you get to visit Google/Facebook first.

One of the plugins I did install was a javascript blocker but most sites didn't work and I spent more time allowing almost every site I visited than it was worth.

None of these things are terribly difficult to circumvent manually but it's a war of attrition I'm definitely going to lose. I'd just love a 'piss off Google/Facebook' plugin and I'm quite surprised such a thing doesn't exist (as far as I've seen).

AnCatDubh

I think the links that you are referring to are such that facebook or other service can monitor what referrals they are making through their site. Some genius out there in facebook business analysis land then makes your click to that service, part of a profiling exercise worth a couple of cent for facebook (on aggregate).

In the last few months i've switched off pretty much all google services (if I do visit them, i'll make a concious effort to disconnect from them prior to doing anything else). That sorts out a lot of the tracking stuff that goes on, as well as telling your browser to send a do not track request, as well as storing no history, no cookies, no nothing. Effectively browse in private mode of your web browser. Its not the most convenient of things but its not too bad either. I *feel* a little better for doing it

Khannie

humbert wrote: »

I'd just love a 'piss off Google/Facebook' plugin

I am so intrigued by the name of this plugin that I'm half tempted to write it for you.

28064212

If you're using Firefox, use a Greasemonkey userscript. Something like this:

// ==UserScript==
// @name        PissOffGoogleFacebook
// @include     /^https?://(www\.)?facebook\./
// @include     /^https?://(www\.)?google\./
// @version     1
// ==/UserScript==

window.addEventListener('load', function(){
    var links = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
    for(var i = 0; i<links.length; i++)
    {
        links[i].onmousedown = ''; // Google
        links[i].onclick = ''; // Facebook
    }
}

Greasemonkey is a hugely powerful tool. It's my number one reason for sticking with Firefox. You can get the scripts working in other browsers (Chrome especially) but it can be a bit trickier to get set up and maintain

humbert

Khannie wrote: »

Disabling javascript would show you the real URL when you "on mouse over" it. Pain in the bum being without javascript though.

28064212 wrote: »

If you're using Firefox, use a Greasemonkey userscript. Something like this:

// ==UserScript==
// @name        PissOffGoogleFacebook
// @include     /^https?://(www\.)?facebook\./
// @include     /^https?://(www\.)?google\./
// @version     1
// ==/UserScript==

window.addEventListener('load', function(){
    var links = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
    for(var i = 0; i<links.length; i++)
    {
        links[i].onmousedown = ''; // Google
        links[i].onclick = ''; // Facebook
    }
}

Greasemonkey is a hugely powerful tool. It's my number one reason for sticking with Firefox. You can get the scripts working in other browsers (Chrome especially) but it can be a bit trickier to get set up and maintain

I feel a bit silly. I assumed that they were using javascript to hide the fact that it was redirected but obviously, as Khannie said, the link is fine but you get redirected by javascript.

Was looking at that script wondering how it worked when it hit me.

I'll give that a go. I've heard of Greasemonkey before but never used it so might have to do a little reading first.

gctest50

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/clean-links/

humbert

Works very nicely and very pleasant to see the URL I clicked appear directly in the address bar instead of some imposter. Thanks!