You are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

2
1

[–] 14539019? 2 points 1 point (+3|-2) ago 

Man, some of you people are stupid.

If you search for that article it always comes up to with the same URL minus the query string (query string is everything from the question mark on). The ID is attached to the article and doesn't have shit to do with you. They could, theoretically, change the ID number on another version of the article to track how it was distributed (like IDXYZ123 was posted on Facebook, IDABC321 was posted on Twitter, etc.). But it's probably not even that complicated, it's probably just a number assigned by their content management system. The utm_source query string value is to track where they're getting traffic fed from.

You are tracked by your physical link (even if that physical link is WiFi) and your browser fingerprint (which includes but is not limited to cookies). That's tied together to the other shit you're talking about (social media profiles, etc.) through embedding trackers in websites (for example, Google analytics and "share this bullshit article on Facebook" widgets.

There's no way to hide on the public web, so either stop worrying about it or stop using the web.

0
1

[–] 14541123? 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

You are right.

Don't forget pixel trackers, cookies, javascript -- these can all be used to gather your browsing habits without ever sharing anything through links! Plus most browsers are so "friendly" they'll just straight up tell websites where you came from!

1
1

[–] 14539445? 1 point 1 point (+2|-1) ago 

Shut the fuck up putting people down.

0
0

[–] 14882781? [S] ago  (edited ago)

TOP SECRET: Squeaky Dolphin. Broad real-time monitoring of online activity of: "Youtube Video Views, URL's liked on Facebook, Blogspot/Blogger Visits.