Guys do you have a the solution or soewhere better to post this? i only found 3 privacy communties but most of the other ones are just privacy news (i hate news)
(this is my first post im new) ive noticed something no one seems to have a problem with. do you have this problem to? am i just doing something wrong?
i use a privacy friendly browser plus a privacy friendly os and use fingerprint spoofer/blocker. i watch videos on invidious. i noticed that the “popular” tab shows videos related to videos i watched before. even if i clear my cookies, or change my idenity in (offiscial) tor browser i still get recommended related videos meaning no matter what i do google knows what i watch. whats worse, if i go on invidious on a totally different device with a normal broswer normal os, i get the same videos. meaning websites know what videos i watch across multiple sessions but also multiple devices. im sick of this. it feels like i’ve tried everything, sacrificed so much connivence but no results.
(this isn’t a question spefecifically about youtube google or invindious just how to get webisites to stop knowing everything i do across multiple identities and every device i use)
Things I tried
*Proton vpn+librewolf(max security according to settings)+nosircpt+Ublock(with the filters it comes with)+ officisal recommended invidious instances+Quad9 via settings
*Tails+Tor browser(max security settings apprentaly)+default bridge+no javascirpt+fingerprint spoofing estendsion+bluetooth disabled by tails+all the previous mentioned (exculding vpn i heard its risky)+invidious again (Tails doesn’t work well for me the police are not after me and it takes so long to start and presisent stoarage is annoying)
*Qubes+Whonix vm+Tor browser(max again)+no javascript (I love and hate qubes from my first impression it meets my security needs and you can run any os in a vm on it but i wish it just worked. theres a steep learning curve and my hardware isn’t the best for it)
No results on any of these just slower internet and some websites are broken. Its just like using a normal browser that tracks you but slow as a privacy one. im getting tired of this. i use all this super deep level paranoid overkill stufff and nothing happens. like im burning my house to get rid of a spider but the spider is still there
possible causes
-google wireless access point (does qubes/whonix/tor NOT protect against this at all??) (also my family HATES any changes or mild inconveniences)
-i logged in to google without a vpn **ONCE **does this automatically doom you forever **even ** if you change os and browser and device?
-hardware is framework laptop
for clairtiy
I am not -a criminal -a journalist -a gooner -willing to go off grid in the woods I am -creeped out -tired -about to give up
My privacy goals
-be able to actually cut ties with my shadow profile and have websites not know everything ive done in my life -control what data brokers and compaines knsw -not have any website at all know every device i use -be able to use any network safely
I feel like giving up on privacy because nothing seems to work. the only results I get is slower more broken internet
the fediverse is kinda the opposite of private. everything is somewhat designed to be incredibly public. activities (posts/comments/votes/moderation) is literally broadcasted across subscribed servers. its very very public to those entities. trying to then expect some kind of personal privacy behind that is absolutely doable for the user, but the contents gunna live somewhere, usually pretty public.
if you want private posting, youd want something non-federating… ie… not the fediverse.
im logged in to lemmy so thats not my concern. my concern is that google knows what im watching even if i use tor with whonix on qubes with a private frontend called invidious which i never log in to. this means google can see anything i do on a website that has google things even if the website is privacy focused.
thanks for commenting
ahhh i see. i gave up on that a long time ago, not long after a (requested) visit to a 3 letter agency, inside of one of them mirrored rooms in a windowless office building.
i just stay off most social media and use unique emails for literally everything that requires one. otherwise, im not important enough to put all that much effort into it and im definitely getting too old to.
i think we have different prioties/wants/needs thats ok thank you for answering though it helps boost this post to more people.
There are tools to check your fingerprint like am i unique.
ive tried that one it says my fingerprint is generic
ive tried randomizing it
amiunique says its different than before
same creepy tracking on google (i check by using invidious popular page)
Can you try without using your wifi? Like connect with mobile wifi to rule the google access point out. Obviously new session etc.
Edit: another thing that comes to my mind is; how does this popular overview work in invidious? Does this come from invidious or from google? Could it be that there are so few users with invidious that basically all your views are their most popular ones?
Even if it comes from google, fetched by invidious, they prolly have a unique fingerprint themselves. Thus google knows what invidious’ users like ;)
You could test this theory by asking someone else (different household) to check the overview content.
idk i get recommended the videos i watch on invidious on youtube as well. also its weird every invidious user likes the exact videos and channels i like at the exact time i watch them. (like meaning having an interest in not the actually website interaction) thanks for your comment though ill test it on my frind but i hope he lets me and doesnt think im weird for not wanting to play banban but i think my worst fears will be confrimed
How do you get videos recommended on youtube, not logged in and fresh session? On a fresh session it’s a wasteland for me. Zero recommendations. Nearly empty site.
not youtube, invidious. its a frontend that shows youtube videos.
useualy youtube hides that it knows its me until the second video then its very clear. it (youtube) even shows me videos i watched in invidious (qubes+whonix+tor+anti-fingerprint)
Block YouTube or whatever your using from saving cookies
Log out of your Gmail and delete its cookies
i blocked yt and i loggrd out but google stil probly saves the devices info also ive deleted my cookies and changed the entire os a lot. im not seeing any improvments
You have to actually block the sites from saving cookies. Just deleting them is not enough.
i use privacy badger and noscript to block them
Why not block directly from the browser? At this point the 20 extensions you’re running is your fingerprint.
wouldnt blocking them also be a fingerprint?
also i get the same thing no matter if i have 20 extensions or not i have none on my regualr joe ios safari and i get the videos that i watch on invidious there
You need to research how browser fingerprinting works
You’ve gone overboard on privacy extensions, and not done enough privacy basics.
ive tried whonix and tails with normal tor on safest settings with no extensions too
thanks for the suggestion though
Could it be Invidious is just showing you the popular videos, maybe these are the same videos being shown to everyone?
kind of weird everyone watches the same exact videos/channels as me at the same exact time
Currently, the only way to be anonymous on the internet is Tor. Now, that’s a slow and “broken” internet. If you connect to the internet through an account you pay for under your verified ID, then they know who you are, and where you go online.
You can close your eyes, but they can still see you. You can break the chain in one spot, but they’ll rebuild it quickly in another spot. I make it sound hopeless because I think it is, ultimately.
You can either be on the internet, or you can live a private life. You can’t do both, not really. They’re hoping, and trying every day, to make it impossible for you to conceive of a life without the internet. They keep tearing down the pre-internet methods we might use to avoid them. And, they keep making it harder to avoid them online.
BTW, “they” are the billionaires, in case that’s not clear.
Again, except Tor.
ive tried tor in the real browser using tails. i dont feel anonymous at all. im not going to id verify and i never said i was. you can use the interent and have privacy even if its not perfect. what im asking for is to make it hard for websites to track me across all my devices and sessions no matter wht i do.
thnks for cyou coment though it helps more people see this post
