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TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

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Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#41

Post by wackget »

superkuh wrote: post #33

The TikTok pixel is not actually a pixel like in the old days. It is not a 1x1 transparent image loaded from their servers. It is executable javascript code. All you have to do to stop 99% of the corporate spying is disable unsafe remote code execution. It's hard to believe I have to say that after the many decades of people getting it drilled into their heads "Do not open random email attachments" but here we are in…

It's a shame uMatrix is no longer actively supported because it was the silver bullet for this kind of shit.

Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#42

Post by Ozzie_osman »

No surprise. Every company with an ad platform uses a pixel. Meta, Google, Reddit, Microsoft. Advertisers add it to their site to get access to things like tracking of performance if their ads, and custom audiences for retargeting or look-alike audiences. In exchange, that ad platform gets your browsing data.

It's not great, but everyone is doing it so I wouldn't consider the fact that TikTok, one of the biggest social media platforms, does it too as news.

Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#43

Post by stjohnswarts »

rawcal wrote: post #31
localy wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think their ties to China make them doing it any more nefarious or no?

As european I don't assume either US or china has my interests in mind when regulating privacy-invading activity.

I make the same assumption about Europe and China as well. You can't be too careful

Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#44

Post by stjohnswarts »

olliej wrote: post #20

As opposed to Google and Facebook, two companies known for their zealous defense of privacy?

That's not the point. No one said other companies didn't do similar things. I assume they all want to get as much info as possible without breaking the law. I think the elephant in the room however is that they also send a copy to the Chinese Communist Party databases as well.

Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#45

Post by L0in »

wackget wrote: post #41
superkuh wrote: post #33

The TikTok pixel is not actually a pixel like in the old days. It is not a 1x1 transparent image loaded from their servers. It is executable javascript code. All you have to do to stop 99% of the corporate spying is disable unsafe remote code execution. It's hard to believe I have to say that after the many decades of people getting it drilled into their heads "Do not open random email attachments" but here we are in…

It's a shame uMatrix is no longer actively supported because it was the silver bullet for this kind of shit.

I think uBlock Origin can do the same things with uMatrix.

Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#46

Post by cryoz »

giuliomagnifico wrote: post #5
lapcat wrote: post #4

Block the domain analytics.tiktok.com

Exactly, with a Pi-Hole.

Unfortunately, the TikTok app falls back on DoH if it detects domain blocking.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AppSecurity/comments/f422f3/tiktok_...

Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#47

Post by blacklight »

Just use NoScript, uBlock and/or a VPN with a PiHole server as a primary DNS and stop whining.

Of course I do hate it that the only way to make money on the web today is though ads and trackers. Of course I hate it to be monitored by sneaky pixels, even if I don't use the app. But the solution to the problem is quite simple: does my browser actually render and run the Javascript? If the answer is no (because the tracking script is either stopped by NoScript, or by uBlock, or by the DNS itself that resolves the tracking domain to 127.0.0.1), then I have no problem.

Let's stop whining of IT products tracking every single aspect of our digital lives: almost 30 years down the line, and the Internet hasn't yet figured out a way to make money other than ads and trackers, and it's not going to change any time soon. Instead, let's just make sure that the change happens faster: let's educate people to block all the trackers on all of their devices, so these companies are FORCED to come up with better ways of making money, or they just go burst.

Re: TikTok tracks you across the web, even if you don’t use the app

#48

Post by rwalle »

nantes wrote: post #39
bilsbie wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow that’s scary. Is there a way to share a video without that?

It appears to just be an HTTP 301 redirect, so you could use something like curl to unroll it: curl -I https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRmqkW4N produces: HTTP/2 301 server: nginx content-type: text/html; charset=utf-8 location: https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.sebastian.yang/video/7149578560230034734?_t=8W9Y6CPjvbf&_r=1 Trim off the GET params (the bit after the ? in the URL) and you get https://www.tiktok.com/@spencer.seba…

When you run that curl command, TikTok already knows your IP, which is a very valuable piece of information. Unless you maintain a server that has its own IP and does nothing except de-personalizing TikTok links, and always visit the tracking-free URL from another computer with a different IP, something like that. While it is possible, I am pretty sure most people, including most people here, don't want to do that.
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