Nifft
2018-07-11, 10:31 PM
I want to watch a very stupid video on YouTube. I want to leave no evidence of that for any social media algorithm to associate with my main accounts.
So, what I do is I start up a VPN, then open a Private browser window, and then open the stupid video in that window.
Finally, I close the Private window. Thanks to a browser addon, all site cookies are purged when I close the associated tab(s). This should already happen with Private windows, but sometimes dusting off and nuking the site cookies from orbit is the only way to be sure.
I do the same thing before checking strange items on Amazon.
What evidence am I leaving behind in spite of my ever-so-careful precautions?
Can YouTube hunt me down and recommend more stupid videos based on that one-off? What about my ISP, can they flag me with stupid-video-watcher slow-lane penalties?
What other sites are worth taking such precautions before visiting? What additional precautions could a reasonable person take, weighted towards convenience / ease of use?
So, what I do is I start up a VPN, then open a Private browser window, and then open the stupid video in that window.
Finally, I close the Private window. Thanks to a browser addon, all site cookies are purged when I close the associated tab(s). This should already happen with Private windows, but sometimes dusting off and nuking the site cookies from orbit is the only way to be sure.
I do the same thing before checking strange items on Amazon.
What evidence am I leaving behind in spite of my ever-so-careful precautions?
Can YouTube hunt me down and recommend more stupid videos based on that one-off? What about my ISP, can they flag me with stupid-video-watcher slow-lane penalties?
What other sites are worth taking such precautions before visiting? What additional precautions could a reasonable person take, weighted towards convenience / ease of use?