(this isnt a question about how to make invidious more secure/private i just want google to stop knowing everything i do and every device i have) I like watching youtube videos. I hate google. I try invidious. It’s pretty cool.
I watch the videos I like on it. But I get suspicous. The channels I wacth even after I change my Ip, clear my cookies, change my tor circuts, even change my entire os to something real private like tails or qubes with whonix , ARE STILL RECOMMENDED TO ME. So I do a test. I watch channels I don’t like. There it is. I feel like google is laughing in my face
Whats worse, I went on a different device and the same videos are there :(.
ive tried vpns, tor, tails, whonix in qubes, quad9, and nothing works. what do i do now?
(im not concerned about youtube synching reccomendations im concerned about google knowing what i like, and what devices i have no matter what tools i use)
I’ve seen a handful of your posts before. I don’t think Google is still tracking you.
If you were to open YouTube in one tab, and Invidious in another, Google could maybe correlate the two (realistically, even that is enough seperation) but you wouldn’t notice anything. Invidious uses one token for multiple users, so if YouTube is recommending something to you, it’s recommending it to everyone using the instance. That only really applies to the frontpage though, when you watch a video, those recommendations are based on the video you’re watching.
You describe using a lot of services that help protect your privacy, but you don’t seem to understand when, why, and how to use them properly (e.g. Qubes is security focused, and incidentally good for privacy, while Tails is privacy focused and decent for security). I’d suggest taking a look at privacyguides.org (not affiliated) for a more in depth explanation of various services.
i dont watch videos on youtube on linux anymore i watch youtube through invidious on tor. i clear my idenity. I go to a different device, ios, normal guy safari, go to invidious, the videos are there too. if google can do it through invidious its realistick to assume it can through any website. thanks for the resources though )
Would you mind sharing screenshots (or at the very least name specific examples)?
What you’re describing is technologically and financially infeasible for Google to do at scale (or even to one specific person). If Google were able to track you that well, they wouldn’t modify the recommendations for you, they would quietly add it to an ad profile on you. The only reason the YouTube algorithm exists is to keep people on the platform for longer, when you use invidious, you are losing YouTube money, so they have no financial incentive to modify their algorithm for you.
If you’re using a small few person instance, then what you watch can actually influence the recommendations (at least until the token rotates), but that isn’t Google tracking you specifically. If you use a more popular instance (like nerdvpn or nadeko) what you watch will do little to influence the front page algorithm.
As I mentioned in my previous comment, I’d suggest you look into how the various privsec technologies you’re using actually work, and also look at how companies are actually able to track you. If you just assume a company can do something because they’re big, powerful, and scary, suddenly the company seems much bigger, more powerful, and scary than they really are. It’s also important to remember that just because something can be used to correlate activity with the user doing, that doesn’t mean it’s something that can be done at scale.
Judging from your previous posts and comments, it sounds like you’re quite new to privacy. This kind of mentality (in one form or another) is very common amongst people who are new to caring about their privacy. Surveillance has been happening for your entire life, so it’s not going to hurt to take a bit to think about things with a clearer head. Of course, if you’re in a situation where lack of privacy might cause physical harm, find help ASAP, but generally you can take things at a slower pace to help on the long run. That’s not to say stop caring at all, but you don’t need to suddenly drop everything and move to a bunker in the woods. Too much change at once can lead to privacy fatigue, which only makes it less likely that you’ll escape any of the surveillance of the modern world.