cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/31187638

Earlier today I came across a Reddit comment with a link to an Instagram post. The link had ?igsh= at the end.

When I clicked on the link, I got this popup. It had a name and profile photo that was different from that of the post being shared.

Join Firstname Lastname on Instagram

See photos, videos, and more from Firstname Lastname.

[ Open Instagram ]

not now

I avoid link trackers. However, I did not realize it was this bad.

To my knowledge, TikTok does the same thing and lists the name of the person that shared the link. Assuming this increases engagement, any website could enable such a feature, even on old links that you shared in the past.

You should manually remove any trackers before sharing, or use an app for it.

  • @GeneralInterest
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    14 months ago

    Even when you don’t think anyone will find out who you are?

    I guess I do think there’s a non-zero chance that somebody might find out. With advances in LLMs perhaps it will be possible to create a model that can recognise your internet posts by your writing style and/or certain facts or anecdotes you’ve mentioned more than once.

      • @GeneralInterest
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        14 months ago

        Fair enough, I’m not aware of that quote, but that makes sense. But yeah I do wonder if future employers will be able to find your online posts more easily, using LLMs. So it’s probably important to only say things that you can defend.

    • @Duamerthrax
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      14 months ago

      I’m more worried about false positives then an LLM actually being able to track me by writing style.

      • @GeneralInterest
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        14 months ago

        That’s a good point. But I still worry about possible genuine positives. For example, if i criticise a foreign government online because of things like human rights abuses, what if that government can use an LLM to identify me and other critics of them?

        Maybe I’m just being paranoid though.