[HN Gopher] Unverified vanity URLs and interest tracking catalyz...
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       Unverified vanity URLs and interest tracking catalyze fraud online
        
       Author : Sephr
       Score  : 5 points
       Date   : 2024-01-08 18:46 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (eligrey.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (eligrey.com)
        
       | lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote:
       | I used to get emails from a particular recruiter which would
       | include a link to a job listing on their employer's website. I'd
       | always remove some extraneous tracking information from it,
       | landing on a single identifier which I believe was unique to me
       | but still showed the job listing.
       | 
       | I believe the job-listing identifier was always unique because I
       | eventually got an email from this recruiter which instead
       | contained a bit.ly link, presumably because it rendered me unable
       | to remove the tracking information. I did not click on that link.
       | That was also the last email I received from that person,
       | cementing the idea in my mind that he was "on to me" affecting
       | their recruitment analytics.
       | 
       | Sometimes I think back on that time and smile, knowing that I
       | caused some difficulty -- however small -- for someone working in
       | business intelligence with my dumb anti-tracking antics.
       | Admittedly, they did successfully track some of my behavior but
       | they had to do it manually with a human thinking critically so
       | I'll call it a win.
       | 
       | Anyway, the point of the story is that I didn't click the URL-
       | shortened link because they're shady AF and often used for the
       | specific purpose of hiding details about the URL. Tracking is a
       | rather benign "abuse" of this but there are other practical
       | concerns with malicious domains.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | It's funny to me that a 140 char limit to a post drove the wide
         | use of URL shortening services to the point people just accept
         | them as normal.
        
           | nocoiner wrote:
           | I think this was mostly just my personal slightly-paranoid
           | aversion to political risk, but it always astounded me that
           | someone was willing to use the Libyan TLD _during the days of
           | Gaddafi_ to build a link-shortening business.
        
       | Sephr wrote:
       | Hi, I'm the author of this post. I'm curious to hear about your
       | experiences with link fraud and interest tracking, and opinions
       | on how the issues surrounding these techniques should be
       | addressed by the adtech industry.
        
       | amadeuspagel wrote:
       | > Being able to differentiate on interests such as 'holidays' and
       | 'cars' as compared to 'fast food' enables advertisers to
       | weaponize link fraud and provide a similar product or service at
       | different prices to different socioeconomic groups.
       | 
       | Meaning, at cheaper prices to poorer people? Seems good.
        
         | Sephr wrote:
         | It can also mean more-expensive prices to wealthier people, or
         | lower-quality scam products for people too poor to complain
         | (poverty can significantly decrease one's energy and available
         | free time) once they get them.
         | 
         | The discrimination cuts both ways.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-08 23:01 UTC)