Those ugly tracking codes in your links? I’m building a one-click fix (while learning JavaScript from scratch)
I have been an avid privacy advocate for quite some time now. It started with outright rejecting all "Big Brother" tech, and being hyper paranoid with every little detail, willing to sacrifice ease of use, in exchange for added privacy. However, as time went on, I slowly understood what is that I actually consider my "threat model" , and what exactly is my "sweet spot" between privacy and ease-of-use. I'm now back on multiple "Big Brother" tech, with some extra steps, to ensure I get the facilities they provide, while also being wary of my data. However, while I did make this compromise, I was very annoyed I had to make this compromise in the first place. In an ideal world, I would want the tech where everyone actually is, and is the standard for that particular domain, to have privacy features by default, and not be treated as a niche, or a luxury you have to go out of your way to avail. It was this annoyed version of myself, with my strong belief of privacy features and tools being the new norm, I started looking at everything with that lens. And that is how I got concerned about tracking in links and URLs. Try sharing any Instagram post, or YouTube video, by copying its URL, and you will see a bunch of garbage (garbage to you) in the link. Take for example this (fake) link: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cxyz123/?igshid=AbCdEf123456 These links contain something along the lines of utm_* (marketing attribution), or in this case, Ad-Click Identifiers, such as fbclid (Meta), gclid (Google), or igshid (Instagram). These pesky trackers help collect information regarding you, your device, and also help connect you across the internet, mapping your movement as you browse the web. The thing is, while there are good Samaritans who have built tools and websites to get rid of these trackers, and many privacy oriented browsers have introduced a "Copy Clean Link" option while copying the link from the browser, I believe there should be a tool which should not be restricted to a