Google still tracks clicks to results

[AntonioRedondo]

With the last version 1.1.1 installed on Firefox 70.0 searches I make won't appear on Google My Activity. However clicks to any result appearing on the search will be registered and visible on My Activity.

[MorbZ]

I too noticed that Google recently changed the way their site works which breaks some functionality of the addon. For now the addon is not working as expected until I find the time to fix it.

[xfm00mm]

You can may resolve this to install Google Notrack
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/google-notrack-pro/

[sergeevabc]

@xfm00mm, I wonder how that project is different from acclaimed Searchlinkfix by @palant.

[xfm00mm]

It's same.Any extension with similar functionality is fine.

[AntonioRedondo]

After discovering Firefox Multi-Account Containers I would straight away stop developing this add-on. The one developed by Mozilla allows to isolate cookies and local storage of any website. It's super-powerful. I have three containers, one for Google, one for Facebook and another for the rest of websites where I make Google searches logged out and I'm not tracked by Google or Facebook on this common container as I'm not logged in. In combination with uBlock Origin it's the best privacy-combo ever.

NOTE: Firefox Multi-Account Containers is only available for Firefox. But if you use Chrome I'm not sure if it's the best browser if you're concerned with privacy.

[sergeevabc]

@AntonioRedondo, that third container of yours hides the activity from Google and Facebook, but exposes it to other parties, because “the rest of websites” talk to each other as well. “Temporary containers” addon tries to mitigate that by creating an isolated container for each tab, but it wears the disk and makes browsing not that smooth. Another approach to get rid of first-party cookie tracking is to use timer-based cleaners such as Forget-Me-Not by @Lusito. All in all, hustle & bustle, vanity…

[AntonioRedondo]

@sergeevabc I know "the rest of websites" talk to each other. That's why I also use uBlock Origin.

The good think of containers is that you can create as many containers as you want. It's not per tab. You set the number of tabs, domains and subdomains for every container you create. This done in a bunch of clicks. I did it for Facebook and Google because they're some of the big trackers that at the same time I use their services the most. I could also use it for Microsoft, Amazon or any other website. But for the use I make of these it's enough with uBlock and private windows.

On three different average Windows and macOS computers where I've installed the extension I've noticed 0 slowing down. Yet the mental peace achieved is much higher. Can you provide some benchmark about the disk wearing? I doubt such an extension can make that terrible use of resources.

[sergeevabc]

@AntonioRedondo, evidences pop up from time to time. What I learned from exploring this field is that whatever you do, tracking is going to happen, another kind on another level, because it’s a never-ending cat-and-mouse game where an end-user (especially with not much money to regularly upgrade) is always a step behind so it’s just matter of time when the complexity hits your resources or nerves.

[AntonioRedondo]

Interesting (fix your link to point to https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/9133f3/why_cant_extensions_like_cookie_auto_delete_and/e34iscv, it has got a wrong URL mixed with GitHub).

My profileFolder/storage/default folder is 561MBs. I'm however not sure that the creation of those folders within default is because of the containers extension. The creation date of most of those folders is before I installed the extension. I'll monitor the folder and see how the size grows over time.

Tracking is a very annoying thing of browsing the internet. I remember buying an USB cable on Amazon and then the next day seeing embedded adds of Amazon on Facebook recommending me USB cables. I was socked at that moment as I thought with uBlock was enough.

However the main aim to use Containers is not to fully prevent tracking but to prevent account tracking, that is, to prevent Google searches to be attached to my Google account.