your links are tattling on you
Everything after the ? in a URL is a note to the website. Who sent you, when, from where.
Everything after the ? in a URL is a note to the website. Who sent you, when, from where.
Depending on the site, some of these tags. Each one names the person who moved you.
si
A session tag. YouTube bolts it onto shared links so the site knows who sent you, from where, and at what time.
utm_*
Campaign tags, built for ads and newsletters. They name the exact ad that moved you, in the format marketing teams can count.
fbclid / gclid
Ad clicker ids from Meta and Google. They tie your click to the ad that paid for it, and to the profile attached to it.
ref / igshid / spm
Referrer tags. Instagram, shops and some social sites use them to log which page, post or photo walked you in.
Every tattletale feeds a system that files, sells and reuses what you just told it.
they build a file on you
Every click carries an id. The file outlives the tab, grows with each link you follow, and later decides what the site shows you.
the file changes hands
Profiles move between ad networks and data brokers. You never see the file, and it still follows you across the web.
the part you can't click out of
The tail is the sharing part, not the visit. The site still sees your IP the moment you arrive. Only a VPN or proxy hides that.
Three ways, from the setting you already have to the habit that sticks.
copy clean
In Firefox, right click any link or the address bar and pick Copy Clean Link. Older builds call it Copy Without Site Tracking. The paste comes out with no tail.
strip as you browse
uBlock Origin and Link Cleaner rip these tags out of every page you visit, so sites never even receive them.
snip it by hand
Any browser, any link: select everything from the first ? to the end of the address bar, delete it, hit Enter. Nothing breaks.
know the limit
Stripping the tail does not make you invisible. The destination site always sees your IP. It just stops the tattling.
server.log
sample entry# with the tail GET /watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ?si=5ZmW8Qs1syEsY4GS ip: 83.36.xx.xx region: spain time: 12 aug 2026, 13:02 utc agent: firefox 141 / windows referer: slopmadebymestudios.lol # without it GET /watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ ip: 83.36.xx.xx region: spain time: 12 aug 2026, 13:02 utc
live demo
Copy this link, open it in a new tab, and watch it unpack what it knows about you.
scarytracking-demo.html?si=5ZmW8Qs1syEsY4GS&utm_source=scarytracking&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=demo&ref=slopmadebymestudios.lol
nothing on the other side leaves your browser. it reads what your browser would hand to any analytics script, then forgets.