/dont-track-me-google

Firefox and Chrome extensions to prevent Google from making links ugly.

Primary LanguageJavaScriptMIT LicenseMIT

At the Google Search engine, search results are converted to an ugly link upon click. This link enables tracking for Google.

For example, the search entry

  • http://www.google.com/ (when searching for "Google") will be replaced with:
  • https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=Google&source=web&cd=8&sqi=2&ved=0CFgQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&ei=Ej__TrCkJo2bOrSs2aIE&usg=AFQjCNG5-9Jej-ukVeakTgwonqt2narbYg&sig2=f9f1dWcZoj6ZUC2Zxy9y2g

This script removes Google's link-conversion/tracking feature. This speeds up loading search results and allows you to right-click or tap to copy the link URL.

History

  • december 2011 - First release, as a user script.
  • november 2012 - Published as a Chrome extension.
  • april 2013 - Updated Chrome extension to disable <a ping>. This version worked fine for three years without any modifications.
  • july 2016 - Published Firefox addon. Rewrote the program from scratch to recognize more URLs and to use modern techniques for a better performance.
  • september 2016 - Restored referrer hiding functionality with minimal impact using referrer policies.

Brought to you by Rob Wu (https://robwu.nl).