
Teens have figured out how to mess with Instagram's tracking algorithm - elorant
https://www.cnet.com/news/teens-have-figured-out-how-to-mess-with-instagrams-tracking-algorithm/#comments
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gojomo
I strongly suspect Instagram has enough data, in the posts/photos, to
distinguish each separate install. And thus also, enough data to profile each
"sub-persona" separately, if they wanted to, or otherwise limit the behavior
if they didn't like it. (And their logs are probably extensive enough for them
to do this retrospectively.)

So this is an interesting social behavior – perhaps a hint to new potential
features/apps? – but probably not an actual escape from "Instagram tracking"
via a "flood" of "random data", as the author/presenter has spun it.

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adminu
While it might be possible to Insta/FB to do that, I strongly doubt, that they
do that or have systems in place to do that. It most likely is not an
important use case for them as the user group that does this is way too small.

I wonder, if these teens will change to something like, e.g., pixelfed, a
distributed image service. That would be a lot more effective in hiding.

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ptyyy
> Password resets don't end Instagram sessions, so both you and the second
> person will be able to access the same account at the same time.

Yikes.

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blakesterz
> These teenagers are relying on a sophisticated network of trusted Instagram
> users to post content from multiple different devices, from multiple
> different locations.

I'm not sure that quite qualifies as a "sophisticated network" but you're
right, I would think any service, especially something as big as Instagram,
would end all sessions if the password is reset. Could this be by design?
Seems like too be to be missed by the security teams though. Does Facebook do
the same thing?

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raxxorrax
From experience I would say that most services do not invalidate access tokes
after any account modifications, since you would need to track them. Depending
on the service that might not be too trivial, but I would expect services like
Instagram to do so. It is becoming more common at least.

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tehlike
Timestamping the tokens and invrementing timestamp at reset & compare these
tses on reset is one way to do it

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ipython
I've done the same by never logging into google and sharing my residential
connection via VPN with friends and family. Google, Facebook, and Instagram
all get very confused especially when the other users are sometimes logged in,
and physically located in faraway locales.

Downside is that sometimes google.com gets redirected to a foreign language,
or I get tons of captcha challenges. Worth it though to see the random
locations it thinks I'm at and ads it thinks I'm 'interested' in.

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qzx_pierri
Hopefully none of your family members have any "questionable" porn
preferences... Make sure you're logging to protect yourself.

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ta999999171
Mix it all.

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harrisonjackson
I don't really understand how this is news - this is no different than when I
spend an hour browsing #antiquewatch and then switch to #denverbroncos and end
up on #startups. The same thing happens if you share a netflix account - I had
a good laugh with my partner when I started getting barbie movie
recommendations.

That doesn't mean Instagram isn't able to track the activity specific to each
device though. Just like if you are logged into 5 Instagram accounts on one
device they're probably attributing activity to both the active account AND
the device.

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newscracker
Doesn't Instagram have every device's photos' metadata anyway, when each one
of those people gives it permission to access photos, and is then able to
build a device specific profile and connect that with a corresponding Facebook
account where some of these people may be sharing (their own) photos? Maybe
the Instagram feed is using all these mixed signals, but to think that
Instagram doesn't have a lot more data from each of those people's devices
seems to be a bit of a stretch. I don't believe this tactic hides these people
much from Instagram.

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TLightful
"They might be like, 'Hey, you posted from this hamburger place in Germany,
maybe you like Germany, or hamburgers, or traveling, we'll just throw
everything at you,'" Mosley said. "We fluctuate who's sending to what account.
One week I might be sending to 17 accounts, and then the next week I only have
four."

Would probabaly deliver more interesting ad results.

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mywittyname
This strikes me as a decent benefit to Instagram. Otherwise, why would they
leave sessions active after password resets? That's standard practice for any
large service.

Now, not only do you know the habits of individuals, but now you have insight
into their closest friend networks and I bet can glean a more information from
that fact. I'm sure this technique doesn't anonymize the people in the group,
because I bet they aren't all using burner phones for insta. However, it does
make it difficult for external data brokers to get that information, so maybe
there's a sales opportunity in here.

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angryasian
I'm really curious of what the future of the internet is. The reason these
services are mainstream and popular is because they are free and offer
customized experiences. Without ad money how would you expect more services
like this in the future. Before you say charge money for them... I just don't
believe this works within the context of social applications, plus the group
of people that primarily use these applications don't really have the ability
to pay.

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scarejunba
I actually enjoy Instagram's ads. I just wish there were higher quality
providers in the things I find interesting.

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m3kw9
This method is brute force as it gets. Replication in real world is not really
feasible for most just to prevent simple as tracking

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driverdan
One thing I recommend doing is block every single advertiser you see on
Instagram. It doesn't reduce the frequency of ads but will reduce their
revenue. Every time you block one it has to show you a lower value ad.

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chinesempire
when you "block every single" something, technically it becomes a job.

just... don't use the app maybe?

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moretai
I like the idea. But if you have the knowledge that they are tracking you, why
even participate in the app? I get it that all your friends do it, but that's
terrible excuse. You don't become a social pariah.

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yunruse
Some people want to keep up-to-date or discuss a topic, and some content is
exclusive to certain places. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the network
effect, really

