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Block google doc/drive links
Can we block or at least put auto-warnings when people post google doc/drive links? I keep seeing them from twitter and worry that they are a strategy for TRAs to dox us.
Many are not aware that clicking on them can reveal personal info like email addresses, usernames, and location.
Please don't click on google docs from people you do not personally know!
Yes, I know I posted this a year ago, but thought I would bubble the suggestion.
I agree, shouldn't be allowed, they can doxx easily if you go to a Google doc. Saw one earlier from a low level/commenter user (shows to me if they're legit or not) and didn't click for the exact reasons you said
Yeah, thats why I reposted my suggestion. In the meantime, users should report such links to mods to have them taken down
I agree with this. I think they should be blocked from link posts because it's too easy to accidentally click on those, but allowed in text posts where you can see the whole address clearly.
As far as I know Google doc/drive don't show anyone's username or email to the owner of the doc/drive if the doc/drive is available to the public at large... You just appear on the documents as an " anonymous animal " of sorts... They don't see your username or anything as far as I have tested...
In the mean time, to the right of the post you can see where the link goes. I'm trying to get into the habit of reading that instead of just blindly going. It's also kind of better to click 'comments' as many times someone has copy pasted the text in there anyway. And there isn't a setting to open a new tab/new window.
You can open them in a private or incognito window to view without revealing your Google account information, but they shouldn't be directly linked in a post title.
Any web site/server can tell your general location based on your IP address, so that's not something unique to Google links. Use a VPN based in a different location if you are concerned about that.
I understand all of that. My concern is for users that don't use incognito browsers or VPNs. Its really easy for people to accidently click a title of a post, not realizing in links to a google doc that can access usernames or other identifying information.
There may be valuable content that someone wants to share. If a warning is added to open it in an incognito or private window, that should be enough.
As far as I can tell from searching, public google docs links do not share your google account info with the document owner.
https://bdtechtalks.com/2019/03/18/google-docs-link-sharing-identity-privacy/
If anyone wants to contradict this with resources, please do.