Not an expert in this and someone can correct me or expand…
In the case of imgur or reddit, with embedded content like image previews or when following a link the destination site can know where you came from. Here a link that explains it better than I could.
In the case of Google, if you use chrome or search lemmy.world through Google and then click it from the search results, google knows
And if you don’t have any tracking protection via browser or extensions, there can be tracking using cookies for example.
Cloudflare is probably a false flag detected by this site
And in my particular case following your link it told me “No tracking detected on this site at present.” As seen in this image
There are ways to block most data collection, as I said an example of this is using a browser with built in blockers for tracking and/or extensions.
The other part is on the user hands, proprietary services and apps are always going to track something even if minimal, like I said using Chrome or Google search or visiting reddit or opening an embedded image preview from imgur are totally on the user, and could be avoided.
That’s a very specific use case that would need you to provide more information, like what app are you using and what trackers are being reported, and that I particularly don’t know if I can help you with.
Maybe if you post said information, someone else can help you.
Edit to add: it is very likely the tracking is being done by the app itself, or when accessing an external link, or embedded content from the app, the app is not protecting you from other trackers, as lemmy.world itself is not tracking you
What about trackers from other companies?
Not an expert in this and someone can correct me or expand…
In the case of imgur or reddit, with embedded content like image previews or when following a link the destination site can know where you came from. Here a link that explains it better than I could.
In the case of Google, if you use chrome or search lemmy.world through Google and then click it from the search results, google knows
And if you don’t have any tracking protection via browser or extensions, there can be tracking using cookies for example.
Cloudflare is probably a false flag detected by this site
And in my particular case following your link it told me “No tracking detected on this site at present.” As seen in this image
Does this mean that users can’t avoid data collection?
There are ways to block most data collection, as I said an example of this is using a browser with built in blockers for tracking and/or extensions.
The other part is on the user hands, proprietary services and apps are always going to track something even if minimal, like I said using Chrome or Google search or visiting reddit or opening an embedded image preview from imgur are totally on the user, and could be avoided.
I use Lemmy through apps. My firewall sometimes detects different trackers when using apps.
That’s a very specific use case that would need you to provide more information, like what app are you using and what trackers are being reported, and that I particularly don’t know if I can help you with.
Maybe if you post said information, someone else can help you.
Edit to add: it is very likely the tracking is being done by the app itself, or when accessing an external link, or embedded content from the app, the app is not protecting you from other trackers, as lemmy.world itself is not tracking you
Here’s more of the page, that looks like it explains more about the “who” just by dividing it by categories (I found it useful, at least)
