tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post2156860669306756048..comments2023-11-08T03:33:06.125-08:00Comments on the JoshMeister on Security: How to Preview Shortened URLs (TinyURL, bit.ly, is.gd, and more)Josh Longhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03511083686180216122noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-16455082930599507792013-11-13T13:49:36.983-08:002013-11-13T13:49:36.983-08:00This one's good and has plenty of advanced opt...This one's good and has plenty of advanced options:<br /><br />http://kfc.io<br /><br />- multiple long urls<br />- custom name url<br />- url password<br />- expiry<br />- limited number of url uses<br />- save to folders<br />- private or public url<br />- QR code<br />- APIAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-84709632901813867042013-11-12T21:49:26.141-08:002013-11-12T21:49:26.141-08:00Gold, you were correct, at least for a short perio...Gold, you were correct, at least for a short period of time. A few minutes ago I verified that I was only able to access http://goo.gl/1tRbb+ whilst logged into the Google account from which I created it. However, a few minutes later (after I was ready to publish an update to this article), I was again able to visit http://goo.gl/1tRbb+ and http://goo.gl/info/1tRbb whilst not logged into any Google account. Also, the goo.gl homepage still says, "All goo.gl URLs and click analytics are public and can be accessed by anyone." You may have noticed a temporary glitch that Google has already fixed.Josh Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03511083686180216122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-6266672284483013262013-11-12T16:37:35.005-08:002013-11-12T16:37:35.005-08:00goo.gl/shortcode+ doesn't appear to work any m...goo.gl/shortcode+ doesn't appear to work any more. It takes you to the front page unless you're logged in, in which case you get the analytic page.CMDR Unifexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023348676416501871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-57136955120941840042013-08-24T14:40:19.467-07:002013-08-24T14:40:19.467-07:00Also in reply to gadgetsa2z:
I should add that if...Also in reply to gadgetsa2z:<br /><br />I should add that if you spend money for "SEO services" that claim to get your site linked from a number of popular sites or those with a high Google PageRank, this most likely means that the person or group offering those services will attempt to leave spam comments on those sites. Some people may pay for links or publicity and unknowingly get their site spamvertized, which can lead to their site getting blacklisted by anti-spam organizations. The damage to your site's reputation may be irreparable and will be a very bad thing for your site. Thus you'll have effectively wasted your money and have gotten nothing positive in return.Josh Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03511083686180216122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-6582071215397754452013-08-24T14:36:50.813-07:002013-08-24T14:36:50.813-07:00Hi, gadgetsa2z:
On your first point, I agree that...Hi, gadgetsa2z:<br /><br />On your first point, I agree that using URL shorteners that can track statistics can be useful. I normally use Bitly on social networks because it's free, it's widely known and respected, it allows users to preview the URL before visiting the destination site, and it provides stats. Just because someone is using a URL shortener doesn't mean that the destination site is bad.<br /><br />You raise the question of what exactly constitutes spam. I think this is an important discussion to have, especially on a site where the term is used frequently and not always defined explicitly.<br /><br />Spam comes in many forms, to be sure. It can be one of those "I know it when I see it" sort of things, but there are some keys that can make spam easier to identify (this is not a comprehensive list by any means):<br /><br />1) For one thing, spam is unsolicited, regardless of the medium (e-mail, blog comments, etc.) and usually comes from an organization or person a) with whom the recipient has never interacted previously and/or b) which the recipients never authorized to send them advertisements.<br />2) On this site when I discuss spam, I mostly talk about the misleading or downright deceptive type. This variety of spam usually attempts to either trick the recipient into clicking on a link or to reply to the message, and it often doesn't deliver what is promised or implied (in other words, it's fraudulent; a scam).<br />3) Sometimes a spam-advertised link goes to a site that may be legitimate but has been hijacked by someone with malicious intent (the idea here being that the hacked site's reputation will be sacrificed, possibly instead of the spammer's domains' reputation).<br />4) In nearly every case, the goal of the spam is either to make money (often by questionable means) or infect visitors' computers or devices (which in turn is typically used as a means to make money).<br /><br />You try to force a question of whether any site with advertisements may be considered a spam site. That's obviously not the case. Legitimate businesses obviously need to make money in order to be sustainable and pay their employees, and advertising is often the preferred means of making a profit so that content or services can be provided for free or at a reduced cost. Legitimate companies are required by law to include opt-out instructions in every advertisement e-mail, and those opt-out instructions have to actually work. Legitimate companies do not send the deceptive or malicious kinds of spam that I usually talk about on this site.<br /><br />As for the question of whether labeling a site as a 'spam site' is used as a form of bullying, as far as I know it's not very common. I've seen "bullying" behavior most often on community-rated reputation sites, particularly targeted towards major political or religious sites. Some people have very strong opinions about these topics, and a subset of those people seem to think it's their duty to damage the reputation of a site if they don't agree with everything that the site stands for (or that they think the site stands for).<br /><br />A different form of spam-related bullying is when certain anti-spam organizations get a little too trigger-happy, blacklisting a legitimate site or mailing list and then making it extremely difficult for the legitimate company to get removed from the list. That form of bullying happens on occasion as well, but I don't know if it's an extremely common occurrence. One would hope that the motives behind anti-spam sites would be pure, but in some cases their methods and practices may be less than ideal.Josh Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03511083686180216122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-61881486622909057052013-08-24T03:30:28.916-07:002013-08-24T03:30:28.916-07:00Good reference article!
2 points i would like to ...Good reference article!<br /><br />2 points i would like to make.<br /><br />1- URL shortening is very useful to understand what web content works or not via the visit stats.<br /><br />2- Spam? IMO, The term spam can be misleading at times and often is simply used to destroy someone else genuine business. I now think of it as another kind of bullying.<br /><br />What is the actual definition of spam? <br />* irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of recipients.<br /><br />Now a days, companies/individuals/websites simply need to make a living and want to cash-in the profits of any product/link shown in their own web site and because of this by branding anyone else offering a product/service a spammer that this definition IMO is changing. The fact most people don't realize is, that the majority of popular websites (e.g. Facebook, twitter, WordPress, etc, etc) already have systems in place to detect, block and even replace any URL shortening advertising links with their own advertising links. e.g. I found a really good deal for a product and posted in some deals website, next the link had been updated with their own personalized link so the deals website gets commission from where i seen the offer...<br /><br />Should we next consider any website out there offering Google adverts or any other form of advertising links which have financial interested behind it (e.g. a product review or a coupon/voucher) also be considered spammers?<br /><br />Basically if you pay a website to link to your product/products/services you are no longer considered a spammer but if you don't then those web sites have the power to brand any links to your product/products/service as being spam. Believe me I hate spam but branding someone a spammer can be just another form of bullying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-55066117872333330672012-08-30T00:45:18.353-07:002012-08-30T00:45:18.353-07:00Thank you so much for this article! I used it to m...Thank you so much for this article! I used it to make another cheat sheet in Russian in my LJ (with link to you, of course).<br />Another update: "URLVoid Unshorten URL" changed from http://www.urlvoid.com/tools/unshorten-url/ to http://unshortenurl.urlvoid.com/Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08568996017449746946noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-15043377023122575022012-06-06T15:19:12.639-07:002012-06-06T15:19:12.639-07:00v.gd is another shortener that enables previews by...v.gd is another shortener that enables previews by default, from the people who made is.gdcodlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03273021978376124811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-59905242759681213122012-05-15T13:23:18.567-07:002012-05-15T13:23:18.567-07:00For yi.tl (http://yi.tl) just add a tilde to the e...For yi.tl (http://yi.tl) just add a tilde to the end '~'. It not only shows you the full link but also checks the link against Google's Malware and Phishing databases.<br /><br />Add a '+' for stats.<br />Add '.qr' for the QR code.Nurnalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14362059216463546626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-64421575613621331622012-04-01T21:51:22.871-07:002012-04-01T21:51:22.871-07:00Thanks! I seriously hate the people who invented b...Thanks! I seriously hate the people who invented bit.ly and tinyURL. about 99.999999999999999999999999999999% of the stuff with those shorthand URLs are just spam. They literally do the spammers' jobs for them.tightsandteahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14318403695779636092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-91973771617168354182011-04-20T12:21:13.087-07:002011-04-20T12:21:13.087-07:00AWESOME POST!!! JUST SHARED WITH FRIENDS ON FACEBO...AWESOME POST!!! JUST SHARED WITH FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK AS THE FB Groups are turning into spam source by many apps.. click any link and it will spam all the groups you are subscribed to.. Was sick.. I m happy now that i found a solution..t.v.vigneshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03617902756530518180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-17046772846989420862011-03-23T08:43:46.258-07:002011-03-23T08:43:46.258-07:00super helpful resource. i've shared it w/cowor...super helpful resource. i've shared it w/coworkers. i was sick of getting random shortened links in chat messages from "friends". never trusted them & now i can know for sure.apeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15172907409693612858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-69169159726858272672011-02-05T15:01:55.508-08:002011-02-05T15:01:55.508-08:00The plus sign for bit.ly URLs is really handy to k...The plus sign for bit.ly URLs is really handy to know, since I'm a Twitter addict. Thanks!ThatsGobbleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04495520313302107263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-5043253348638971272010-11-25T16:11:39.993-08:002010-11-25T16:11:39.993-08:00Adding the + to a http://goo.gl/ shortened url
wil...Adding the + to a http://goo.gl/ shortened url<br />will take you to a page that decodes it.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09431616469961443719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-85080161241600711362010-11-25T13:35:06.845-08:002010-11-25T13:35:06.845-08:00Ooh - very useful info - thanks for collating it a...Ooh - very useful info - thanks for collating it all.<br /><br />For goo.gl URLs, it seems that adding a + sign to the end of a goo.gl URL works. I've only tried this experimentally and don't know if it's official? The plus sign seemes to take you to a URL containing an extra /info/ which decodes the URL.<br /><br />So <br />http://goo.gl/{characters}+<br /><br />takes you to <br />http://goo.gl/info/{characters}Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-77336655847567841682010-11-24T23:11:15.670-08:002010-11-24T23:11:15.670-08:00What about the URL shortener from Google - http://...What about the URL shortener from Google - http://goo.gl/Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770746161048522179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-49872356475239811172010-05-27T08:48:48.784-07:002010-05-27T08:48:48.784-07:00Regarding Eric Hellman's comment above, please...Regarding Eric Hellman's comment above, please note that I did <b>NOT</b> recommend the "bit.ly preview" Firefox add-on. The directions in this article explain how to <i>manually</i> discover the full URL to which a bit.ly link will redirect. The browser extension that I mentioned in the follow-up article is called LongURL Mobile Expander and is maintained by a third party unrelated to bit.ly.Josh Longhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03511083686180216122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-80213405829900902322010-05-27T08:26:14.787-07:002010-05-27T08:26:14.787-07:00A note on the Firefox bit.ly Preview addon- it lea...A note on the Firefox bit.ly Preview addon- it leaks the users entire browsing activity to bit.ly. See <a href="http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2010/05/bitly-preview-add-on-leaks-user.html" rel="nofollow">the post on Go To Hellman</a>.Erichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14172740163003223132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-20777642349104952882010-05-23T21:08:31.918-07:002010-05-23T21:08:31.918-07:00Great article. I just linked to it to raise the aw...Great article. I just linked to it to raise the awareness of my family regarding shortened URLs. Hopefully, it will help them keep from getting their Facebook accounts hacked!!!Krishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08463520819837950188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-26613552104666677712010-03-03T03:16:27.940-08:002010-03-03T03:16:27.940-08:00Thanks for the post. Very useful.Thanks for the post. Very useful.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-78736590008183551272010-02-17T06:18:56.356-08:002010-02-17T06:18:56.356-08:00I was looking for a way to do this, and it seemed ...I was looking for a way to do this, and it seemed like the only option was to install the Firebox bit.ly preview add-on, which has gotten horrible user reviews. So thanks! I'm going to tweet about this right now, since eeeeeeeveryone on Twitter is using bit.ly.ettiblehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02276280896770913705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-14131343267698917722010-02-06T09:55:32.630-08:002010-02-06T09:55:32.630-08:00Three of the most popular URL Shortners offer the ...Three of the most popular URL Shortners offer the "preview" feature - is.gd/xyz-, preview.tinyurl.com/xyz, and bit.ly/info/xyz. If you want to build the functionality into your website(s) so that all shortened URLs are previewed, download the javascript at http://www.URLatex.com. Then your visitors will always know what they are clicking on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-22158949829868475072009-08-11T06:24:56.066-07:002009-08-11T06:24:56.066-07:00Great article just what I was searching for "...Great article just what I was searching for "How to preview shortened URL's" I created a tinyurl of this page see the preview here:<br /><br />http://preview.tinyurl.com/oeb6yc<br /><br />Well Done Josh!Writerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04871249985288855082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-16814329335746039932009-06-23T04:28:44.680-07:002009-06-23T04:28:44.680-07:00Josh,
Very nice article . . . I gave a link to i...Josh, <br /><br />Very nice article . . . I gave a link to it from my "CyberCrime & Doing Time" article talking about Twitter and dangerous tiny URLs.<br /><br />http://garwarner.blogspot.com/2009/06/fake-twitter-linkedin-and-scribd-pages.htmlGary Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822366940133384061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6477215397403017256.post-64843769572734120662009-04-12T00:29:00.000-07:002009-04-12T00:29:00.000-07:00Good post. Very useful. Thank you.Good post. Very useful. Thank you.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08276698557240643478noreply@blogger.com