Why does Kutt use so many google services?

[robi]

For being self hosted and disconnected from the spying services, it has too many references to Google APIs and analytics.

Can those be cleansed or removed?

[girish]

I guess you mean the usage of google fonts and things like that? This is probably best reported upstream. There is already

• https://github.com/thedevs-network/kutt/issues/373 (Google fonts)
• https://github.com/thedevs-network/kutt/issues/235 (Matomo)

[robi]

@girish ah it was for the ReCaptchas which I never saw since it's blocked here. Thanks.

[marcusquinn]

For interest, I'm finding https://www.localcdn.org handy for filtering out that sort of trojan tracking plague from the web browser at-least.

[robi]

@marcusquinn uMatrix browser extension does it for me.

[marcusquinn]

@robi Looks like uMatrix is something different, more like uBlock Origin, which seems to work well enough coupled with LocalCDN, also seems to be EOL'd:

• https://www.ghacks.net/2020/09/20/umatrix-development-has-ended/

[yusf]

@girish said in Why does Kutt use so many google services?:

usage of google fonts and things like that

On that topic it would be really cool to have a feature in Cloudron similar to what LocalCDN does in the user's browser, blocking or limiting tracking and data harvesting exposure to FAANG and others.

[marcusquinn]

@yusf Interesting idea! Maybe worth just suggesting it to the author that there would be interest in a server-side version: https://codeberg.org/nobody/LocalCDN/issues

Maybe @Lonk with his OpenVPN project would have ideas on this too?

[Lonkle]

@marcusquinn said in Why does Kutt use so many google services?:

@yusf Interesting idea! Maybe worth just suggesting it to the author that there would be interest in a server-side version: https://codeberg.org/nobody/LocalCDN/issues

Maybe @Lonk with his OpenVPN project would have ideas on this too?

I couldn't think of any more features to add aside from new protocols, but this would increase speed (especially important over VPN), and reduce tracking. I'd have to find a way to intercept and deliver "local" VPN Client packages / fonts / etc. I'll have to research how LocalCDN does it. I'm also going to start using LocalCDN, it's brilliant.

How do you find all of these amazing products?

[yusf]

I didn’t mean for it to be another Cloudron app. Instead I meant implementing it as a service layer directly in Cloudron.

[marcusquinn]

@lonk been online as long as the internet And, recently very much woke to the privacy issues when these behemoths behave like drunks in a brewery for their data-mining through so many browser trojans by proxy.

[andreasdueren]

@girish Would it be possible to just omit the relevant parts and serve the google font locally before building for cloudron?

[JOduMonT]

@andreasdueren said in Why does Kutt use so many google services?:

@girish Would it be possible to just omit the relevant parts and serve the google font locally before building for cloudron?

If I understood well, the goal of Cloudron is to make easy life SysAdmin job via Docker by adding a thin layer; not to fork the project.

More in a laughing voice, I would say like they often say in the Open-Source Community; use your rights; fork it and code it as you want. While this is beautiful to say and to have the possibility to do; not everybody has the time and knowledge to rebuild apps and to maintain it and, for me; this is where Open Source Movement lack; they lack power of federation and inclusion; most of them will end by saying fork it; go away with my code and leave me alone than trying to work together.

[JOduMonT]

@robi said in Why does Kutt use so many google services?:

spying services

do you also consider the JS trap ?

[robi]

@JOduMonT for what reason?

[JOduMonT]

@robi said in Why does Kutt use so many google services?:

@JOduMonT for what reason?

JS ping home such as API

[robi]

@JOduMonT Define home for a self-hosted system serving up the JS. Also, which API, self-hosted or otherwise?

[girish]

@andreasdueren I think maintaining upstream patches is out of scope for us (unless it's some serious temporary bug). Are you able to report this upstream? For example, https://github.com/thedevs-network/kutt/commit/4e672a8b51e741f0f276fab999d622dc5337ca88 removed GA, so maybe they are open to this.

[andreasdueren]

@girish Understandable. Unfortunately it looks like the maintainers don't seem to be very interested in removing GA seeing these issues being open for a while now. Maybe I have to go back to yourls

[timconsidine]

@andreasdueren I missed the original post, but shall now look to move away from Kutt. Shame because it looks nice and works well, but I can't tolerate anything built around Google services.

Yourls works but is just ugly and dated (IMHO).

Looking at alternatives :

• https://github.com/shlinkio/shlink (Dockerfile √)
  (wishlist https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/2325/shlink-modern-url-shortener?lang=en-GB)
• https://github.com/muety/anchr (Dockerfile √)
• https://github.com/ldidry/lstu (Dockerfile √)
• https://github.com/urlhum/urlhum (Dockerfile √)
• https://github.com/steven-tey/dub (no Dockerfile)
  (wishlist https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/7719/dub-an-open-source-bit-ly-alternative-for-url-redirection?lang=en-GB)
• https://github.com/cmpct-io (no Dockerfile )
• https://github.com/origranot/reduced.to (no Dockerfile)
• https://github.com/webfuelcode/link2u (script)