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IP address
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2025 10:25 pm
by dalkin
Howdy. I'm pretty sure the answer is "yes it does" but if I load a URL into a browser widget and it draws content, does the request pull your IP into play at any point?
Re: IP address
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 5:01 pm
by FourthWorld
Socket comms require that server to be able to know the IP address of the requesting client in order to reply.
If this is a privacy concern there may be a way to route the request through TOR.
But even with that, the user-agent string still contains information which can be used to cross-reference movements across the web:
https://kittens.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/ ... user-agent
What is the problem you're looking to solve?
Re: IP address
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 9:57 pm
by dalkin
Thanks for your reply Richard. It's not so much a problem as it is a piece of mischief. I know someone with a YouTube channel who would like more hits so on a slow afternoon I wrote a small app that loads the URL ( 2 minutes long ) randomly over the course of 60 minutes setting 'x' number of times. The concern is that YT would discover that it's artificial and punish the channel because if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's the fact that the engineers behind YT are smarter than me, so I don't think I would risk it and it will sit on the shelf as another path to fame and fortune thwarted by the Gods of Reality.
That being said, it would also be a tool to target channels spreading disinformation.
Re: IP address
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2025 11:19 pm
by FourthWorld
Some YT creators I follow say the algorithm has gotten very picky, weighting videos watched to the end much higher than just load traffic.
Re: IP address
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 12:00 am
by dalkin
The following code increased my views from 3 to 88 (and yes folks, that's a younger me outlining the secrets of comedy) but insert your own URL. I had it on a 300 cycle loop overnight (my idea of a stress test) but the 'views' count stopped at 88, which could be either YouTube punching me in the nuts, or else it marked a 'day' cutoff. I'll check tomorrow and see if the count is updated. I've had no word from YT about suspension/throttling/deactivation but use it with care obviously.
Code: Select all
on mouseUp
-- Configuration
put 300 into tTotalRepeats -- Number of play cycles
put "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_TzJowsR5E" into tURL
put 60 into tMinWait
put 420 into tMaxWait
-- Main loop
repeat with i = 1 to tTotalRepeats
-- Load video with random start time (0-600 seconds)
put random(600) into tRandomStart
set the URL of widget "YTPlayer" to tURL & "&start=" & tRandomStart
-- Calculate random wait time safely
put tMaxWait - tMinWait into tRange
if tRange < 1 then put 1 into tRange -- Ensure minimum range
put random(tRange) + tMinWait into tWaitTime
-- Status feedback
put "Cycle" && i & "of" && tTotalRepeats & \
" - Waiting" && tWaitTime && "seconds" into field "statusField"
-- Wait with message handling
repeat with t = 1 to tWaitTime
wait 1 second with messages
put "Cycle" && i & " of" && tTotalRepeats & \
" -" && tWaitTime - t && "seconds remaining" into field "statusField"
end repeat
end repeat
-- Cleanup
put "Playback complete" into field "statusField"
end mouseUp
Re: IP address
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 2:18 am
by dalkin
The interface in its most humble form.
Re: IP address
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 4:03 am
by dalkin
Views were 88, now 43! Truncated by an algorithm or human hand? No notifications from YT so maybe I'll never know.
Re: IP address
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 4:42 pm
by FourthWorld
Social media companies are largely unregulated in the US, their algorithms concealed from the public, designed to maximize engagement for advertisers while minimizing monetization payouts to the content creators making ad revenue possible.
See also: any William Gibson novel.
Re: IP address
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 5:51 pm
by richmond62
Social media companies are largely unregulated in the US
And over-regulated in Europe.
Difficult to work out which is better.
Re: IP address
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 8:50 pm
by FourthWorld
richmond62 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 31, 2025 5:51 pm
Social media companies are largely unregulated in the US
And over-regulated in Europe.
Difficult to work out which is better.
If this were a trial I would offer the current state of social discourse in the US as my only evidence. #CaseClosed
Re: IP address
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2025 9:30 pm
by dalkin
This morning the views have dropped to 31. YT has spoken!
