clear-urls-browser-extension/README.md

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[<img src="https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/files/2020/04/get-the-addon-fx-apr-2020.svg" alt="for Firefox" height="60px">](https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/clearurls/) [<img src="https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/-/raw/master/promotion/MEA-button.png" alt="for Edge" height="60px">](https://microsoftedge.microsoft.com/addons/detail/mdkdmaickkfdekbjdoojfalpbkgaddei) [<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/chrome-gcs-uploader.appspot.com/image/WlD8wC6g8khYWPJUsQceQkhXSlv1/HRs9MPufa1J1h5glNhut.png" alt="for Chrome" height="60px">](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clearurls/lckanjgmijmafbedllaakclkaicjfmnk)

# <sub><img src="https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/raw/master/img/clearurls.svg" width="64px" height="64px"></sub> ClearURLs [![Gitter](https://badges.gitter.im/ClearURLs/ClearURLs.svg)](https://gitter.im/ClearURLs/ClearURLs)

**ClearURLs** is an add-on based on the new WebExtensions technology and is optimized for *Firefox* and *Chrome* based browsers.

This extension will automatically remove tracking elements from URLs to help protect your privacy when browse through the Internet, 
which is regularly updated by us and can be found [here](https://gitlab.com/anti-tracking/ClearURLs/rules/-/raw/master/data.min.json).

## Application
Many websites use tracking elements in the URL (e.g. `https://example.com?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sale`) to mark your online activity. 
All that tracking code is not necessary for a website to be displayed or work correctly and can therefore be removed—that is exactly what ClearURLs does.

Another common example are Amazon URLs. If you search for a product on Amazon you will see a very long URL, such as: 
```
https://www.amazon.com/dp/exampleProduct/ref=sxin_0_pb?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=tea&pd_rd_i=exampleProduct&pd_rd_r=8d39e4cd-1e4f-43db-b6e7-72e969a84aa5&pd_rd_w=1pcKM&pd_rd_wg=hYrNl&pf_rd_p=50bbfd25-5ef7-41a2-68d6-74d854b30e30&pf_rd_r=0GMWD0YYKA7XFGX55ADP&qid=1517757263&rnid=2914120011
```

Indeed most of the above URL is tracking code. Once ClearURLs has cleaned the address, it will look like this:
`https://www.amazon.com/dp/exampleProduct`

## Features

* Removes tracking from URLs automatically in the background
* Blocks some common ad domains (optional)
* Has a built-in tool to clean up multiple URLs at once
* Supports redirection to the destination, without tracking services as middleman
* Adds an entry to the context menu so that links can be copied quickly and cleanly
* Blocks hyperlink auditing, also known as *ping tracking* (see also [this article](https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/links.html#hyperlink-auditing))
* Prevents ETag tracking
* Prevents tracking injection over history API (see also: [The replaceState() method](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/History_API#The_replaceState()_method))
* Prevents Google from rewriting the search results (to include tracking elements)
* Prevents Yandex from rewriting the search results (to include tracking elements)

## Permissons
Reasoning for needed permissions can be found under [here](https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/issues/159).

## Screenshot
![Interface (version 1.14.0)](https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/raw/master/promotion/screens/Popup_v_1.14.0.png)

## CI/CD Artifacts Download (for Firefox- and Chrome-Dev only)
Here you can download the packed files for the Firefox- and Chrome-Dev:

[<img src="promotion/download-128.png"/>](https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/-/jobs/artifacts/master/raw/ClearUrls.zip?job=bundle%20addon)

## Test
If you want to test whether ClearURLs works correctly on your system, you can go to this test page: [https://test.clearurls.xyz/](https://test.clearurls.xyz/)

## Contribute
If you have any suggestions or complaints, please [create an issue.](https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/issues/new)

**Note: If you have any suggestions or complaints regarding the rules, please [create an issue in this repo](https://gitlab.com/anti-tracking/ClearURLs/rules/-/issues/new) or email us rules.support (at) clearurls.xyz (this mail will automatically create a new issue in this repo).**

### Translate ClearURLs
You want to help translating ClearURLs into many languages? – Nice

You can choose between two options to contribute. You can create a merge request, or you can use the POEditor to translate ClearURLs.

*Hint: The description field in the translation files are only an information for what the translation is used. 
It is not necessary to translate the description field; in the most cases it is empty.*

#### Merge request
If you want to create a merge request, you must open the path [`_locales/en/messages.json`](https://github.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/blob/master/_locales/en/messages.json) in the ClearURLs repo 
and translate the english terms into terms of your language. Once you have translated all the terms, you make a pull request of your translation. 
Please push your translation into the folder `_locales/{language code}/messages.json`.

#### POEditor
[<img src="https://poeditor.com/public/images/logo/logo.svg" alt="https://poeditor.com/join/project/vKTpQWWvk2" width="150">](https://poeditor.com/join/project/vKTpQWWvk2)

## Projects that use parts of ClearURLs

* [Uroute](https://github.com/walterl/uroute) used ClearURLs to filter/clean URL before launching browser
* [Scrub](https://gitlab.com/CrunchBangDev/cbd-cogs/-/tree/master/Scrub) used ClearURLs to filter/clean URLs as cog for the Red Discord bot
* [Unalix](https://github.com/AmanoTeam/Unalix) a simple Python module that removes tracking fields from URLs and unshort shortened URLs
* [Unalix-nim](https://github.com/AmanoTeam/Unalix-nim) a simple Nim library that removes tracking fields from URLs and unshort shortened URLs

## Recommended by...
*  [ghacks-user.js](https://github.com/ghacksuserjs/ghacks-user.js/wiki/4.1-Extensions)
*  [Awesome Humane Tech List](https://github.com/humanetech-community/awesome-humane-tech#tracking)
*  [PrivacyTools](https://www.privacytools.io/browsers/#addons)
*  [New York Times Wirecutter](https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/our-favorite-ad-blockers-and-browser-extensions-to-protect-privacy/#cleaner-links-clearurls)
*  ClearURLs is part of Mozilla's recommended extensions program

## Permissions
Reasoning for needed permissions you can find under [this discussion](https://gitlab.com/KevinRoebert/ClearUrls/issues/159).

## Copyright
We use some third-party scripts in our add-on. The authors and licenses are listed below.
-   [WebExtension browser API Polyfill](https://github.com/mozilla/webextension-polyfill) |
    Copyright by Mozilla |
    [MPL-2.0](https://github.com/mozilla/webextension-polyfill/blob/master/LICENSE)
-   [Bootstrap v4.3.1](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/tree/v4.3.1) |
    Copyright 2011-2016 Twitter, Inc. |
    [MIT](https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/master/LICENSE)
-   [jQuery v3.4.1](https://github.com/jquery/jquery/tree/3.4.1) |
    Copyright JS Foundation and other contributors |
    [MIT](https://jquery.org/license/)
-   [DataTables v1.10.20](https://github.com/DataTables/DataTables/tree/master) |  Copyright (c) 2008-2015 SpryMedia Limited | [MIT](https://datatables.net/license/)
-   [Pickr v1.7.0](https://github.com/Simonwep/pickr/tree/1.7.0) | Copyright (c) 2018 - 2020 Simon Reinisch |
    [MIT](https://github.com/Simonwep/pickr/blob/master/LICENSE)
-   [Font Awesome v5.12.0](https://github.com/FortAwesome/Font-Awesome/tree/5.12.0) | Copyright (c) @fontawesome |
    [Font Awesome Free License](https://github.com/FortAwesome/Font-Awesome/blob/master/LICENSE.txt)