So, not only do they involuntarily bulk up your G profile with the alternative web site you’re on whenever an embedded YouTube video appears, they also add the even more alternative web site which linked you there? Without anybody noticing, except those of us who pay close attention to strings of code?

Where is the respect? No doubt they’ll do the same (if not already) with AdWords and Analytics and Data API and JSAPI embedded code. Direct address logging alone would cover a high % of web sites out there; adding referral logging covers infinitely more.

That’s how often your private browsing would be kept separate from the browsing history involuntary logged alongside your profile for all eternity. Even if you turn off your right to access your own log via google.com/history. Even if you don’t have a Google Account at all — (non-members need targeted ads, too).

Look at CenterNetworks.com for an example of how bad it has become. Every web site which has referred you here has been added to your Google and Yahoo! profiles, both of which have already been let out of the barn in response to government orders (China for Yahoo!, USA for Google/YouTube).

Here is what to paste into your /etc/hosts (OS/X) or C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts file if you would like your browsing before and on CenterNetworks.com to be private:

For privacy from Google on the average CenterNetworks.com comment page, manually add:
127.0.0.1 http://www.google-analytics.com
127.0.0.1 feedproxy.google.com
127.0.0.1 feeds.feedburner.com
127.0.0.1 pagead2.googlesyndication.com
127.0.0.1 partner.googleadservices.com

For privacy from Yahoo! on the average CenterNetworks.com comment page, manually add:
127.0.0.1 f3.yahoofs.com
127.0.0.1 us.i.1.yimg.com
127.0.0.1 geo.yahoo.com

Those cover only the big two offenders with a history of bowing to government to hand over private data. There are many more 3rd party scripts loaded into this very page, but they are less of a thread since they aren’t widespread enough to collect a fairly complete picture of what feeds your mind, and what comes out of it.

NB: I have never before advocated blocking Ad servers (pagead2.googlesyndication.com, partner.googleadservices.com) but there really is no point in trying to keep your browsing private from the rest. Allowing any one of the above to sniff your tracks will have the same result as leaving all unblocked.

Why worry if you have nothing to hide? Because a log of your browsing history will assume that you are an advocate of whatever web site you visit. There is no way for you to know content in advance of it being logged to your profile, and no way to indicate whether your visits are for pleasure, fanaticism, or research for an expose`.

ytimg.com is not popularly considered malicious, it’s just owned by the biggest spyware agency in the world: Google