So for the common user, NoScript appears to be necessary. I think I tried that once many years back but it made the user experience so tedious that I removed it. It appears that we also need to clear the cache and browsing history, especially after visiting YT. Is there anything else we should do? You mentioned that your site has a security tool that it employs. Is there anything similar for the everyday user?
I use different browsers for different things. I use Brave for most everyday stuff, but I also have the plain Chromium browser where I back up old URLs that I don't need much anymore but that I don't want to part with. I try to back up and store everything I've used over the years just in case. I also use the Palemoon browser, an offshoot of Firefox. I use it for websites that are simple, like FR.
I really appreciate you bringing this to our attention.
“You mentioned that your site has a security tool that it employs. Is there anything similar for the everyday user?”
For detecting hitchhikers riding along with you all I know of is NoScript as preventative maintenance to keep most of them from attaching in the first place. Detecting IP changes like that is going to have to come from the website side of things. But most websites do not care enough about their users to implement security like that. Most of them are doing the same thing anyhow.
Tell you what, install NoScript again and what is going on now will scare you. Every site out there is serving up hidden 3rd party real time API scripts that are tracking and fingerprinting. It really is out of hand. I have only been to three sites in the last couple years that did not have these. The FR, our site, and one lonely website I ran across that was built in the late 80s and never updated.
Now Brave blocks a lot of stuff like NoScript, but it also lets a lot of stuff through. NoScript blocks EVERYTHING and then you have to go “allow” just the minimum to be able to see elements of the page or media. But better safe than sorry and after using it a couple weeks you will catch on to which ones do what for you yet it is still blocking the other sometimes 30-70 tracking scripts. It really is now worth the extra work. You will see... It is incredible, and just try to find a site that doesn’t also use Google 3rd party services. It is almost impossible.
If folks just knew, they would be screaming bloody murder. But it is all hidden so they don’t even know.