How to make opera stop redirecting my urls through their ad/referal affiliates?
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JDEFTW last edited by
Today many of the popular websites I visit, such as amazon, are no longer working when I jsut type "amazon.com" in to the URL bar. I'm now taken to a "this site can't be reached" page with a URL of https://operainstantsuggest.ampxdirect.com/amazon?partner=operainstantsuggest&sub1=amazon&sub2=operabrowser&sub3=us.
It turns out my network adblocker is blocking Opera from being able to route my connection to sites like Amazon through their affiiliate (akadns.net) in order to make money off my web browsing.
PiHole Log;
HTTPS operainstantsuggest.ampxdirect.com (blocked adlanding.admarketplace.net.akadns.net) Blocked (gravity, CNAME)How do I disable this alarming behavior in Opera, or do I need to switch browsers?
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JDEFTW last edited by
The feature, if the URLs are any indication, is called Opera Instant Suggest...yet that doesn't get you any relevant search results anywhere online. It's a seemingly completely hidden-from-the-public feature in Opera that you can't disable, and is only exposed if you have a good local or network ad blocker.
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A Former User last edited by
Is this really a thing? I mean, that sounds a bit shady, doesn’t it? Is it something that user hasn‘t adjusted well or something annoying on Opera‘s side?
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JDEFTW last edited by
@der-himmelssheriff Based on my findings and the URLs involved...this is very much a hidden feature in Opera that users aren't allowed to disable.
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@der-himmelssheriff It's something that have been happening since decades and not only in Opera, nothing to worry about.
Check https://legal.opera.com/privacy/ and https://legal.opera.com/terms/ for information about what data Opera collects.
You also may want to check https://blogs.opera.com/security/2023/07/debunking-spyware-misinformation/
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JDEFTW last edited by
Chrome = Type in amazon.com, taken right to amazon.
Firefox = Type in amazon.com, taken right to amazon.
Edge = Type in amazon.com, taken right to amazon.
Opera = Type in amazon.com, connection tries to route through an Opera affiliate and fails to reach amazon because my pihole adblocker caught it.In all those browsers I've disabled invasive settings, yet Opera is the only one routing my "amazon.com" attempt through an affiliate. So yes, an invasive setting that users can't disable is something to worry about and is why I'm uninstalling Opera.
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A Former User last edited by
In Android in the search suggestions I‘ve seen links to certain websites. Clicking on these also lead you there through some affilate links.
Once you became aware, you could avoid it.
Even affiliate links in Speed Dial are kind of obvious, so that you could avoid them, too.
Other thing is, going through redirection without knowledge let alone consent.
Brave also had this once, claiming they were a privacy browser.
Opera has so much in it to win someone over. Why do they include such stuff, then? -
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leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@der-himmelssheriff That's basically how browsers make money.
You do a search using one of the default search engines, you search goes through an special URL so that the search engine identifies that your request is coming from that browser and the browser gets some money.You click on a promoted bookmark/speed dial, the same thing.
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A Former User last edited by
@leocg Excuse me, please, but I don't think, he was talking about pre-installed bookmarks, anyway. They're kind of transparent in the way of making money.
I understood, he was talking about a hidden "feature" in Opera (instant suggest or so) by which you simply were typing URLs in the address bar and that you're not directed to them directly but are routed through a third party server and thereby sharing data without your knowledge. He claims that he only became aware of this because of an adblocker or a VPN which blocked that traffic.
Even if this were legit through user agreement, it's differrent from clicking on a Speed Dial tile which comes with installation and that you can simply delete.
I mean, I care about Opera. It's the browser, I use the most and which is nearly perfectly tailored to my needs. So I'd be glad if such hidden "treasures" weren't part of it, you know? -
leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by
@der-himmelssheriff Anyway, it's everything in https://legal.opera.com/privacy/
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A Former User last edited by
@leocg Oh, I didn't know, how far this could go. I just thought, I could disable data harvesting by checking the boxes in the privacy settings. But that they could still collect my data and let third parties via internal redirects have them, I wasn't aware of.
Naively I was thinking that I would be protected by Opera through their settings. I simply wanted to use the browser not to route my traffic through not known to me servers.
So, do I understand it correctly: Even if I disable all the promotional stuff in settings, there's a good chance that even by typing a URL or a search item in the address bar I'm not directly directed to the respective site or to DDG as my search engine, but just through some third party company's server to monetize my search even more? -
JDEFTW last edited by
@der-himmelssheriff They're likely just going to keep spamming the thread with the Opera privacy agreement. Best we can do is make this issue well known to the community. I've already posted several threads to reddit about it, with logs from pihole and my firewall, and other information.
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JDEFTW last edited by
I've sent my findings and screenshots of this thread to a handful of media outlets to see if any are interested in picking up this story, since Opera is clearly doing something here that no other browsers I've tested are doing.
I am going to be looking into that ... is sad how opera is getting works and works ...