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A comment on Ask HN: Do you connect your work computer directly to your home network?.

Re:Ask HN: Do you connect your work computer directly to you... by usrn on Monday April 25, 2022 @10:42PM (#31163411)
Google does not change YouTube recommendations based on your IP, it's entirely based on cookies, they have no way to tell how many people are behind the NAT.

Try going to YouTube in private mode. Personally I always use YouTube this way to avoid being pigeonholed.

EDIT: I've exceeded my post quota for today so here's my reply: That's interesting. I've moved ~4 times and have used different ISPs since I started this habit. Perhaps your private session wasn't restarted? In Firefox you have to close all of the private windows before you get a fresh cookie jar etc. It might also be that you don't deviate far from the popular videos. Every time I start a new private session there isn't a single recommendation that matches what I normally watch.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Do you connect your work computer directly to you... by guuggye on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @07:27PM (#31174438)
It's possible my viewing habits overlap with say 68% of others. But I've seen recommendations that match what I would assume to be my more niche interests. As for not closing all private browsing tabs, I've made that mistake before, but I still see the same pattern of recommendations when using single session browsers or separate devices.

Thanks again for the follow-up.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Do you connect your work computer directly to you... by guuggye on Monday April 25, 2022 @10:47PM (#31163446)
That hasn't been my experience, when opening a private window the default feed I see on YouTube mostly matches what I would see if logged in.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Do you connect your work computer directly to you... by eternityforest on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @12:04AM (#31163821)
Do they have ways besides IP to track you there? Some kind of browser fingerprinting? Or that FLOC thing?

Maybe used in combination with IP?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Do you connect your work computer directly to you... by guuggye on Tuesday April 26, 2022 @07:20PM (#31174384)
Yeah I'm unsure what information they use or have access to in order to form recommendations. But I'm almost certain it's not limited to just IP addresses.
[ Parent | on HN ]