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| 1 | +#lang pollen |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +◊define-meta[page-title]{Avoid leaky links: don't reveal your research} |
| 4 | +◊define-meta[short-title]{Leaky links} |
| 5 | +◊define-meta[original-date]{2025-07-13} |
| 6 | +◊define-meta[snippet]{Some basic URL hygiene practices to avoid sharing more than you mean to share.} |
| 7 | +
|
| 8 | +◊sub-heading{URLs should be as plain as possible} |
| 9 | +
|
| 10 | +Uniform resource locators (URLs) have been used since the early 1990s |
| 11 | +to specify destinations on the internet. If you look or scroll up, |
| 12 | +you'll see this page's URL: |
| 13 | +
|
| 14 | +◊tt{https://sanchom.github.io/leaky-links.html} |
| 15 | +
|
| 16 | +These are sometimes just called ◊em{addresses}. When clickable, these |
| 17 | +are called ◊em{links} or ◊em{hyperlinks}. |
| 18 | +
|
| 19 | +It has also long been accepted, and increasingly expected, to provide |
| 20 | +URLs, often via a clickable link, in court documents. For example, the |
| 21 | +[December 2023 Amended Consolidated General Practice Guidelines of the |
| 22 | +Federal |
| 23 | +Court](https://www.fct-cf.gc.ca/Content/assets/pdf/base/2023-12-20_Amended_Consolidated_General_Practice_Guidelines.pdf) |
| 24 | +allows you to avoid filing a book of authorities (a document with a |
| 25 | +copy of each case cited to) if you instead include hyperlinks for all |
| 26 | +cases that are cited in the memorandum of argument. |
| 27 | +
|
| 28 | +Judges and counsel often include URLs in their writting when referring |
| 29 | +to material that is available online. |
| 30 | +
|
| 31 | +◊sub-heading{A URL can inadvertently reveal much more} |
| 32 | +
|
| 33 | +The URL can specify more than just the destination site and |
| 34 | +page. Often, URLs embed tracking information. Below is a URL to a |
| 35 | +Youtube video. Everything after the question mark is unnecessary and |
| 36 | +is likely a tracking ID that reveals to Youtube that this is a link |
| 37 | +that ◊em{I} have shared with you. |
| 38 | +
|
| 39 | +◊tt{https://youtu.be/Bv5T4-L4gfU◊b{◊red{?si=1MdmEOw****I1fX-}}} |
| 40 | +
|
| 41 | +A URL pointing to a case on CanLII may share details of the search |
| 42 | +that you used: |
| 43 | +
|
| 44 | +◊a[#:href "https://www.canlii.org/en/qc/qccs/doc/2023/2023qccs1167/2023qccs1167.html?resultId=83ef81272f16479b9e9ae36de88447c9&searchId=2024-09-15T20:49:40:016/f484cd9df4cf466593e6a022129a8ac9&searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAVVVJMIHByaXZhY3kgcHJpdmlsZWdlAAAAAAE"]{https://www.canlii.org/en/qc/qccs/doc/2023/2023qccs1167/2023qccs1167.html◊b{◊red{?resultId=83ef81272f16479b9e9ae36de88447c9&searchId=2024-09-15T20:49:40:016/f484cd9df4cf466593e6a022129a8ac9&searchUrlHash=AAAAAQAVVVJMIHByaXZhY3kgcHJpdmlsZWdlAAAAAAE}}} |
| 45 | +
|
| 46 | +Clicking on the above link doesn't just take you to 2023 QCCS 1167. It |
| 47 | +also will reveal that I had got there by searching for the terms |
| 48 | +"URL," "privacy," and "privilege." |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +A relatively new browser function that relies on information in a URL |
| 51 | +is called a "[text |
| 52 | +fragment](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/URI/Fragment/Text_fragments)." |
| 53 | +A text fragment in a URL will look like this: |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +◊tt{#:~:text=◊elide} |
| 56 | + |
| 57 | +When a text fragment is in a URL, modern browsers will automatically |
| 58 | +scroll to and highlight the specified content at the destination page. |
| 59 | + |
| 60 | +For example, if you click on ◊a[#:href |
| 61 | +"#:~:text=many%20modern%20browsers,highlighted"]{this link}, many |
| 62 | +modern browsers (not Firefox, yet) will take you to back to this page, |
| 63 | +but with a specified piece of text highlighted. Google's search |
| 64 | +results will sometimes link to a page using a text fragment to |
| 65 | +highlight material associated with the search that brought you |
| 66 | +there. The risk is that if you share that URL, it may reveal |
| 67 | +information about your search. Footnote 1 in ◊em{R. v. Dick}, [2024 |
| 68 | +BCCA 272](https://canlii.ca/t/k5wv0) includes a URL with a text |
| 69 | +fragment. In that case, the highlighted text fragment actually seems |
| 70 | +apt to the purpose of the citation. |
| 71 | +
|
| 72 | +I have also seen people accidentally link to a URL that points to a |
| 73 | +location on the computer they happened to be working on at the time, |
| 74 | +instead of to a location on the Internet. This can potentially even |
| 75 | +reveal information protected by solicitor--client privilege or reveal |
| 76 | +that a ghostwriter was used. E.g. something like: |
| 77 | +
|
| 78 | +◊tt{C:\MYFILES\mémoires\[NAME OF COUNSEL]\[NAME OF CLIENT]\...} |
| 79 | +
|
| 80 | +The above examples are to show the ways you might accidentally share |
| 81 | +more information than you intend to share when you link using a URL: |
| 82 | +tracking IDs, explicit search query information, or hints about how |
| 83 | +you got to the page, and more. |
| 84 | +
|
| 85 | +◊sub-heading{Keeping your URLs clean} |
| 86 | +
|
| 87 | +Here are some best practices to keep your URLs clean, and to avoid |
| 88 | +leaking information you'd rather not share: |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +◊itemize{ |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +When using CanLII, avoid copying a URL from your browser's address |
| 93 | +bar.◊note{Certainly, there is a way to copy from the address bar |
| 94 | +safely (i.e. copy only as far as the ◊tt{.html}). But if as a rule you |
| 95 | +don't copy from the address bar, you will not risk copying too much |
| 96 | +information.} Instead, copy the URL in the CanLII citation |
| 97 | +(e.g. ◊tt{<https://canlii.ca/t/jwp64>}) or from the direct links in |
| 98 | +the dropdown menu attached to each paragraph. |
| 99 | + |
| 100 | +Examine the URL to see if there is content that comes after a question |
| 101 | +mark ◊tt{?}. Often this content is unnecessary. Strip it away and see |
| 102 | +if the URL works as intended. If it works fine, go ahead and use the |
| 103 | +simpler URL. |
| 104 | + |
| 105 | +Unless you're intentionally using the ◊em{text fragment} feature, |
| 106 | +delete any content in a URL following ◊tt{#:~:text=} |
| 107 | +
|
| 108 | +} |
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