cross-posted from: https://social.fossware.space/post/123876

In the few short hours since I started using #Threads, #DuckDuckGo has already blocked over 200 data tracking attempts. These include things like “headphone status” and “screen density.”

Trackers, trackers and ol’ Zucc’s roboface galore.

  • SanguineParEnglish
    59•2 years ago

    I just cannot fathom why people would see the shortest that Musk has made of Twitter and think the best solution is to go to a clone made by Zuckerberg. Have they learned nothing?

    • AnonymousLlama
      6•2 years ago

      Whatever gives them their low quality tier content with the least friction no doubt

      • Ragnell
        7•2 years ago

        Worse. No one trusts Zuckerberg, they just all figure nothing bad will happen. “He’s got everyone’s data anyway.” They don’t think.

    • BraveSirZaphod
      26•2 years ago

      Because fundamentally, people really don’t care about all that much. They want a simple social network that’s vaguely pleasant to use, has the people and content they’re looking for, and otherwise stays out of their way. They certainly don’t care about Musk’s random crusade du jour against the evil woke libs.

      Nor do they particularly care about targeted advertising so long as it remains vaguely unobtrusive and their data isn’t constantly leaked in ways that directly harm them. Zuck, for all his many flaws, is smart enough to know that the single biggest thing he can do is to largely stay out of the way.

      • Admiral PatrickEnglish
        12•2 years ago

        Not just lazy. Wilfully ignorant and, dare I say, largely stupid as well.

        • ekZeppEnglish
          6•2 years ago

          99% of times “stupidity” is just a lack of information, interest and prospective who let people don’t see how someone else problem could very well become “their” problem too given enough time.

  • driftyEnglish
    9•2 years ago

    How do I block trackers like you have?

    • @[email protected]English
      11•2 years ago

      Install the Duck Duck Go browser, and sign up for the “App Tracking Protection” beta in the settings. Once you are enabled for the beta. Enable it in the settings. It acts like a VPN on your device.

    • @[email protected]English
      6•2 years ago

      Firefox also has an option to block third party trackers by default if you choose their strict setting, but DuckDuckGo has a more comprehensive solution.

  • stackPeek
    40•2 years ago

    What I hate about this is that they say things like “Try the best to protect users’ privacy” etc then do shits like this

    • Ronno
      17•2 years ago

      Well, they need to know your device rotation to serve you the perfect ads! /s
      Seriously, I wouldn’t mind them knowing a thing or two about me, when I’m using their services. But tracking everything, just because they can, is just obnoxious. If you would translate this to the real world, you would definitely get arrested when you would stand on the corner of the street, noting down everything you see, every dimension/detail of every person walking by. You would be labeled “creep”. But if Facebook does it, governments go like: You can build your new data center right here, don’t mind the measly peasants that currently live in the village nearby

  • chordata
    13•2 years ago

    Does he want my SSN, bank card number, and mother’s maiden name whilst he’s at it?

    • Ragnell
      9•2 years ago

      The app does request permissions for financial info.

  • @[email protected]English
    -2•2 years ago

    I mean… many of those are reasonable? I don’t see how checking the available device memory, screen resolution, screen rotation, etc are bad since the app could use them to improve the experience. Lower RAM = don’t preload as many posts, lower screen resolution = load smaller images, etc. all of which need to send flags to the server (a smaller number of posts to load, the max dimensions of images to return, etc)

    • sapient [they/them]English
      3•2 years ago

      This is obviously not the case when your client could just directly request things within it’s resource limits.

      Seriously, why would you give Meta the benefit of the doubt? These are just more datapoints to profile and analyze users.

      • @[email protected]English
        0•2 years ago

        These are just more datapoints to profile and analyze users.

        I’m just being realistic. Seeing it in DuckDuckGo just means the app has requested that data - they don’t actually know exactly how it’s used. Just seeing that the data is loaded by the app doesn’t mean anything. So far, nobody has actually been able to prove that any of this data is used for profiling users. Analyzing network traffic isn’t too difficult so there’d likely be proof by now if it was actually happening (like Wireshark captures).

        • @[email protected]English
          1•2 years ago

          There is, how do you think Cambridge Analytica did it. They’ve literally already been sued over this, it’s been confirmed they are collecting and using this data against users.

        • sapient [they/them]English
          1•2 years ago

          Profiling happens on the server end, but the unique identification can happen either on the server end or the client end or both.

          And it’s Meta. Their entire organisation is dedicated to manipulation, data collection, etc. - hell, they might do the profiling inside the app and only send results. What’s “realistic” is expecting them to spy on you, not giving an organisation like them any benefit of the doubt!

  • @[email protected]English
    -1•2 years ago

    I mean… many of those are reasonable? I don’t see how checking the available device memory, screen resolution, screen rotation, etc are bad.

    • @[email protected]English
      1•2 years ago

      Device fingerprinting. Even with unique identifiers turned off, if you have enough of these seemingly innocuous data points, you can track individual users across sites and apps, even without any other information. They can use this to profile you, and manipulate you.

  • @[email protected]English
    -13•2 years ago

    Hi there, and thanks for trying Threads!

    While this may look alarming, it’s nothing to be concerned about. Sometimes “privacy” focused browsers and apps can be a little overzealous.

    We are taking our mandate to be a responsible member of the fediverse seriously, and part of that is building trust. We have no intention of abusing your data, nor the trust you place in us.

    Thanks for helping us blaze this trail together!

      • @[email protected]English
        18•2 years ago

        Potentially, and Ive also seen it used for ads. The first time Spotify noticed me mute my system and paused the ad, I became enraged. Its’s a step too far. Luckily with external speakers I can just mute at the speaker level instead.

        • Midnight_IceEnglish
          8•2 years ago

          That’s like that Black Mirror episode where the people are required to keep their eyes open and focused on the screen for everything

        • Schwim DandyEnglish
          11•2 years ago

          If you’re using Spotify on Windows, consider installing a system ad blocker like Adguard for Windows and route Spotify traffic through it. It will strip the ads.

          If you’re using Spotify on Android, consider installing the app through X-Manager, which will give you an ad-free experience.

          • @[email protected]English
            1•2 years ago

            This was at work a few years ago. I don’t use windows at home. But thank you for providing those recommendations. Hopefully a fellow Lemming will find them useful!