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."
Shit, did your phone extend a needle for a blood test?
There's a reason it's not allowed in the EU.
What I don't understand is why people wound even want to use this app...
What possible appeal could it have?
Using Threads knowing it's a product of Zuck, is like voting for Trump in 2024 cause he wore a different style suit.
"Okay so it's basically Twitter, but with like... Facebook features..." Is literally a joke I have made about annoying app ideas people have when you tell them you're a software developer.
I have made this joke a few times, because it killed every time.
I'm stunned. Out of material, and stunned.
If you are already eating out of a dumpster, even the worst fast food looks appetizing.
That tracks about everything it possibly can just for the sake of it. I despise Meta so much...
Not sure why anyone would install that garbage. Even a one off install to check it out means it will upload lots of data.
Some people simply do not care.
Is it really that hard to understand that some people like the idea of participating in a community with all their friends and favorite content creators, and find the idea of getting access to this for free at the cost of some privacy that they don't hugely value to be an acceptable enough trade?
"some" privacy lol
Zoomers don't value privacy at all, and that's a huge problem.
the same reason why people are not using adblockers in current year
At this point I think it would be more informative to simply display the data they don't collect. My guess is "nothing".
Thank you EU!
"They "trust me". Dumb fucks." - Mark Zuckerberg c. early 2000s: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg#2000's
Holy crap are you kidding? Mastodon IIRC requires zero priviliges/personal information to run.
Also, what the hell does it need "headphone status" for?
Bluetooth headphones have unique identifying information. Another data point for apps that the headphone jack doesn't provide.
That’s insane, well I know one thing. This is making me want to go download the DuckDuckGo browser.
A lot of that stuff is pretty standard if you're doing logging and metrics on your service (which you should if you want to resolve outages). From the IP address and user agent you get rough location, os info, and network info. A few other things can be used for optimization (faster load times), and a Meta-scale, I wouldn't be surprised if they do that.
This is why I use Privacy Badger
Not only does it show you what and where it blocks, but you can also whitelist blocking in case you play browser games.
If you have an android phone, take a look at TrackerControl. It's not on the play store, you get it from F-Droid. It even caught DDG sneaking in some trackers. It's FOSS
Holy shit. I'd ask how the fuck is this even legal, but seeing EU's reaction I guess it really kinda isn't
Why did you download threads in the first place? Just scanned the app in exodus and the list of trackers is worse than all meta apps combined
Orientation? Why would Facebook need to know if my phone is gay? Jk, I know they really want to know my phone's political orientation. Joke's on them, my phone voted for Megatron.
Damn, just straight up stealing other people's content. Very cool
Original post: https://writing.exchange/@kreig/110664764474921792
Original poster: https://writing.exchange/@kreig
It’s unbelievable that an app which collect this many data points, including voice, is legally allowed. Insane. Yes, people should not use it and should care, but come on… this is just mass surveillance and collection.
absolutely wild, was going to (naively) give it a go, but I work on telemetry for a big platform and cannot in good faith use this product.
Remind me of that scene in The Dark Knight when Lucius Fox has all the screens with all the data from every smartphone around.
That’s insane
200 in a few hours sounds like a lot (well, it is) but is small compared to some apps I use. Revolut tried to make tens of thousands of requests in an hour last time I looked! I expect that particular app is coded badly so when it gets rejected it just endlessly tries to repeat the request.
I highly recommend everyone installs something like the DuckDuckGo android app because it blocks tracking attempts in all apps. It's a bit horrifying to see how often, how much, and what type of data all our apps are requesting.
People here complaining about Threads and TikTok (Chinese owned) being the defacto social network for an entire generation over there without outrage, and when it's outrage about it people just say "at least is not the US" what kind of defense is that?
And then they'll need another permission to access your photos, contacts, text messages... They'll grab and run with everything what's in your phone. Before your 1st day is over, they'll know everything about you, your friends and family. It's just another massive privacy/data grab. Fuck them (and fuck u/spez ofc).
Looking at the data collection categories in the ios app store for Threads is terrifying. Similarly, mastodon collects nothing. General population doesn't seem to care though given the number of signups that Threads has received in the last few days. People are happy to give their information away.
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
