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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by wabafee@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world

Spotify wrapped started this trend seems other apps are following through. Seeing a summary of things you did with there app. Kind of gives you a hint how much other things are being tracked.

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[-] RegalPotoo@lemmy.world 70 points 2 months ago

data retention

It's the opposite - most regulatory frameworks require that you only retain data if you have a "legitimate purpose" for holding on to it; providing app features absolutely is a legitimate purpose, so by having a "wrapped" you can justify holding on to everything a user does - after all, you need it to provide features.

[-] rikudou@lemmings.world 10 points 2 months ago

Nope. Especially under GDPR. To use an example of Spotify - having a "wrapped" is not part of the core offering and is not necessary for the service to work. Meaning they need your permission to store that data (or other legal framework).

[-] astanix@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

I love hearing about how protective the GDPR is and wish it was a worldwide initiative with the teeth to truly protect humanity from themselves.

[-] wabafee@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

That's interesting never thought of that.

[-] electric@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago

Isn't that just basic data they already kept track of?

[-] INHALE_VEGETABLES@aussie.zone 6 points 2 months ago

A boring dystopia

[-] wabafee@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Not really sure what you mean basic but if tracking someone's clicks on certain button, or features and can be traced back to you. It's actually kind off putting so much for making your information anonymise which most companies claim.

[-] FiniteLooper@lemm.ee 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

But for Spotify they are tracking how many times you played different songs. Not trying to defend them, but for a music service I’m pretty sure they need to track that kind of information regardless. Might as well tally it up and show your own data to you

[-] rikudou@lemmings.world -1 points 2 months ago

They only need aggregate data for that, they don't need them to be assigned to a specific user account.

[-] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 months ago

Music players have been keeping play counts since before the invention of the iPod. It's a datapoint that users have come to expect. I actually wish services like Spotify or Apple Music did a better job of displaying this data throughout the year rather than just in end of year infographics.

Like I dunno, Google is literally collating your location data, I hardly think music plays is top secret info.

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 months ago

It's also a fun way to see how good their data is

For a few of the apps, the data was very limited and/or very wrong. That made me happy

[-] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 months ago

I use the journalling app Daylio, which has a wrapped feature. It's all done locally, on device. Not every implementation of this feature is spying on you.

This app is pretty cool. Just saying this because it let me export my data when I wanted to stop using it. Which is not a common feature in proprietary software so hats off to the devs.

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 0 points 2 months ago

If it just uses data that is on your device right now, that is okay. But if it keeps track on things, even on your device, it can lead to security vulnerabilities, depending how it is stored how long it is kept.

And most importantly, enshittification and automatic updates could easily change that policy to retroactively hoover up all that precious data. This stuff is insanely valuable too.

Not saying daylio is doing it or going to. Just that keeping data comes with a risk. ideally, there should be clear documentation what is being kept, where and for how long.

[-] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 months ago

You're right, I should just refuse to trust any developers and go back to the paper journal I never used.

[-] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 2 months ago

Yes to part one. You should not trust devs that do opt out data collection of any kind. If you‘re interested in a funny way to learn about this stuff, check out „security nightmares“ from the recent 38c3 congress.

I suggest you keep track of your thoughts and moods with open source apps.

[-] princessnorah@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 2 months ago

Daylio does not do "opt-out data collection". IT doesn't even have "opt-in".

Yes, and while that's a fine ideal, it does not always produce well-made or polished applications. For myself, Daylio is a medical/mental health app that assisted with my diagnosis of Bipolar disorder. Unfortunately FOSS apps related to medical stuff are not the greatest or most widely developed.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The only app I have that does such a thing does it because it's deliberately gamified to help you build a good habit and tracking/summarizing your achievements for that year. IMO any other kind of app doing that is a gigantic red flag and you ought to delete it and find a replacement in the F-Droid repository (which consists entirely of Free Software that is much less likely to contain those sorts of dark patterns and other antifeatures) instead.

[-] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago

I doubt it.

The kind of data used for "wrapped" type summaries are usually the kind of data that users want to be tracked because it powers features they want.

Like Spotify wrapped is based of Spotify play history, and being able to see your recently played songs is a feature people want.

Duolingo wrapped is based on lesson progress, and it has to track your progress else it doesn't know what lesson you're doing.

idk what other apps do this, it's pretty rare for me, but afaict it's all just normal stuff.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of privacy problems that apps try to fuck with, but I don't think that yearly wrapped is likely to be one of them.

this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
162 points (92.6% liked)

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