this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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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."

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The latest in data collection technology also happens to have some social features.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago

Mother fucking mother fuckers

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Funny enough the screen density thing could just be display optimization, did some web development and that would've been useful. But hoy shit the rest is really bad. Good thing I live in the EU and won't be tempted.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How do I get duckduckgo to block tracking attempts?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Okay I think I have it. I just installed the duckduckgo app and enabled the tracking protection in settings. And right now I am shocked. The amount of tracking attempts in the last 30 minutes has been mind boggling. 300 attempts and counting! Is this normal?

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Wait, they're trying to check the status of your headphone? That's way too far. Why do they need to know if the headphone's plugged in?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago

That's actually a very informative data point. If you use headphones, you probably like to use music/video streaming services or play games. The longer they're connected, the likelier you are to pay for your media consumption. You probably also have a bigger connection to your media device (a source of entertainment and happiness), so you likely also use and pay for other related products or services. If your headphones use Bluetooth, you have a newer device and set of headphones, so you probably like to keep up with tech trends and buy more expensive hardware, especially if your listening time is long.

That's all from just looking at your headphone and Bluetooth status. Combine that with your device & vendor ID, contacts, location, medical and financial information, and all the other "sensitive information" they collect, and you can imagine how much information they can actually infer about you. That is their product: tailor-made targeted advertising and manipulation.

Disclaimer: I don't want to do advertising for surveillance capitalism, so I would also like to add that the data they infer about you (political ideology, sexual orientation, etc.) can be completely false. However, there is no way to verify that (only you can do that anyway). Meta doesn't care if the data is perfect. All they care about is that advertisers continue to believe that they provide the best dataset.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If you block them from collecting even one of those things, they'll lock you out of your account until you show them your ID and SSN. It should be illegal for social media to spy on you THAT invasively.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago

They clicked "select all" when choosing what to gather, it's easier.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Kinda unironic here and I do not know why, I stared at the preview of this image and for a spilt second I felt literal fear. I couldn't read the words, I just saw "Facebook", a long list and it is a phone screenshot. And I felt some voided terror rising within as I clicked on the link. Now that I take a closer look, I can understand why my "gut sense" was warning me.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago

I hate Zuck, but I'm happy to see him destroy Muskrat.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Jesus, man! Do they want my birth certificate as well?

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago

FeDiVeRsE hAs NoThInG tOo WoRrY aBoUt

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (6 children)

What does Threads do that Mastodon doesn't? Aren't they basically just a different app for the same thing? What am I getting wrong here?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

That's egregious, not even trying to hide it lmao.

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