this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2023
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How Threads’ privacy policy compares to Twitter’s (and its rivals’) - Ars Technica (arstechnica.com)
submitted 1 year ago by aranym@lemmy.name to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] levmyskin@feddit.it 50 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been seeing a lot of posts about Threads privacy policy lately, where people seem genuinely shocked about it. I think it's good to raise awareness about how much data you're selling to Facebook company if you choose to use Threads, but I think it's also good to remind people (as the article does) that this happens also when you use Instagram or Facebook itself. Ditch Meta

[–] Sharmat@beehaw.org 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's not the first time either, there were loads of articles about Facebook (the app) and how it collected basically everything, so to me it isn’t that surprising Threads ticked virtually every box Apple offers too.

[–] Veraticus@lib.lgbt 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

To be honest I don’t understand why people fixate on privacy in social media. The entire point is to accomplish the opposite of privacy. If you want privacy, don’t post personal stuff on the Internet, especially to sites explicitly intended to share it.

[–] misk@lemm.ee 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's not about what you post but what data will Threads/Twitter/FB apps will trick you into sharing on system level (location etc).

[–] Raeyin@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They are collecting health information and a category called "sensitive information."

Fighting to keep apps from gathering my location is old news. Many also want my photos, and I don't trust them enough. Meta's policy is a whole different level of creepy.

[–] misk@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Don't know about Android but on iOS health information is something that an app can request on OS level.

There are valid uses for this, for example hearing level measurements from third party app can be added to Health app and then used for adjusting equalizer for AirPods via accessibility options. Or your menstrual cycle (although that probably won't make your AirPods sound better) or many other data points. This is what Threads is trying to access.

[–] Raeyin@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago

It's similar on android. Most apps that use it legitimately relate to health or fitness. I suspect that your headphone example would apply to Pixel headphones, also.

Meta probably wants it mostly for advertising purposes. They aren't exactly cautious when selling data, though, so who knows?

[–] Veraticus@lib.lgbt 7 points 1 year ago

Ah, good point

[–] ablackcatstail@lemmy.goblackcat.com 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well, more to the point they don't want their identities sold. They don't want to be a product for some corporation. When you are on a decentralized platform and somewhat anonymous, it is actually a greater degree of privacy.

[–] Veraticus@lib.lgbt 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Lemmy is definitely better.

But my point was if you don’t want to be a product for a corporation… don’t do that. Willingly productizing yourself and your engagement with social media, and then saying “what about my privacy,” seems entirely un-self-aware.

[–] jecxjo@midwest.social 7 points 1 year ago

I think people don't always realize what they are sharing though. If an app tracks your location it means it also tracks what places you like to shop, what type of food you like, what doctor you go to and where you work. Now maybe this type of information isn't being used at the moment but toss all that Big Data into some ML and you can easily be targeted by other companies for a whole mess of things. Wait til health insurance companies buy that data off of Meta. Your rates could go up because they assume your lifestyle from your movements.

[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's great in theory, but not everyone (like children and the non-technical) will understand the full implications of what sharing too much information can result in (like identity theft, targeted harassment, stalking, misinformation campaigns, etc). Stopping companies from putting people in a dangerous position is plenty reasonable, and is not some sort of abdication of peoples' personal agency (to be harmed?).

"I should have the right to have my information be n-times-resold to some shady third-party company where it will eventually result in fake student loans being taken out in my name!" - no one, ever.

No one chooses to "productize"/ commodify themselves for the benefit of Meta (as opposed to when people do so for their own benefit, e.g. streamers), but people have been forced to accept being commodified by large companies as a prerequisite to accessing online social spaces, and that's bad.

[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Then don't post your identity online.

Everything I post here is public. All of my information is public, whether there's some flag to say that the info is private or not. It's still public to the admins that run the server, and I don't trust them any more than I trust some rando Internet person scraping data.

Everybody seems to forget this, and pretend that large corpos are somehow obligated to protect your privacy.

[–] Skyhighatrist@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago

But they're collecting more than just what you post. Have you seen the permissions they requested. Do you really want them to be able to track your location at all times? Or to access your phone's health information so they can sell that to advertisers and others?

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

Yeah sure I want my memes to be public but do they really also need my gyroscope information, accelerometer, accounts information, search data, etc? I don't think so unless they're in the business of selling user data.

https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.instagram.barcelona/latest/

[–] storksforlegs@beehaw.org 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Can it even be called a privacy policy if there is no privacy? Heyo!

[–] Murvel@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

There's good reason this garbage didn't launch in the EU.

[–] watson387@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

For Android users, the Google Play Store doesn’t require you to hand over the same amount of extensive data to try out Threads. You have more control than Apple users, since you can granularly toggle what personal data is shared with apps.

Data linked to you

Third-party advertising:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email >Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User >Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay >Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising >Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Developer's advertising or marketing:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content ( Photos or Videos, Gameplay Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Analytics:

Health & Fitness (Health, Fitness) Purchases (Purchase History, Financial Info, >Payment Info, Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Audio Data, >Gameplay Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Product Personalization:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

App functionality:

Health & Fitness (Health, Fitness) Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Payment Info, Credit Info, Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Emails or Text Messages, Photos or Videos, Audio Data, Gameplay Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Other purposes:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay >Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

[–] Matt_Glan@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As long as you are aware of what is being shared then you have an informed choice to make.

[–] Raeyin@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, this is the reason Meta keeps fighting Apple and Google when the app stores add marginal transparency.

I wonder how many people will even consider the possibility that they need to check those permissions carefully lest the social media app collect health data?

[–] Matt_Glan@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I think the culture/training of not even reading terms and conditions leads to people not checking what they give away to apps and software.

[–] HappyMeatbag@beehaw.org 0 points 1 year ago

Threads helps itself to an absurd amount of personal information. That, combined with the fact that you have to DELETE Instagram to fully delete your Threads account, is absolutely ridiculous.

So far, I’ve yet to read a review that enthusiastically endorses Threads as a Twitter replacement. Caveats abound. This could have been truly significant, but in his greed, Zuck dropped the ball.

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