Demarkus Dickey
Ars TechnicaHow Threads’ privacy policy compares to Twitter’s (and its rivals’)
Here’s what is collected by Threads, as well as by Twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, Spill, and Hive Social.
Peter Koopman 🦣@arstechnica
Sociale media hebben een best wel grote datahonger.
Sociale media hebben een best wel grote datahonger.
Kathryn Elrod@pkoopmanpk maar echt
Magical Cat@arstechnica I suspect that media put tooo much attention into Threads app than it deserves. Literally, every media that dedicated to gadgets (under fancy sauces "tech' or "high-tech") or having such rubric writes about Threads, sometimes multiple articles.
Literally, even Fediversians got bombarded with praise. hate, panic, and all other possible emotional triggering about YATC crap that don't deserve all that attention, what looks suspicious and as hysteria inducing by mass media.
Literally, even Fediversians got bombarded with praise. hate, panic, and all other possible emotional triggering about YATC crap that don't deserve all that attention, what looks suspicious and as hysteria inducing by mass media.
poldemo#privacy
«#Threads (Android, Apple) potentially collects a wide assortment of personal data that remains connected to you, based on the information available in Apple’s App Store, from your purchase history and physical address to your browsing history and health information. “Sensitive information” is also listed as a type of data collected by the Threads app. Some information this could include is your race, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, and religion as well as your biometric data.»
🤔
«#Threads (Android, Apple) potentially collects a wide assortment of personal data that remains connected to you, based on the information available in Apple’s App Store, from your purchase history and physical address to your browsing history and health information. “Sensitive information” is also listed as a type of data collected by the Threads app. Some information this could include is your race, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, and religion as well as your biometric data.»
🤔
q.e.d. Who would have expected anything better. So, stay with #Mastodon.
HistoPol (#HP) 🏴 🇺🇸 🏴Also:
Is there something like a #JailBreak for older #Android or ##Apple phones where the #OS can be substituted with a securer #FOSS OS like #Linux?
This way, we would not have to need to buy new smartphones every other year due to forced #obsolescence by producers, or they could be recycled so more poorer people in the #GlobalSouth could finally participate in the #InternetRevolution helping to overcome the #DigitalDevide.
Roy has moved
unerds
Stefan Monnier
wallmenis
Roni Rolle Laukkarinen@arstechnica Here's a descriptive text for the image, for my blind followers: A silhouette of a person with a ponytail, the person is holding and looking a smartphone.
Bonkers
GrayGooGlitch 
@arstechnica
The article has a factual mistake. Mastodon isn't trying to pick up the people leaving Twitter, it's just here and they show up. We don't advertise, we aren't in the trades talking up decentralized networks, we just exist and they find us.
The article has a factual mistake. Mastodon isn't trying to pick up the people leaving Twitter, it's just here and they show up. We don't advertise, we aren't in the trades talking up decentralized networks, we just exist and they find us.
Rob Shearer@GrayGooGirl Funny how the most decentralized network has one person able to speak authoritatively (“factually”) on the entire network’s motivation.
Michael Gemar@rvcx @GrayGooGirl Precisely because it’s decentralized, it’s a “fact” that Mastodon isn’t trying to get Twitter users, since “Mastodon” isn’t trying to do *anything* — it’s like ascribing motives to the sea.
@michaelgemar That doesn’t really play; you may as well say that no software is trying to do anything because it’s not sentient.
Both ActivityPub and Mastodon were created with intent, and it’s well-documented that a big part of that intent was to offer an open alternative for Twitter and Facebook users. Pretending that it’s just some weird coincidence that Mastodon happens to lure away Twitter users is utterly asinine.
@michaelgemar Bur also…there is an actual company behind Mastodon. With a Twitter account. Relentlessly promoting Mastodon as a superior alternative to Twitter.
@rvcx Right, but in a real sense that “Mastodon” doesn’t speak for the network. When Twitter first melted down, there was a *lot* of hand-wringing by the original denizens here about the influx of new users from the birdsite, and certainly a large proportion of folks were not pleased. One can’t say that Mastodon as the totality of the network wants Twitter users.
@michaelgemar Ah—now we’re getting to it. The “original denizens” count, but the foundational intent of the network and protocol, the biggest instances, and the main company behind it all don’t.
@rvcx Let’s try this: Can “Mastodon” the company ban Nazis from the network? Twitter and Threads have absolute control over who can use their network. “Mastodon” doesn’t (witness Gab, and various alt-right instances). There is no single centralized authority.
But at this point we may just be quibbling over terminology. I’m honestly no longer sure what the larger point is we’re arguing…
@michaelgemar The statement that Mastodon “has positioned itself for years as an alternative to Twitter” was called factually inaccurate, on some bizarre philosophical premise that when something is decentralized every statement about it is false. What embarrassing, empty-headed horseshit.
@rvcx
Facts are derived by committee?
Facts are derived by committee?
@GrayGooGirl Apparently they are decreed by you.
@rvcx
Sure. Either way, bye.
Sure. Either way, bye.
LAUREN
Giles Edwards@GrayGooGirl @arstechnica Heh, kind of like NATO like that: they haven't been "expanding", they just are the kind of organization countries of a democratic-bent flock to when threatened by mindless hostility and ineptitude that flirts with dangerousness. (To point out a parallel parallel.)
SudoNaaame@GrayGooGirl @arstechnica I’m on Mastodon at all because I heard about it on Twitter. Now I use both platforms.
Stuart Longland (VK4MSL)Well, if there's any advertising, it's word-of-mouth from existing users.
Probably worth noting that Mastodon ≠ Fediverse. It's a subset. Threads may become another subset.
Those looking at Threads… sure, dip your toe in the waters to see how it feels, but when you feel comfortable, come over and join us for the authentic experience.
Gareth Kitchen@arstechnica I think these stated permissions are quite misleading. Is it not the case that these User ID's are used to link to an unknown number of activities outside of the app with an unknown number of entities? It may not be 'personal data' data as such, but they can certainly be used to link to all sorts of personal data that's been captured by others and located elsewhere.
HakonS 🇳🇴@arstechnica Maybe update page adding your own website. You do collect quite an extensive list of personal information yourself! #privacy
Wes@hs @arstechnica while agree it’s pretty bad the data they collect on a website, you can opt-out. That option is only available for the app by not installing it
@Justwes @arstechnica You can opt out from permissions on apps too, but there are permissions you can't opt out from. Just like for the webpage. I don't mean any of them are better, just that both are privacy hostile. And btw. How do you opt out from the "always active" cookies?
@hs @arstechnica always active cookies is something that can be controlled at the browser level but so much breaks for the user. Like disabling JavaScript, it limits what can happen by so much breaks for usability
@Justwes @arstechnica ...and this is something an average user or child is supposed to do? You mean that webpages filling their site with cookies are innocent, but the users are to blame if they don't know how to configure their browser correctly at a paranoia-level? Sorry, but I don't agree with you. Non-technical people should also be able to keep their personal information safe.
@hs @arstechnica if you want to argue about all of this (waves hand at everything) then go for it, I’ll not participate.
My only point at this start was the disingenuous comparison you made. Opt-out vs the iOS App Store report card.
And I’m not defending either entity in their behaviour. It sucks for all involved.
@Justwes @arstechnica The meaning with my original post was the irony of an article about privacy, where the first thing that popped up was a privacy invasive warning where everything was enabled (screenshot was after I disabled it). Nothing more, nothing less.
Kyle Memoir 🍉🐧Basically, they pull a Trump, put their hand down your pants and never let go.
Clinton Anderson SwordForHire
Jim Luther@jon_alper This article just convinced me to delete all of their apps - even if I don’t use the services often. If I need to look at anything on those services, I’ll just use Safari.
Daniel Plochinger@arstechnica @siracusa
I think this article's off!
Threads will not ask for permission, nor track, your phone's health, browsing history, or location data. It won't ask for access to your photos unless you upload a photo, and doesn't upload your photo library. It doesn't get access to your phone's contacts.
It does create a profile based on your actions within the app, incl loc via IP. Meta's profile on you is likely very granular. Tracking details as specific as pregnancy etc is concerning 😔
moving_target01@arstechnica I'm not advocating for Threads at all.
I've heard RUMOR (that I cannot validate) that part of the reason why Threads captures so much data is to help combat fake/bot/abusive accounts via GPS and device ID.
If that is accurate, I don't disagree with that. But the privacy focused part of me is pretty strong.
pollute_my_lungs 🚎🏳️🌈@moving_target01 @arstechnica that’s not the reason. They get all that data because it makes them lots of $$.
@pollute_my_lungs @arstechnica I 100% agree with that and never questioned that.
David@arstechnica Install it on your Windows 11 Android Subsystem and you won’t have the privacy issues.
beSpacific@arstechnica "#Threads (#Android, #Apple) potentially collects a wide assortment of #personal #data that remains connected to you, based on the information available in Apple’s App Store, from your purchase history and #PhysicalAddress to your #BrowsingHistory, #HealthInformation. #Sensitive information” is also listed as type of data collected by #Threads app. Some information this could include is your# race, #SexualOrientation, #pregnancy status, and #religion as well as your #biometricdata."
Andy McGuire 🐕@bespacific @arstechnica technically all fediverse apps should be showing that they collect all this information too.
it's not that the app ASKS for this information, but because you can post *anything* using the app, then the server you are using COULD store this information about you (and others).
The only thing I have specifically been asked for - is to allow notifications. It hasn't even asked for my location.
Geoffrey Makstutis
Eric Hill@arstechnica out of curiosity yesterday i signed up for an account. I spent 5 minutes there and all I saw were influencers and memes. During that time they tried to track me over 600 times. They can keep it. I have only been on Mastodon for a couple days and I definetely prefer this service over that horrible place.
Lee 🌏@arstechnica
Mastodon the clear winner!
Mastodon the clear winner!
Nameless_forevermore@arstechnica I want to tie my hair in a ponytail like that. It's so pretty.
My Blue Check is MIA@arstechnica What about Counter Sociall and Spoutible? Any news there?
Abhishek Bolar@arstechnica and I thought only Mastodon was a Twitter lookalike. There are so many other similar platforms. Thanks for the info!
Grant Jacobs BioinfoTools NZ@arstechnica It’d be helpful for there to be a side-by-side comparison of ehat’s recorded for Threads and Twitter
furina 💧⚖️@arstechnica honestly every meta product is just a privacy nightmare
@arstechnica @siracusa is there a current version of this for messenger apps?
Sue Strong@arstechnica I read it and all I saw was #Threads data collection but not #Twitter or #Mastodon so article is misleading. Anything #Meta collects all our data whether on or off the platform whether or not we have an account there #MetaPixel embedded in sites, Partners hand over all our data. Most invasive platform. #Mastodon collects none. #Twitter collects a lot but most concerning is Musk’s partners, the Saudis. He seems more allied with BRICS countries than the West.
Mastodon•ART 🎨 Curator@arstechnica Alt text: A silhouette photograph in black and white of a person holding up a phone in front of them