If for whatever reason you never wish to interact with #Threads, you can personally block it for your account. This hides all posts and profiles from Threads, prevents anyone from Threads from following you, and stops your posts from being delivered to or fetched by Threads. Simply click the "Block domain threads.net" option on any Threads profile or post you see in Mastodon.
"... the website loads in a special browser built into the app, rather than your phone’s default browser. In 2022, privacy researcher Felix Krause found that Meta injects special “keylogging” JavaScript onto the website you’re visiting that allows the company to monitor everything you type and tap on, including passwords. Other apps including TikTok do the same thing."
Meta’s new app “Threads” is up pre-order in the App Store. Let’s do a quick check on what data they want from you compared to the official Mastodon app, Mammoth and Ivory.
Spoiler: Meta wants to know and track everything about you, and Mastodon doesn’t want anything.
The recent excitement surrounding Thread's arrival on the Fediverse is concerning. To understand why this is not a good idea, consider their economic interest in harvesting data, their poor moderation, and their manipulations. Nothing good can come from their federation. Don't roll out the red carpet for them.
#Threads is testing federation for a few selected profiles. I'm now following @mosseri! It's one-way for now, but it's exciting. It's a step towards the interoperable social web that we've been advocating for 🙂
So #Meta's new #Threads app needs your health and fitness info. It also needs your browsing history and your location, and your purchases, and...well, it seems to need everything. If you want to get fully creeped out, here's the whole #privacy policy: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy/.
Mastodon instances admins are going through a very challenging time right now.
They have difficult, often heartbreaking, decisions to make 💔
They have a lot of changes to managed :blob_dizzy_face:
They have large influx in traffic to deal with :blobastonished:
And they have to deal with all of our comments and strong opinions about this :oh_no:
Be Kind with instance administrators and moderation teams. Even when you do not agree with their choices. You can state your opinion, but always remain polite and empathetic.
This is volunteer work!
They all deserve our kindness 💚
I read that #Meta has launched #Threads and many don't understand why it's not fully usable via the web but only through a dedicated mobile app. Meta isn't interested in letting us talk but rather in collecting as much data as possible. Browsers have become (more) skilled at protecting us, while apps can have almost complete access to our mobile devices, gathering data that an average person couldn't even imagine. And our mobile devices have become the safe (or should I say, the exposed pantry?) of our lives. #privacy#datacollection#SocialNetworks
I was on @mike's Dot Social podcast to talk about Mastodon, #Threads (not the 1984 movie), and the social web. If you've got questions about any of those things, maybe we've covered them!
Not only will #Threads not be launching in the EU (presumably because it'll be sucking up so much personal data that they can't make it GDPR compliant), but now the The European Court of Justice has agreed with Germany’s anti-cartel watchdog that Meta can't share harvested personal data between Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. That ruling will also apply to Threads.
So... I get banning the Threads server. I might do it myself, actually.
I get leaving an instance that doesn't ban Threads to join another instance that does ban it. Cool, migration is a feature of the fediverse.
But... don't ban servers that don't ban Threads. Like... that's some weird Civ III peer pressure bullshit.
I probably will ban Threads from my account. But I'm not leaving infosec.exchange. @jerry does entirely too well at server administration and this entire instance is comprised of too many people to be of one mind.
Like... we can all agree, no nazi's and racist shit, right? But politics and socio-economic models... fuuuck.... there's no way.
And I really want to talk with y'all. And I really really really don't want to spin up my own instance right now.
So. Ban Threads. Don't ban Threads. Instance wide or individually. But don't balkinize each other because of each other's stance for/against/indifferent Threads.
iOS AppStore privacy preview for Meta’s upcoming ActivityPub-based app Threads