@vowe There is also the fact that #threads is run by Meta, and certain preconditions have not been met for me to have anything more to do with any of Zuckerberg’s empire.
ie Hell has not frozen over.
WhatsApp is, unfortunately a necessary evil at the moment due to the number of people using it, but that will get ditched as soon as a viable alternative presents itself.
@vowe But it's not quite true, as Mastodon does (need to) collect some user data, like your e-mail address, telephone number and some other things. That's necessary for the app to work. Those aren't shared with third parties, though, afaik.
@vowe The Mastodon iOS app does not collect any data, other than all the data you send to the instance you register on, where the admin (who does not report to any sort of regulating body) not only has full access to every byte you send them, but can also make a bunch of arbitrary decisions that affect your safety and privacy without your consent.
Trigger warning: This uses the default Mastodon app. I wasted a few weeks struggling with it, before someone told me it's one of the worst ones, and it's more of a demo.
@vowe all that's missing for a Thread is access to childhood pet's name, mother's maiden name, and favorite teacher. 🤦♀️
Thanks, I'll stick with #mastadon 🦣
@HeroRareheart@vowe 99% of those permissions are optional. Look at the Play Store listing. Apple is so simple. Y'all need to stop spreading this nonsense.
@lscottspencer@vowe The problem isn't that these are optional, it's that these are requested at any point at all regardless of if we can say no or not. An app serving it's functions should NEVER need access to most of that.
@HeroRareheart@vowe Think about it. It's the same permissions as Instagram lists. I would say that it's called a large corporation covering its ass legally. If mastodon had more than one and a half million active monthly users, they would be more concerned about such things too.
@HeroRareheart@vowe And Apple completely mislabels these things. These are not required permissions. These are possible permissions. And again, 99% of them are optional and not required to use the app.
@justinionn You nailed it. People are using a completely insecure protocol and everything is public already. Yet, they are losing their minds over Meta. I've never seen a group of people so misinformed in my life. There's been misinformation on here the last two days to put Twitter to shame. @HeroRareheart@vowe
@justinionn I'll read this more closely but I'm SUPER confused by your actual advice to not use the Fediverse because of this. Isn't everything you're saying true of the internet at large? The internet itself is federated via protocols like ActivityPub. What of what you're saying is dangerous about the fediverse is not true of walled gardens? That they are more beholden to legal pressure?
@lscottspencer@HeroRareheart@vowe Also, a story from the Irish Independent newspaper has been widely shared; cited as evidence that The EU has found Meta's data collection practices so nefarious, this has prohibited the launch of Threads in Ireland (and the rest of The EU)...
The Irish DPC later clarified that this isn't strictly true.
There is a difference between something being posted and made widely available and therefore insecure, and giving away the content rights to a big corporation.
No one is saying they can not suck up Fedi content, but they may not. It's like photocopying a book. If you give #Meta a license to exploit your content then they do have the right to use your data.
@mastodonmigration I'd argue when you post anything publicly, you've put it out there for the taking. I'm retired Army Intelligence. There is no privacy anymore. @justinionn@HeroRareheart@vowe
You own the copyright to content you create. Unless you license that content to someone else they can not sell it. If you posted it under certain terms, like to display it on Mastodon, then you grant an implicit license limited for that purpose. They still can not sell it.
@mastodonmigration I never said anybody could sell it. I'm saying they can view it. And what they do with it after that, you really have no way of knowing do you? @justinionn@HeroRareheart@vowe
@mastodonmigration You're missing my entire point. I'm not saying that legally a person can reuse anything you have posted and certainly not sell it. But, the truth of the matter is, that once you put it out there, you have no idea what anyone is doing with it. @justinionn@HeroRareheart@vowe
@mastodonmigration Just for arguments sake, let's say that I take one of your posts that you have made on here and I screenshot it and repost it on my own timeline. Your username will be there so you will have credit for the information contained in it. What are you going to do about it? Ask me to take it down? You could. And I could refuse. Are you going to take me to court over it? @justinionn@HeroRareheart@vowe
You can always raise diminimous hypotheticals. In this case nothing would be done. You may not even be in violation of anything, since it was posted with some expectation it would be distributed on Mastodon.
If, on the other hand, you liked cat pictures, and collected cat pictures from posts and put them in a book and made millions without giving any credit, you could be sued.
@mastodonmigration We're in agreement that I am an honest and fair player. But there are many people and many companies on the internet who can get to your posts just as easily, who are not. @justinionn@HeroRareheart@vowe
@mastodonmigration@lscottspencer@HeroRareheart@vowe Yes, you would expect to be sued in The UK, if you collected cat pictures from social media posts and put them in a book and made millions without giving any credit.
@mastodonmigration@lscottspencer@HeroRareheart@vowe I I'd rather that a big corporation uses my content to present adverts for socks to me while I'm browsing the web, than have some bedroom hobbyist Mastodon admin going rogue and doxxing me for abuse.
Either scenario is possible. I'll take my chances for the sake of convenience.
I personally wouldn't use any social media platform to publish material I wouldn't be happy to be exploited by others.
I'm personally ambivalent about many organisations collecting my data, in return for my using their platforms without monetary cost.
This is true of the Internet at large.
For instance; if Google wants to show me adverts for holidays on YouTube (quite clearly) after I've been searching prices of luggage... I really couldn't care any less!!!
@justinionn@lscottspencer@HeroRareheart@vowe@Jdreben@Bloonface Its a matter of preference. I don't expect encryption or anything here in a public forum. People who said there should be on mastodon are delusional. Otherwise, 1 to 1 chats or small groups should have some form of encryption.
@vowe except technically Mastodon is getting its disclosure wrong.
If someone makes a post containing their exercise schedule that is health and fitness data, then technically Mastodon processes that data.
@vowe #AltText there are two screenshots from an Apple iPhone comparing the Instagram (meta? Facebook?) Threads to regular mastodon app and data collection. The mastodon app screenshot says "no data collected" while the threads one exact text:
App Privacy
See Details
The developer, Instagram, Inc., indicated that the app's privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer's privacy policy.
@vowe What, you don't want your Twitter clone to know all of your contacts and purchases? Concerned about it getting "other data" like that isn't a perfectly descriptive point?
@vowe I would add another point to this list. Instagram's UI doesn't make me feel like writing long posts and share value. It's all about fun and visual junk rather than something meaningful.
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