cross-posted from: https://social.fossware.space/post/123876
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.”
Trackers, trackers and ol’ Zucc’s roboface galore.
Okay, this is an honest question.
Why do you care? How does it matter at all to you what apps your friends use? How does it affect you?
I can totally understand people valuing their privacy strongly and refusing to use mainstream corporate social media. I can also understand people who don’t care about that and decide that they get more out of it than they give.
Given that people posting on a social network that you’re not on has essentially no effect on you at all beyond a vague bit of FOMO, why does it matter?
Why do I care?
Well, I get all manner of spam texts because my mom gave some shitty app permissions to access her contacts. The spam messages are directed to me by name.
It’s not just their personal info they’re putting at risk when they click “agree” on data sucking apps.
Yes, whatsapp has my real name and phone number on their servers without my consent because several people I know have my details saved in their phone contacts, and when someone signs up to WhatsApp, they give my personal contact information to WhatsApp because the person signing up to WhatsApp consented to give it, not me. Tbf it’s the same for all messenger apps these days. I miss MSN Messenger.
It’s a valid question and I understand your point, but it becomes an issue for me when I end up being caught up the a snowball effect and need to use a bad app too. Here in Europe, WhatsApp is an example of something I’d rather not use, but because it’s the platform everyone else is on, it’s very difficult to avoid. The parallel I see is if Twitter is supplanted not by Mastodon, but by Threads, then that is the place people will gravitate towards and then the privacy friendly version becomes less useful due to lack of users and content.
Of course it is an option to just not use these apps, but the preferably outcome is that I am able to have the nice experience without sacrificing my privacy.
