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If you can create a Lemmy instance and federate, you can shovel data about every vote linked to an account

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andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
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privacyguides@lemmy.one
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I’ve created this post: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8898162

And some admin showed they can see how the upvotes\downvotes go.

If you are concerned about privacy, you should know, that this data on Lemmy can be easily mined and tracked.

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e0qdk@kbin.social
4 points

Anyone can see any upvote from federated users via kbin – for example, the upvotes on the comment this is a reply to can be seen here: https://kbin.social/m/privacyguides@lemmy.one/t/616970/If-you-can-create-a-Lemmy-instance-and-federate-you/comment/3491191/favourites

That may not be complete or consistent though given the way federation works.

Downvotes from lemmy do not show up. (Not sure why not; haven’t dug into it.) Only downvotes from kbin members are shown on kbin. Also unclear to me if downvotes between different kbin/mbin instances show up or if it’s the local instance only. (I’ve only noticed local downvotes, but haven’t really been looking.)

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Otter@lemmy.ca
5 points

Oh huh

Well that might discourage people from voting…

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e0qdk@kbin.social
5 points

Yeah, I had a mixed reaction to finding that out a while ago, but I’m kind of just rolling with it for now. Votes are just simply NOT private on here, for better or worse. My feeling right now is that it’s sort of positive from a community feel perspective, but I’m also avoiding interacting with a lot of subjects I consider more controversial.

Probably we’ll end up developing a culture of either lots of alts used simultaneously, short lived accounts with regular name changes, or both as people become more aware of this. Either that or people will just say “Fuck it. You really want to see all the weird porn I like and my political preferences and what not? Don’t blame me if you regret looking!” :p

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Otter@lemmy.ca
2 points

Appreciate the thoughts, it gives me more to think about. I’ve also been avoiding controversial subject matter and I think I’ll avoid it even more now.

I do think the Fediverse needs to improve privacy and ease of use for alts. I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years on Reddit that an authoritarian government would love to get their hands on. I guess the fediverse, by design, can’t be private? I worry that someone who doesn’t know better will get hurt because they don’t understand the risks.

All the more reason to join trusted instances with solid admins, and to keep your Lemmy profile separate from your real identity.

A possible workflow right now might be to browse on one account, and post comments from another. Boost on Reddit made that easier, but I don’t think the Lemmy one does that yet

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Aniki 🌱🌿@lemm.ee
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