I installed Jerboa and noticed that it grayed the titles of posts that I had already viewed even though I had viewed them on the web. That told me (unless I am somehow confused) that the server side tracks what posts you have read.
From my perspective that seems like a terrible invasion. I can understand some benefit to showing the post status in the UI, but if it is stored at all, the storage should be exclusively on the client side. I mentioned this also in the “issues” thread and got no reaction, so maybe I’m missing something or in error.
I noticed previously that stuff I read in the browser does not show up as read in the mobile app. I also just tested it with different browsers and as far as I can see, read posts are marked as unread when I use another browser.
So are you actually sure about your claim? This is very easily testable, so I hope you have actually confirmed this before you accuse lemmy of participating in a “terrible invasion” of privacy…
I have said several times that I am not completely sure. I will see if I can do some better tests. It is something that I noticed when I installed Jerboa, so I asked about it, and people seemed to confirm that there was server side tracking.
I browsed and posted on Lemmy for a while through a desktop browser on my laptop, then installed Jerboa on my phone and started playing with it, and immediately noticed that posts I had previously read through the browser were marked in Jerboa. The only ways Jerboa could have gotten that info are: 1) the server recorded the info from the browser and relayed it to Jerboa, or 2) I was confused somehow and had also read those posts through Jerboa.
#2 above is something of a possibility but that leaves #1 as still not dispelled suspicion. I was hoping that someone familiar with the implementation would comment.
I can’t say that the backends don’t track that for sure because I haven’t looked at the source or anything. But keeping a history is something very commonly done in the client. Just like Web browsers.
Right, what I saw (unless I’m mistaken which is possible) was reading posts on one client (Firefox browser on my laptop computer) and then seeing the read posts marked on a completely different client (Jerboa on my phone). That means the info must have somehow been communicated between the two clients. Suspicion points to the server. I will ask on /c/privacy@lemmy.ml about this and/or look at the code base.
Thanks, that is good to know, but that is a type of evil where I would hope Lemmy doesn’t follow Reddit. I sometimes posted to Reddit but I more often read passively without logging in, partly to avoid some of the tracking.
Sure. I think it’s good to be aware of for sure and I agree that it would be nice if Lemmy isn’t tracking as much. I also recognize that I’ve accepted a certain amount of tracking in my life over the years at this point.
I don’t disagree really… Just pointing out that as long as you’re logged in Reddit has always tracked posts viewed as far as I’m aware… Facebook similarly tracks all activities and always has.
These are obviously not models to aspire to but I think that it’s helpful to be aware of what we’ve dealt with up until this point.
What do you mean with “tracking” exactly? The way I understand it, tracking is analysing and using user data, for example for marketing purposes.
Posts and content need to be saved on the instance as far as I understand, I don’t see any other way. And posts and comments are essentially public information, anyone can see the posts that your username posts and comments, that’s kinda the entire point of posting and commenting.
Up and down votes too, otherwise I don’t see how the concept of up and down votes could work. The server needs to know which comments or posts you upvote, otherwise it doesn’t register it. And theoretically, the server admin could track that information and make statistics based on it, although this is potentially where legal issues come in if it’s not properly explained what is done with your data.
Same with metadata stuff and data such as which posts you access/read. The server has to know that information, when you click on a post you want to read, you are essentially asking the server to provide you with that post, so the server has to know which post you want to read and this is generally logged on the server for a certain time.
The question is does the server keep and archive this information and/or is this information used and analysed by somebody.
According to the admin, data is not sold or used for marketing purposes.
I installed Jerboa and noticed that it grayed the titles of posts that I had already viewed even though I had viewed them on the web. That told me (unless I am somehow confused) that the server side tracks what posts you have read.
From my perspective that seems like a terrible invasion. I can understand some benefit to showing the post status in the UI, but if it is stored at all, the storage should be exclusively on the client side. I mentioned this also in the “issues” thread and got no reaction, so maybe I’m missing something or in error.
I noticed previously that stuff I read in the browser does not show up as read in the mobile app. I also just tested it with different browsers and as far as I can see, read posts are marked as unread when I use another browser.
So are you actually sure about your claim? This is very easily testable, so I hope you have actually confirmed this before you accuse lemmy of participating in a “terrible invasion” of privacy…
I have said several times that I am not completely sure. I will see if I can do some better tests. It is something that I noticed when I installed Jerboa, so I asked about it, and people seemed to confirm that there was server side tracking.
Isn’t that a browser thing, not a lemmy thing? Iirc, your jerboa history shows up in your default browser
I browsed and posted on Lemmy for a while through a desktop browser on my laptop, then installed Jerboa on my phone and started playing with it, and immediately noticed that posts I had previously read through the browser were marked in Jerboa. The only ways Jerboa could have gotten that info are: 1) the server recorded the info from the browser and relayed it to Jerboa, or 2) I was confused somehow and had also read those posts through Jerboa.
#2 above is something of a possibility but that leaves #1 as still not dispelled suspicion. I was hoping that someone familiar with the implementation would comment.
I can’t say that the backends don’t track that for sure because I haven’t looked at the source or anything. But keeping a history is something very commonly done in the client. Just like Web browsers.
Right, what I saw (unless I’m mistaken which is possible) was reading posts on one client (Firefox browser on my laptop computer) and then seeing the read posts marked on a completely different client (Jerboa on my phone). That means the info must have somehow been communicated between the two clients. Suspicion points to the server. I will ask on /c/privacy@lemmy.ml about this and/or look at the code base.
Reddit tracked posts viewed as well.
Thanks, that is good to know, but that is a type of evil where I would hope Lemmy doesn’t follow Reddit. I sometimes posted to Reddit but I more often read passively without logging in, partly to avoid some of the tracking.
Sure. I think it’s good to be aware of for sure and I agree that it would be nice if Lemmy isn’t tracking as much. I also recognize that I’ve accepted a certain amount of tracking in my life over the years at this point.
Tracking posts is understandable. Tracking up and down votes is iffy. Tracking reading is inappropriate and invasive.
I don’t disagree really… Just pointing out that as long as you’re logged in Reddit has always tracked posts viewed as far as I’m aware… Facebook similarly tracks all activities and always has.
These are obviously not models to aspire to but I think that it’s helpful to be aware of what we’ve dealt with up until this point.
What do you mean with “tracking” exactly? The way I understand it, tracking is analysing and using user data, for example for marketing purposes.
Posts and content need to be saved on the instance as far as I understand, I don’t see any other way. And posts and comments are essentially public information, anyone can see the posts that your username posts and comments, that’s kinda the entire point of posting and commenting.
Up and down votes too, otherwise I don’t see how the concept of up and down votes could work. The server needs to know which comments or posts you upvote, otherwise it doesn’t register it. And theoretically, the server admin could track that information and make statistics based on it, although this is potentially where legal issues come in if it’s not properly explained what is done with your data.
Same with metadata stuff and data such as which posts you access/read. The server has to know that information, when you click on a post you want to read, you are essentially asking the server to provide you with that post, so the server has to know which post you want to read and this is generally logged on the server for a certain time.
The question is does the server keep and archive this information and/or is this information used and analysed by somebody.
According to the admin, data is not sold or used for marketing purposes.