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Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

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Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#91

Post by detourdog »

ilamont wrote: post #76
IgorPartola wrote: post #14

Back in 2011 or so the Yellow Pages still delivered physical phone books to ever address in the state where we were. My city literally sent out an extra off cycle recycling truck the next day to pick them all up. Everyone threw them out. Well my coworkers and I realized that the opt out form just needed an address. We contemplated pulling all known addresses for the entire country and automating submitting them all o…

> I don’t think it ever materialized but we had a good chuckle about the emergency meeting the Yellow Pages web devs would have had and at what percentage of opt outs. They would just pretend they didn't receive the opt outs, like half of the direct mailers and spammers out there. I've gone through the trouble of trying to get Uline to stop sending gigantic paper catalogs to my PO Box two or three times per year. The…

I managed to get off uline’s list I think they have a phone number. If one ever orders from them again the process needs to be repeated. This was a physical address not a PO Box.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#92

Post by jonhohle »

NoNotTheDuo wrote: post #55
nixass wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. It asks for access to your email via Apple's Mail app which I don't use Assumption that people use Apple services by default is wild

Mail isn't documented as a requirement, but the first item in the Requirements section is "macOS (uses launchd for scheduling and Messages for iMessage)".

Is Messages to automate responding to broker texts or just for notification?

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#93

Post by tedd4u »

Saris wrote: post #17
londons_explore wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many of the forms have captchas etc? How many require you to make an account or confirm your email address/phone?

Looks like it uses AI to solve the captchas, but yeah some do require making an account in my experience.

FYI it could be that people are the "AI."

https://surejob.in/captcha-entry-work.html

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#94

Post by somewhatgoated »

ur-whale wrote: post #70

Wow, you will be giving away a shitload of PIID when using this tool, the exact opposite of what it's supposed to do.

I said it a couple of times already in this thread but the only thing that will stop these “businesses” is stronger data privacy regulation.

Sometimes it feels like US-Americans have lost all faith in their government’s ability to improve their lives -i can understand it but at the same time where will this lead?

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#95

Post by heroh »

jeroenhd wrote: post #47
airstrike wrote: post #11

> 4. Solves CAPTCHAs via CapSolver (AI-powered, ~$0.001/solve) Right, so my suspicion was correct: I'm the only one being inconvenienced by the same old captchas.

It depends on the CAPTCHA, but there's a reason why Apple, Cloudflare, and Google are shifting towards remote attestation for proof-of-humanity. The reCAPTCHA v3 Enterprise version and MtCaptcha cost a whopping 3x as much ($3 per 1000 solves). Seems like they're the best CAPTCHAs to go for.

recaptcha v3 will require the human to have a Google certified android device (i.e. no GrapheneOS or LineageOS etc.) and a dedicated iOS app which leaks device ID and other data.

Google will get to know every user browsing the web and link it to a smartphone. Since they’re rolling out government issue ID verification at the OS level, this change will allow Google to identify a random web visitor to a govt ID.

https://support.google.com/recaptcha/answer/16609652?hl=en

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#96

Post by detourdog »

trollbridge wrote: post #31
IgorPartola wrote: post #14

Back in 2011 or so the Yellow Pages still delivered physical phone books to ever address in the state where we were. My city literally sent out an extra off cycle recycling truck the next day to pick them all up. Everyone threw them out. Well my coworkers and I realized that the opt out form just needed an address. We contemplated pulling all known addresses for the entire country and automating submitting them all o…

Around the same time frame, my brother rented some rooms in his house to people who had the occupation of actually delivering those phone books. (This was in a different country, but apparently the Yellow Pages existed everywhere.) The delivery-people got overwhelmed and eventually just resorted to putting the stacks and stacks of phone books into piles and burning them. It took a long time until they got caught beca…

The mailroom of my apartment building in college in 1988 was full of phone books that were unclaimed. I took enough to make a platform for my futon.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#97

Post by darkwater »

jeroenhd wrote: post #79
flexagoon wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a real API for services rather than just relying on process spawning and scripting around that What's the difference? Aren't services always just spawned processes?

On Windows, services use this API: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/services/ser... Services are executables, but they have dedicated entrypoints/"signals" for interaction with the service manager. That means you can't point a service at a batch file or powershell script, because those applications don't have the symbols to respond to the signalling from Windows.

I'm sure there is some perfectly valid reason for that in Windows-land but yet I prefer the launchd/systemd approach.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#98

Post by brookst »

heroh wrote: post #95
jeroenhd wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the CAPTCHA, but there's a reason why Apple, Cloudflare, and Google are shifting towards remote attestation for proof-of-humanity. The reCAPTCHA v3 Enterprise version and MtCaptcha cost a whopping 3x as much ($3 per 1000 solves). Seems like they're the best CAPTCHAs to go for.

recaptcha v3 will require the human to have a Google certified android device (i.e. no GrapheneOS or LineageOS etc.) and a dedicated iOS app which leaks device ID and other data. Google will get to know every user browsing the web and link it to a smartphone. Since they’re rolling out government issue ID verification at the OS level, this change will allow Google to identify a random web visitor to a govt ID. https:/…

More info on how an iOS app can leak device ID? I thought Apple did away with access to device IDs and only provides a per-developer ID.

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#99

Post by brookst »

jorvi wrote: post #66
muyuu wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Captchas are getting so annoying and puzzling they will soon prove you're unlikely to be human if you pass them.

Its only Google's ReCaptcha that sucks, with its eternal gaslighting. "Select stairs": okay, does that mean the railing too? And probably some percentage of people clicked rails, so now I have meta it and guess if that percentage is enough to throw off my guess. "Select motorbike": okay, but you're showing me a bicycle. I'll click "skip". FAIL. TRY AGAIN . Sighs.. okay, I guess the average person is so dim-witted the…

It’s not just Google. Look at Arkose, which are not only difficult for humans to solve, they’re difficult for humans to even understand (“move the particle to the correct orbit”).

Re: Show HN: Auto-identity-remove – Automated data broker opt-out runner for macOS

#100

Post by baggachipz »

jackp96 wrote: post #46
baggachipz wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a dark pattern which adds friction to the process, in order to reduce the number of unsubscribes.

There are plenty of dark patterns in digital marketing, and you're generally right about the thinking. But there is a (somewhat plausible) defense here: if someone forwards you an email and you hit the unsubscribe link, then it unsubscribes them; not you. Requiring the user to enter their email helps ensure you don't accidentally unsubscribe the wrong person. That said — the most impactful thing anyone can do to puni…

> But there is a (somewhat plausible) defense here: if someone forwards you an email and you hit the unsubscribe link, then it unsubscribes them; not you.

Pre-filling the address in the field is easy and prevents that. But if I get redirected to an empty address field, I immediately close and mark as spam. I refuse to reward that behavior.

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