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Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

zdnet.com

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Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#141

Post by arjie »

nkrisc wrote: post #19
sambe wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. You could easily argue (and I would) that people simply don't value it highly, on average. You are free not to visit websites that track you, or use various other technological solutions (Tor, private browsing, ad blockers). There's not a great deal to learn about the "free market" here.

> You are free not to visit websites that track you Let me just check the public registry of what companies track me and what they're tracking.

If people really wanted this, you could easily build this tool for money.

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#142

Post by woolinsilver »

canoebuilder wrote: post #140
lloeki wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever seen those "here we'll be setting cookies because we're going to track you if you agree (agree/fuck off)" in Europe? A EU directive or something of the best intent mandates that when you're tracking someone beyond technical needs this boilerplate is required before setting a cookie. Guess what if you disagree there's no way to store the user's answer, so the box keeps popping up, forever nagging the privacy cons…

Guess what if you disagree there's no way to store the user's answer, so the box keeps popping up, forever nagging the privacy conscious. How about a browser extension that hides any overlay divs with the string 'cookies' and input buttons?

Yes. Those exist.

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#143

Post by sangnoir »

csydas wrote: post #64
xg15 wrote: post #13

Ok, honestly, was DNT ever more than a smoke grenade for muddying the privacy discussion? The standard always relied on every single shady data collector out there to act against their core interest, facing not even the risk of detection (let alone punishment) if they don't comply, all just because you asked them nicely. You might as well carry a "do not rob me" card in your wallet. Was there ever a honest belief by…

I don't think it was ever meant to be a comprehensive solution; it was meant as a start to address the rampant issue of tracking. There wasn't a mechanism short of outright blocking for a user to declare intent. The argument has always spiraled around what is the agreement between a user and a site they visit. Implicit agreements, revenue models, etc, but it's always been a unidirectional communication; the website t…

> It's why Microsoft's auto-opt in, while probably well meaning...

I might be overly cynical, but I think that was pure covert corporate warfare on Microsoft's part: it could reduce Google's income and was good PR.

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#144

Post by qb45 »

eli wrote: post #129
nikcub wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Was there ever a honest belief by anyone (except the Ayn Rand fanboys) this could work? On the contrary, it was (generally) those in favor of government-mandated privacy and security who heavily supported the DNT efforts. The "Ayn Rand fanboys" just told people to install uBlock Origin

But... DNT had nothing to do with government

It had: the same kind of people supported it.

At least that's what parent's claim was, which you seem to disagree with but failed to actually argue against.

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#145

Post by qb45 »

quakeguy wrote: post #61
qb45 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's up with this "Ayn Rand fanboys" meme? I keep seeing this recently and this time I can't even imagine how it could be relevant.

IDK really, but i found this article lately: https://www.salon.com/2016/12/14/fountainhead-of-bad-ideas-a... Make your own conclusions.

Hey, thanks for this link and sorry it got you downvoted by losers who can't take a rant like a man :p

This was probably the best response of all because it provides a plausible explanation why this started only recently. I mean, I swear I have never seen Rand mentioned on HN by anyone in any way until lots of people suddenly started making fun of her few weeks ago.

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#146

Post by DanBC »

qb45 wrote: post #145
quakeguy wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK really, but i found this article lately: https://www.salon.com/2016/12/14/fountainhead-of-bad-ideas-a... Make your own conclusions.

Hey, thanks for this link and sorry it got you downvoted by losers who can't take a rant like a man :p This was probably the best response of all because it provides a plausible explanation why this started only recently. I mean, I swear I have never seen Rand mentioned on HN by anyone in any way until lots of people suddenly started making fun of her few weeks ago.

> I mean, I swear I have never seen Rand mentioned on HN by anyone in any way until people suddenly started making fun of her few weeks ago.

No, a group of people have been posting about Rand for years. Here's a thread from 8 years ago people on both sides of the like/dislike divide. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=427292

Here's a post with over 40 points that's just a quote from Atlas Shrugged: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5860250#5860696

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#147

Post by qb45 »

DanBC wrote: post #146
qb45 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, thanks for this link and sorry it got you downvoted by losers who can't take a rant like a man :p This was probably the best response of all because it provides a plausible explanation why this started only recently. I mean, I swear I have never seen Rand mentioned on HN by anyone in any way until lots of people suddenly started making fun of her few weeks ago.

> I mean, I swear I have never seen Rand mentioned on HN by anyone in any way until people suddenly started making fun of her few weeks ago. No, a group of people have been posting about Rand for years. Here's a thread from 8 years ago people on both sides of the like/dislike divide. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=427292 Here's a post with over 40 points that's just a quote from Atlas Shrugged: https://news.yco…

But I haven't seen these posts before so your argument is obviously invalid :p

I'm not saying that it never happened but that it wasn't the case that she was mentioned in every other flamewar about politics.

From hn.algolia.com, excerpts from all "Ayn Rand" posts in the last 10 days, except replies to these posts:

Was there ever a honest belief by anyone (except the Ayn Rand fanboys) this could work?

Yeah, that would be great in the Ayn Rand's fantasy land

I had a coworker who was a hardcore Ayn Rand type who had a real harsh point of view like this, until his infant was born with a congenital heart defect that resulted in hospitalization for 3-4 months. [this one actually isn't dumb]

HN is nothing but startup bros, armchair economists, and card-carrying Ayn Rand fan club members.

For an entire generation community-oriented principles, egalitarianism, collectivist ideas, and far-left leaders were demonized as Soviet sympathizers, replaced with rah rah unregulated capitalism, Ayn Rand-ian individualist, and military might. [tl;dr, might be reasonable]

Nobody cares about your Ayn Rand pablum anymore. Argue on morals that have any grounding at all in the real world.

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#148

Post by DanBC »

qb45 wrote: post #147
DanBC wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean, I swear I have never seen Rand mentioned on HN by anyone in any way until people suddenly started making fun of her few weeks ago. No, a group of people have been posting about Rand for years. Here's a thread from 8 years ago people on both sides of the like/dislike divide. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=427292 Here's a post with over 40 points that's just a quote from Atlas Shrugged: https://news.yco…

But I haven't seen these posts before so your argument is obviously invalid :p I'm not saying that it never happened but that it wasn't the case that she was mentioned in every other flamewar about politics. From hn.algolia.com, excerpts from all "Ayn Rand" posts in the last 10 days, except replies to these posts: Was there ever a honest belief by anyone (except the Ayn Rand fanboys) this could work? Yeah, that would…

They do all sound harsh!

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#149

Post by qb45 »

DanBC wrote: post #148
qb45 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But I haven't seen these posts before so your argument is obviously invalid :p I'm not saying that it never happened but that it wasn't the case that she was mentioned in every other flamewar about politics. From hn.algolia.com, excerpts from all "Ayn Rand" posts in the last 10 days, except replies to these posts: Was there ever a honest belief by anyone (except the Ayn Rand fanboys) this could work? Yeah, that would…

They do all sound harsh!

I don't even care about harsh, fwiw I've barely suffered through maybe some 40% of The Fountainhead when I tried. What caught my attention was that most of these posts look like mindlessly repeated viral meme. Not that it's anything particularly unusual of course, but boring.

Re: Twitter abandons 'Do Not Track' privacy protection

#150

Post by qb45 »

djrogers wrote: post #117
greglindahl wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no way to overblame Microsoft: There was an industry agreement that involved the compromise of DNT not being the default. Microsoft destroyed the entire agreement, which doesn't benefit consumers at all. Worked out great for the advertising and data-collection industries, though.

There was no 'Industry agreement' or compromise - the whole DNT thing was a slice of cake thrown to us by the advertising industry to keep us quiet for a while.

I don't know how relevant/important they were, but there were some advertisers who agreed to respect DNT provided it's set by the user.

https://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-ticks-off-advertisers-wi...

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