51–60 of 102 posts
"Third party tools." Ads. They're called ads. Don't beat around the bush. Google won't fix the problem because their business is selling ads.
Crashlytics isn't ads. It's crash reporting. Mixpanel isn't ads, it's analytics.
> "and get insight into your users, what they’re doing, and inject live social content to delight them."
It's also analytics, and ads.
Am I the only person who doesn't mind being tracked? I don't use an ad-blocker or VPN and allow all cookies. I see it as a fair trade for reading articles, watching videos, playing games, etc. without paying any money out of my own pocket. EDIT: Why the down votes with no replies on this?
Why do you think it's a fair trade? Your personal information, privacy and security is worth so much more than a few measly videos or games.
I don't have a lot of money but I like reading articles and playing games.
I don't place any significant value on my personal information, privacy, and security, so why not trade it away? I'd much rather do that than have to start paying for games, news, articles, etc.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If the two parties engaged in a transaction know all of the information about the transaction and the transactions consequences and still agree, then by definition, it must be a "fair" trade, where "fair" means fair to both parties engaging in the transaction.
Only if both parties have perfect and complete information about the true costs. In this example, he's selling himself way short, his entire online privacy for a few silly videos.
a) are very concerned about collection of their own data
b) derive material value from Crashlytics, Mixpanel and other "tracking tools" for their work
It's tricky to reconcile those two ideas.
I wish I could edit the hosts file of Android devices without root. Barring that, I wish I could force a DNS server for both wi-fi and mobile data links, which I believe also requires root. Either one of these options would allow the use of DNS blackholing for adware/malware domains. Without it, protecting yourself on mobile is that much more difficult.
The surprising part to me is that it's only 3/4. I assume the rest are not doing any real analytics. Of course they are using 3rd party tools, because the software and infrastructure required to do meaningful analytics on a large user base is way beyond what any startup or independent developer can afford to invest. There aren't even decent Open Source options - Google Analytics long ago sucked the air out of Open So…
We really need to get over this notion that developer time is the most important thing in the world, it's having negative affects on privacy, performance and probably more. Gigabytes of usage data is really not that much anyway, but even if it is, you don't need to track every single user, just a representative sample.
And don't forget the age old option of not doing analytics, except for marketing purposes I've rarely seen analytics provide more value than it's worth.
This thread is a really interesting example of how easily humans can simultaneously hold conflicting beliefs/opinions. I'm gathering that a lot of developers and businesspeople here: a) are very concerned about collection of their own data b) derive material value from Crashlytics, Mixpanel and other "tracking tools" for their work It's tricky to reconcile those two ideas.
"Many of these trackers are also available in the Apple iOS app store, though technical and legal barriers limit privacy and security analysis ." https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/isp-privacy-lab-publishe... And from https://boingboing.net/2017/11/25/la-la-la-cant-hear-you.htm... : "As Exodus and Yale note, these trackers are almost certainly also present in iOS: the companies that make them advertise their iOS com…
Try launching one of the top games with XPrivacy installed. You get to click allow for the dev's server and block to 5+ 3rd party analytics, crash reporting and ad services. I'm sure many of these provide developer value, but there's definitely a harm to user privacy.
This thread is a really interesting example of how easily humans can simultaneously hold conflicting beliefs/opinions. I'm gathering that a lot of developers and businesspeople here: a) are very concerned about collection of their own data b) derive material value from Crashlytics, Mixpanel and other "tracking tools" for their work It's tricky to reconcile those two ideas.
The people conducting the analytics are doing it 'for the right reasons'. The people being analysed don't trust anyone to do anything 'for the right reasons' or without some amount of scope creep around the edges of 'the right reasons'. Self versus someone else. I've got the best intentions, but I don't think anyone else has.
It touches on the theory of: if a company was a person it would have the traits of a psychopath / sociopath. The ends justifies the means. Grow the business, and analytics is the best way to do it, or to visualise the progress and adjust the method.
Human as part of the business: We gotta do these things to give ourselves the greatest chance of success
Human as consumer of app: Why would they possibly need access to THAT?
There are definitely multi-personalities involved. WHich seems increasingly normal. Wasn't there an HN article on that recently?
The brain is a denial-machine. It enables hypocrisy, and I can only theorise that this is due to our inability to survive if that wasn't the case.
I don't get it. If you're in IT in any role, you know this is happening. I install zero apps on my iPhone. I don't need them. Banking and other secure things are more properly done on a desktop or laptop running some form of nix with proper security in place. I would never access my bank or other secure website with crucial information via a mobile phone. Call me an anachronism should you wish, but I've never had the…
Not really a solution, seen in that light, is it?