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Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

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Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#111

Post by yodon »

mtgx wrote: post #31
geofft wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the privacy distinction between a third party with a contractual agreement and an employee with a contractual agreement? Remember that Russian intelligence got a spy hired by Microsoft: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/jul/14/russian-s... Will your interview questions find a foreign spy, or someone who isn't even a spy but is interested in looking at private data for personal amusement?

If Microsoft implemented proper security policies, I imagine that guy didn't have access to all of Microsoft's user data. So that would be the main difference. Virtually all of a company's employees shouldn't have access to user data at all, and those that do would only have access to parts of it.

>If Microsoft implemented proper security policies, I imagine that guy didn't have access to all of Microsoft's user data.

This is precisely the sort of thing Microsoft takes incredibly seriously internally. Tim Cook may be a more vocal spokesman for treating user data with care but Microsoft is fanatical about it internally. They recognize the risk they face in the event of compromise and have made just enough mistakes in the past to appreciate how hard it is to actually protect their customers’ information.

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#112

Post by dschuetz »

It's scary that it doesn't surprise me anymore.

Especially social networks are considered most lucrative in terms of targeted marketing and data mining, and it's obvious why. Social networking remains a big deal, it's almost mandatory to have some social networking footprint online, or else you miss out on social life. Why is it still OK to trade data distilled from social media accounts? It's not! One of the many reasons and implications are in that article.

Is independent social media possible? How to fund basic service infrastructure if not by running online ads, or trading user data? Is decentralized social media feasible, and who maintains a decentralized service if it is?

EDIT: If an app developer wants to analyze how the app performs, why share most intimate user data with third parties, Facebook being one of them?

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#113

Post by mistermann »

buro9 wrote: post #45

If you are using Grindr on Android, install and use NetGuard. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.ne... https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard NetGuard is an open source local VPN that allows you to block DNS lookups to prevent calls to 3rd parties, and it does not require root access. Calls to all of the 3rd parties mentioned are blockable. Grindr does not need many domains to be operational to work,…

A slightly off-topic related question.....does anyone know of an Android app that does not require root, that can find and kill (preferably configurable so it happens on boot) apps that run in the background?

For example, AirDroid - it is very useful occasionally but I don't use it 99% of the time, but it is still there running and killing my battery life. Perhaps I can better configure it, but that's not the point - I'd love to have a solution that puts me as the device owner back in control, I'd like to see what's running, I'd like to auto-kill things I don't want.

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#114

Post by alex_young »

saosebastiao wrote: post #107
pavlov wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> regulation hampers growth Is there proof of this? Some countries like Germany and Sweden are both highly regulated and have fastest economic growth in the West.

Yes, all regulation hurts economic growth. The mechanism is simple: regulatory compliance is a cost. If it's a fixed cost like most regulation, it becomes a barrier to entry. If it's a variable cost, it reduces labor productivity. HOWEVER, some regulation may improve net economic growth by improving the functioning of markets such that it overcomes the costs that compliance imposes. Therefore the discussion of regula…

>> Is there proof of this?

> Yes, all regulation hurts economic growth.

What about the proof of that? What basis are you making the assertion on?

It seems like some regulation can promote growth. For instance, regulation on product safety increases consumer confidence in the safety of those products and creates a broader market for them.

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#115

Post by pmlnr »

ktta wrote: post #89
andrepd wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFWall is a pretty user-friendly and configurable firewall. Let's you easily block apps from accessing the web. https://github.com/ukanth/afwall

AFWall requires root, while NetGuard doesn't. Important distinction now that rooting affects ability to use features like Google Pay, Netflix (offline download), etc.

Rooted phone, no google services, and netflix downloads are just fine.

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#116

Post by typon »

saosebastiao wrote: post #107
pavlov wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> regulation hampers growth Is there proof of this? Some countries like Germany and Sweden are both highly regulated and have fastest economic growth in the West.

Yes, all regulation hurts economic growth. The mechanism is simple: regulatory compliance is a cost. If it's a fixed cost like most regulation, it becomes a barrier to entry. If it's a variable cost, it reduces labor productivity. HOWEVER, some regulation may improve net economic growth by improving the functioning of markets such that it overcomes the costs that compliance imposes. Therefore the discussion of regula…

That's a blanket statement without any evidence.

Its like saying static checking always hurts productivity because you need to be compliant with the compiler. What if complying with regulations reduces costs? Why does it have to necessarily increase them?

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#117

Post by y4mi »

moate wrote: post #110
kayfox wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can delete the data from your profile.

Do you have any idea how hard/illegal it is to hack into those servers and manually delete every file relating to JUST your profile without alerting an admin?

You forgot the cold storage backups. Its just plain impossible with anything more serious than a hobby project.

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#118

Post by ISL »

DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #40
billmalarky wrote: post #7

It's become clear over the last year there is a strong need for a data privacy regulatory agency in US government. I understand that regulation hampers growth, but the tech industry is mature and developed to the point that it's time to reel in "moving fast and breaking things" a bit.

> It's become clear over the last year there is a strong need for a data privacy regulatory agency in US government. I wouldn't trust a governmental regulatory agency to aggressively fulfill it's mission. My impression is that in general they're too much at the mercy of politicians. I suspect a more effective strategy is to enact legislation that makes companies liable under civil law, with private citizens empowered…

> I wouldn't trust a governmental agency to aggressively fulfill it's mission. My impression is that in general they're too much at the mercy of politicians.

It is good when a governmental agency is at the mercy of politicians. As the electorate, we are responsible for the politicians we elect.

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#119

Post by hluska »

kayfox wrote: post #102
bognition wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lol, that means nothing. It most likely means that data is marked as deleted but the original values are retained.

Well, you could also just not fill it out in the first place. To be clear, this is public profile information displayed to any user of the Grindr app.

Except that if a user fills in a Grindr profile, they believe they are only sharing information with Grindr/its users. The truth is that they share all of the information (in less than secure ways) with a variety of third parties and fail to disclose that fact. That's illegal in many countries (including mine) and it demonstrates an unbelievable lack of regard for user privacy or safety.

Re: Grindr Shares Personal Information With Third-Parties

#120

Post by ovao »

loufe wrote: post #47
kayfox wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just don't fill out that part of your profile.

If one is HIV positive it would probably be a draw of the app to find only others who are also afflicted. Turning it off might result in some illegal decisions.

Grindr wouldn’t be the only way to declare one’s STD status though. It could be omitted from one’s profile, but declared during chat, for example, or prior to hooking up.
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