This is a bit f'd, Quora • Hacker News Board

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#21

Post by chermanowicz » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:47 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #4

The new "social" web is really creepy . Browsing in an incognito browser and logged into nothing has sortof become my default. I don't want google chrome saving my search history, or to accidentally read an article on some news website that then broadcasts that fact to all of my facebook friends.

While I agree with you, I think Quora did announce in advance that they were rolling this out

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#22

Post by espeed » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:47 PM UTC

You can disable that in your settings.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#23

Post by SebMortelmans » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:48 PM UTC

This is completely crossing the line. Showing others what you have searched without notifying me about this is just offensive to me. I love quora and what they are doing, but this is completely below the belt.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#24

Post by mcphilip » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:48 PM UTC

olalonde wrote: post #2

Also, you can't view some answers anonymously anymore (blurred out a la expertsexchange.com). Seems they are desperate for new users...

I really hope this blows back hard on Quora.

We need dramatic examples of companies' valuations being hit for making such privacy violations on a whim. Google and Facebook can mostly get away with similar violations since the large majority of users simply don't care and/or don't understand the privacy concerns, but maybe it's not too late to lash back at relatively insignificant companies like Quora for blatant disregard of privacy...

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#25

Post by timmyd » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:48 PM UTC

chermanowicz wrote: post #21

blhack wrote: post #4

The new "social" web is really creepy . Browsing in an incognito browser and logged into nothing has sortof become my default. I don't want google chrome saving my search history, or to accidentally read an article on some news website that then broadcasts that fact to all of my facebook friends.

While I agree with you, I think Quora did announce in advance that they were rolling this out

They should have provided clear notification on the next login with a link to the details of the implementation. I recall no such action occurring in anyway.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#26

Post by manaskarekar » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:51 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #14

manaskarekar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately with supercookies, IP address-based identification (maybe even machine signature based id-ing?) and such, I think incognito mode is practically a placebo.

You'd be wrong. Try this from incognito: https://panopticlick.eff.org/

I'm aware of that link and here's my result in Chrome on Incognito.

  Within our dataset of several million visitors, only one in 1,172,808 browsers have the same fingerprint as yours.

  Currently, we estimate that your browser has a fingerprint that conveys 20.16 bits of identifying information.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#27

Post by chimeracoder » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:51 PM UTC

thebooktocome wrote: post #19

blhack wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd be wrong. Try this from incognito: https://panopticlick.eff.org/

I did... unique among their database...

You may be unique, but within a very small pool. For example, my current user agent string alone narrows me down to within one in ~2-3 million users/browsers. When taken with the intersection of all those other bits, it's very easy to get an incredibly high-resolution snapshot of an individual...

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#28

Post by vijayr » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:51 PM UTC

ozataman wrote: post #6

Wow, this is a really big lapse of judgement on Quora's part. I'm contemplating if I should delete my account altogether. In any case, thank you for posting it here - at least people can take the precautions. Edit: That yes/no button is not at all obvious! They need some form of green/red color coding.

You'll have to send an email to privacy@quora.com to delete your account. I did, and they deleted my account. I also told them politely that broadcasting what every user reads to the entire world is very creepy. It is a shame, as the quality of answers at quora is much higher than in other places.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#29

Post by what_ever » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:52 PM UTC

chimeracoder wrote: post #27

thebooktocome wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did... unique among their database...

You may be unique, but within a very small pool. For example, my current user agent string alone narrows me down to within one in ~2-3 million users/browsers. When taken with the intersection of all those other bits, it's very easy to get an incredibly high-resolution snapshot of an individual...

Same here.

Re: This is a bit f'd, Quora

#30

Post by minm » Mon, Aug 13, 2012, 6:53 PM UTC

chermanowicz wrote: post #21

blhack wrote: post #4

The new "social" web is really creepy . Browsing in an incognito browser and logged into nothing has sortof become my default. I don't want google chrome saving my search history, or to accidentally read an article on some news website that then broadcasts that fact to all of my facebook friends.

While I agree with you, I think Quora did announce in advance that they were rolling this out

This should not be a default option. I accidently found out after reading an article in YC. So creepy.