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Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

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Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#181

Post by madjam002 »

aidos wrote: post #144
ilikepi wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My other bugbear are the auto playing videos on Netflix and the use of massive spoilers in episode thumbnails. You can actually turn off "Autoplay previews" now. You have to log into your account from a web browser, and then look at the Playback settings for the profile you want to change.

What you can’t turn off is the bit where they drop you into another trailer when you’ve just finished watching a series after months of investment. A little time to digest would be real nice.

Yep, this is what I hate. Finishing a TV show, taking it all in, only to find myself scrambling for the remote to press Watch Credits so it doesn’t move on to some random trailer.

The Kodi Netflix add-on might not have the best interface, but at least it doesn’t do stuff like this!

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#182

Post by wst_ »

js2 wrote: post #160
aidos wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you can’t turn off is the bit where they drop you into another trailer when you’ve just finished watching a series after months of investment. A little time to digest would be real nice.

Every single video app I have on my AppleTV: Netflix, Amazon, Criterion, even Apple’s own TV app, shrinks whatever you are watching down to a thumbnail just before the movie or show ends. I fucking hate it. Yes, I’m one of those weirdos who sits through to the end when the copyright rolls past and gets pissed off when the lights come on at a theater during the credits. It is incredibly disrespectful to the film. This…

You should consider moving to Japan then. Theater stays dark until the last line of credits passes. Actually this is nice thing. You can still listen to the music, pay silent respects to the horde of people involved or just contemplate the movie.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#183

Post by eadmund »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #53
Ensorceled wrote: post #18

I left dropbox when they changed the full page upsell to "dropbox business" so that I couldn't easily figure out how to skip it and get on with my work. I had a paid pro account at the time. I actually had a conversation with a product manager; I checked the yes you can contact me when I cancelled my account. They simply refused to admit that an upsell was a advertisement and that disrupting my workflow on my paid, p…

Same with the ads for Amazon videos on Amazon Prime. They are ads and I don't want ads. But they don't see it that way (don't get me started on the forced watching of texts on Blue Rays).

I hate the ads on Amazon Prime! The same ad, playing over and over every. single. time. And always for something I have no desire to watch, not in the slightest; something slightly offensive to be shown once and definitely offensive to be shown over and over and over.

First world problem, I know. But still highly annoying.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#184

Post by jo-m »

A year ago, I replaced Dropbox with Syncthing [1] for all my private use.

It syncs directly between your devices without need for a central server (except for device discovery).

I use it without an always-on instance (NAS, cloud server), so it only syncs when my Laptop and Phone are on at the same time. This is enough for me. It just works (TM).

[1] https://syncthing.net/

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#185

Post by driverdan »

donohoe wrote: post #150

* sigh * I would pay a lot of money for a service like the one Dropbox was in in its first few years. That is the service that I need now, not all this shiny crud. I've been a Dropbox user for 12+ years. I imagine it as buying a car 10 years ago because it solved all your mobility needs (shopping, occasional longer trips, dropping kids/family members to their events etc). You wander into the garage 12 years later and…

The car analogy is a good one. Try finding a decent new car that doesn't come with a cell connection and respects your privacy.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#186

Post by wlesieutre »

higerordermap wrote: post #81
VoxPelli wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS almost allows this for geo-location nowadays, where one can pick whether to give ones exact position or a much less exact position, and for photos where one can select exactly what photos the app should get access to.

Does android have this API? The problem I see is, if they are introduced in later versions, people are anyway used to apps asking these permissions and developers don't bother to use these. Also, a question to security experts: In many apps say we want a UX where the user would immediately be able to see their recent pics and select from them (think recent photos bar in whatsapp), but app shouldn't be able to access…

iOS does this for photos as of iOS 14: https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/24/ios-14-users-give-apps-...

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#187

Post by ceejayoz »

wlesieutre wrote: post #179
ceejayoz wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would, of course, be immediately abused to ban competitors' apps.

You would serve a different trap address to each app, nobody but Dropbox would have the Dropbox trap.

Nobody but Dropbox and anyone with the Dropbox app on their phone. It has to get from the user's phone to Dropbox, which means it's on the user's phone at some point, barring some sort of convoluted user --> Apple --> Dropbox transfer scheme.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#188

Post by protomyth »

retox wrote: post #180

I was told a story about the Dropbox sales team a while back that swore me off using them. They contacted the company I worked at, that didn't have a business contract with Dropbox, offering a great deal and a meeting was quickly arranged. The meeting (which I only heard about secondhand from a good friend) quickly turned into a strong-arm operation. Dropbox had 'detected' that employees at our company were using Dro…

Well, the tactic worked for Oracle, and I would assume some of those lawyers landed at other SV companies. Although, to be fair to Oracle, they didn't do dark pattern stuff when I used them.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#189

Post by signal11 »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #53
Ensorceled wrote: post #18

I left dropbox when they changed the full page upsell to "dropbox business" so that I couldn't easily figure out how to skip it and get on with my work. I had a paid pro account at the time. I actually had a conversation with a product manager; I checked the yes you can contact me when I cancelled my account. They simply refused to admit that an upsell was a advertisement and that disrupting my workflow on my paid, p…

Same with the ads for Amazon videos on Amazon Prime. They are ads and I don't want ads. But they don't see it that way (don't get me started on the forced watching of texts on Blue Rays).

> Same with the ads for Amazon videos on Amazon Prime.

On some smart TVs, there's an explicit (or on-screen) button to skip these. If you don't see a skip button and you have a Fire TV remote, you can press the >> double arrow button to skip these.

I agree that there should be an option to disable these altogether, like how Netflix offers an option to disable video previews.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#190

Post by wlesieutre »

ceejayoz wrote: post #187
wlesieutre wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would serve a different trap address to each app, nobody but Dropbox would have the Dropbox trap.

Nobody but Dropbox and anyone with the Dropbox app on their phone . It has to get from the user's phone to Dropbox, which means it's on the user's phone at some point, barring some sort of convoluted user --> Apple --> Dropbox transfer scheme.

Right, the Dropbox app on their phone is asking the OS for contact info, which the phone generates and provides to the Dropbox app and only the Dropbox app. Any other app would get a different fake address.

Or are you talking about the scenario where competitor apps use some kind of sandbox escape to jump out and steal other apps' trap addresses from the OS?

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