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Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

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Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#21

Post by hungryforcodes »

varenc wrote: post #14

I've been seeing age checks like this more and more. Recently the FTC came down hard[0] on Kurbo (aka Weight Watchers) for not doing enough/anything to stop children under 13 (COPPA) from making accounts. Since they're not confident there's no children with accounts, now all Kurbo's data is tainted and they have to delete all user data and destroy any "algorithms" derived from that data. Historically Dropbox probably…

OK but if you read the link you included WW specifically MADE an app for children and collected the data:

"the agency... marketed a weight loss app for use by children as young as eight and then collected their personal information without parental permission."

That is pretty wilful -- so we can be confident they have or had data targeted from children. Dropbox on the other hand -- I'm not sure how that case is similar. Are children now allowed to use cloud backup services? Why wouldn't they?

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#22

Post by mindslight »

exfascist wrote: post #19

For those of you in need of an immediate drop-in replacement that won't tie you to an organization which will do the same thing a decade from now: Syncthing[1] is awesome. It's all FOSS, peer to peer, you're limited by your own hardware and network, and it uses PKI instead of some central auth service. The only reason I don't use it anymore is because I've switched to git for all my textfiles and rsync (lol I know) f…

I've never used Syncthing, but I used to use Unison pretty hard. Why did you switch to rsync for binaries? Was it that you really didn't need bidirectional sync, or was it a failing of the tool to handle large binary files?

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#23

Post by [deleted] »

mindslight wrote: post #16
xeromal wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in the US, I don't believe you're supposed to use the internet unless you're 13 or older. You could start there for your dropdown.

Er, no. There is an actual privacy law with teeth if you're under 13 ("COPPA"). Companies don't want to be subject to any such regulation, so they choose to prohibit anyone under 13 from using their services. It's widely assumed that people under 13 simply work around these prohibitions by lying about their age, but as long as the companies don't have specific knowledge of this then legally everything is fine. Making…

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#25

Post by kingcharles »

I just finished using rclone to pull down my whole Dropbox last night. I'm closing my account today. Their app was a piece of crap that never worked for me anyway.

I'm going to look at rsync.net simply because their people hang out on here.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#26

Post by marcosdumay »

henning wrote: post #6

rsync + a bash script doesn't sound so bad now. (I don't give a fuck what the market or normies want)

There are stuff like NextCloud now, that you can run by yourself.

Rsync + a bash script is horrible to get going in a mobile device. (What is the fault of the mobile OSes, and if you can get by with a less hostile one, great for you.) Those open-core ones put some work on it.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#28

Post by ageitgey »

Not only is this a potential way to mess up your own account, but these systems are often exploited by malicious attackers to cause people headaches or impact their finances.

For example, an attacker will call up PayPal and give their name as the real name of a famous online personality. They will tell the support rep "Hey sorry, I signed up for this account but I'm only 12. Can you turn off my account?". The rep will assume it is a low risk/legit request and lock the account without doing any other checks. This has happened to lots of online streamers, like Ninja.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#29

Post by encryptluks2 »

kissgyorgy wrote: post #24

I found a Dropbox alternative: https://nextcloud.com/ I'm never going back. Way better in every aspect than Dropbox.

Nextcloud is not an alternative to Dropbox. Dropbox is a cloud storage provider, and Nextcloud is a software that runs on a cloud server. One you pay for the storage upfront and Dropbox provides some redundancy of the data. With Nextcloud, you could set it up on a single service with no redundancy and easily lose all your data, plus there is administration and maintenance costs.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox user age verification feature can lock your account

#30

Post by exfascist »

mindslight wrote: post #22
exfascist wrote: post #19

For those of you in need of an immediate drop-in replacement that won't tie you to an organization which will do the same thing a decade from now: Syncthing[1] is awesome. It's all FOSS, peer to peer, you're limited by your own hardware and network, and it uses PKI instead of some central auth service. The only reason I don't use it anymore is because I've switched to git for all my textfiles and rsync (lol I know) f…

I've never used Syncthing, but I used to use Unison pretty hard. Why did you switch to rsync for binaries? Was it that you really didn't need bidirectional sync, or was it a failing of the tool to handle large binary files?

I don't edit binaries (or if I do the edits are always saved in a new file) so I just need a full archive of them. Syncthing is overkill for this so eventually I moved away from it and now only a couple of my machines have it running.
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