Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email • Hacker News Board

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#31

Post by cosmodisk » Mon, Feb 10, 2020, 11:15 PM UTC

itronitron wrote: post #12

JohnFen wrote: post #2

This sort of thing is why I don't trust any apps that I haven't built myself, and keep them firewalled off from the internet to they can't phone home. I trust commercial applications on the desktop to exactly the same degree, for the same reasons. In terms of privacy and respecting the users, the state of software today is deplorable.

A colleague of mine is attending a conference this week where attendees are 'required' to install an app to their personal phones so that they can get the latest updates to changes to the conference agenda. No doubt this is a data-mining platform marketed to conference organizers who probably don't have much of a clue what the real value add is for the app creator. I have strongly encouraged them to not install the '…

I'd bring old Nokia and ask if the venue supports it.

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#32

Post by hatmatrix » Mon, Feb 10, 2020, 11:24 PM UTC

turc1656 wrote: post #28

njhaveri wrote: post #13

People should really read the privacy policies before using any email app these days. Many popular ones state that they, at minimum, will keep access tokens on their servers, and many outright cache copies of your messages.

My lack of trust is the sole reason I never had email on my phone until a few months ago. I moved to ProtonMail and I use their app (which is great). I trust them. It's possible I'm wrong, but I know how they make money and if I use them long enough I'll be a paying customer when my free space runs out. They also open-sourced their codebase and I have a friend in law enforcement who has delivered warrants to them and…

There have been accusations however

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/05/29/protonmail_dismisse...

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#33

Post by judge2020 » Mon, Feb 10, 2020, 11:28 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #9

0xmohit wrote: post #3

Also relevant: Google Admits: Third-Party Apps Can Still Access Your Gmail Data https://fossbytes.com/google-admits-third-party-apps-can-sti...

Well... no shit? If you gave someone permissions to read your emails, obviously they can read your emails. And because they can read it, they can also copy your emails and/or share it with other companies. This isn't something that can be stopped by google.

Ya, the entire process is only to vet companies' policies on data access, retention, etc.

https://support.google.com/cloud/answer/9110914

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#34

Post by sys_64738 » Mon, Feb 10, 2020, 11:37 PM UTC

itronitron wrote: post #12

JohnFen wrote: post #2

This sort of thing is why I don't trust any apps that I haven't built myself, and keep them firewalled off from the internet to they can't phone home. I trust commercial applications on the desktop to exactly the same degree, for the same reasons. In terms of privacy and respecting the users, the state of software today is deplorable.

A colleague of mine is attending a conference this week where attendees are 'required' to install an app to their personal phones so that they can get the latest updates to changes to the conference agenda. No doubt this is a data-mining platform marketed to conference organizers who probably don't have much of a clue what the real value add is for the app creator. I have strongly encouraged them to not install the '…

What if you don't have a cellphone?

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#35

Post by ohyeshedid » Mon, Feb 10, 2020, 11:49 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #19

TwoNineA wrote: post #5

If something is free on the internet, there is a good chance you are the product.

And if you're paying for something on the internet, there is a good chance that you are the product.

for the most part, these days, if you're on the internet you are the product.

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#36

Post by skinnymuch » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 2:54 AM UTC

itronitron wrote: post #12

JohnFen wrote: post #2

This sort of thing is why I don't trust any apps that I haven't built myself, and keep them firewalled off from the internet to they can't phone home. I trust commercial applications on the desktop to exactly the same degree, for the same reasons. In terms of privacy and respecting the users, the state of software today is deplorable.

A colleague of mine is attending a conference this week where attendees are 'required' to install an app to their personal phones so that they can get the latest updates to changes to the conference agenda. No doubt this is a data-mining platform marketed to conference organizers who probably don't have much of a clue what the real value add is for the app creator. I have strongly encouraged them to not install the '…

I get the average person and majority in general won’t do this. Just wondering. if you don’t give the app any permissions. And only open it once or twice the entire time. Does it have any real effect on your privacy?

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#37

Post by skinnymuch » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 2:55 AM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #17

dheera wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WeChat killed their web interface for most users and replaced it with a message that translates to: "For your own account safety, this account cannot use the web version. You can use the Windows or Mac client [download links]" Safety? Web is about as safe as it gets. It's one thing to spy on users but it's a whole another thing for Tencent to masquerade under the name of safety to cheat users into downloading what co…

> Safety? Web is about as safe as it gets. I strongly prefer native apps over web apps because I can firewall off native apps. I can't do the same for web apps.

Aren’t a lot of “native” apps of web apps mostly wrappers? In the case, you can silo off the web app yourself into its own wrapper to firewall it?

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#38

Post by DarthGhandi » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 4:42 AM UTC

itronitron wrote: post #12

JohnFen wrote: post #2

This sort of thing is why I don't trust any apps that I haven't built myself, and keep them firewalled off from the internet to they can't phone home. I trust commercial applications on the desktop to exactly the same degree, for the same reasons. In terms of privacy and respecting the users, the state of software today is deplorable.

A colleague of mine is attending a conference this week where attendees are 'required' to install an app to their personal phones so that they can get the latest updates to changes to the conference agenda. No doubt this is a data-mining platform marketed to conference organizers who probably don't have much of a clue what the real value add is for the app creator. I have strongly encouraged them to not install the '…

Guessing that conference isnt Data Security 2020. I really hope it isn't anyway.

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#39

Post by JohnFen » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 4:24 PM UTC

skinnymuch wrote: post #37

JohnFen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Safety? Web is about as safe as it gets. I strongly prefer native apps over web apps because I can firewall off native apps. I can't do the same for web apps.

Aren’t a lot of “native” apps of web apps mostly wrappers? In the case, you can silo off the web app yourself into its own wrapper to firewall it?

Yes. I should have been more specific. I wasn't talking about those -- I was talking about things you use a real browser to work with.

Re: Companies that buy data derived from scraping the contents of email

#40

Post by JohnFen » Tue, Feb 11, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

njhaveri wrote: post #13

People should really read the privacy policies before using any email app these days. Many popular ones state that they, at minimum, will keep access tokens on their servers, and many outright cache copies of your messages.

Most privacy policies are in legalese, and hard experience has shown that what I, as a non-lawyer, think they say is quite often very different from what they actually say.

As a result, I gave up bothering to read them unless they're one or two paragraphs long. I simply assume they say what 90% of them really say: they can take any data they like, do whatever they like with it, and they can unilaterally change the agreement any time they want.