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Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

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Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#321

Post by cosmie »

degenerate wrote: post #294
cced wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the fact that it is integrated into iOS keyboard have any implications? WlWhat kind of data does this have access to when I send gifs from iOS keyboard?

Google messenger (the default texting app) has a gif search that includes giphy, and Discord and slack also use giphy. What I don't see is what data FB is getting when the gif loads. OK, so they can see I am using giphy in Discord. Now what? edit: apparently wrong/outdated information.

They can also see that you use Discord, as well as how often and how heavily. And potentially other facets that can be derived from whatever metadata is provided to Facebook in the course of serving that image request.

There's also all kinds of shenanigans that they can play in the process of serving that request to harvest other meta data and help fingerprint you. Which Giphy's privacy policy mentions is already done to an extent, in the form of dropping cookies while servicing your request. Cookie abuse itself is a bit of a losing battle, as browser vendors increasingly layer on limitations and restrictions for cookies. But they're far from the only method of fingerprinting possible during the servicing of a web request.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#322

Post by seph-reed »

yreg wrote: post #80
txcwpalpha wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always thought part of the "charm" of Giphy in Slack is that does give you those somewhat silly or "not exactly what I was looking for but actually this is funnier" type of GIFs. The couple of times I have tried to use it to search for a very specific GIF (like searching for a specific clip from a movie) it hasn't really worked, but whenever I use it for more general stuff like "/giphy cardio sucks" or "/giphy h…

I'd just like this trend of sending reaction gifs to end. People keep posting them in Slack all the time, but I find it about as appropriate as that brief time when all my uni teachers decided that it's hip to include rage comic faces into every other slide of every presentation. , yes I know, I'm fun at parties…

How to choose a reaction gif:

1. Type a couple words relevant to the topic or your feelings on the topic into a gif search engine.

2. Pick whichever gif suits the context best.

3. Watch as everyone thinks you're super clever.

------

I mean, I get it. Most people just want funny pictures, and I love sharing memes with friends. But something about reaction gifs just boils my blood. I'm very, very bothered by them. If someone posts a relevant comment, or video: great. If there's something really clever about the reaction gif: good job. But most of the time it's just kind of related, and not really a discussion at all. Or worst of all, a "wow" "lol" or "wtf" expressing funny face.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#325

Post by cosmie »

83457 wrote: post #299
cosmie wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read the privacy policy[1]. Think of Giphy images as a giant, organically shared version of web tracking software. Which complements the coverage of the FB Pixel[2] well, as it worms its way into privacy-conscious areas they might not have FB Pixel coverage such as private communications and security/privacy-minded apps. And without implementing something like a proxy server to pre-cache/sanitize images and strip tra…

Won't that tracking capability be going away pretty soon?

Cookie-based tracking, sure. But there are plenty of other avenues for fingerprinting. This[1] help doc from Adobe Analytics even makes reference to a Subscriber ID header you can get mobile carriers to give you, if you get onto the carrier's whitelist. Nothing the vendors do device/browser-side to restrict tracking will help if your mobile carrier is transparently appending an identifying header to your request after it leaves your phone.

[1] https://docs.adobe.com/content/help/en/analytics/technotes/v...

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#327

Post by dtrailin »

chadlavi wrote: post #252
kentosi wrote: post #220

I feel so bitter right now. A recruiter asked me to join them back in 2016 and they were paying $200k+ for a senior backend role. I turned them down because I was on a visa and wanted a company with financial stability. A gif-search engine startup sounded ludicrous. Well, here we are...

I'm sorry but... what? you turned down a 200k salary?

200k is fairly normal if not low for a senior backed role in SF. Especially considering that any stock options you got would end up being worthless.

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#328

Post by FalconSensei »

skinnymuch wrote: post #206
FalconSensei wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google doesn't have anything competing with TikTok, as far as I know

Google is launching a copy of TikTok with Youtube branding. Directly competing with them.

Wasn't aware of that, thanks

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#329

Post by dang »

jondubois wrote: post #300

I can't help but think of all the millions of economically useful people who lost their jobs over the past couple of months because of COVID19... And contrast that with all the economically useless Giphy employees and executives who not only get to keep their jobs but get massive bonuses.

Could you please not post flamewar style comments to HN? We're looking for curious conversation, not denunciatory rants, and you've done this 4 times in this thread alone.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Facebook to Buy Giphy for $400M

#330

Post by nullbyte »

cced wrote: post #210
cosmie wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read the privacy policy[1]. Think of Giphy images as a giant, organically shared version of web tracking software. Which complements the coverage of the FB Pixel[2] well, as it worms its way into privacy-conscious areas they might not have FB Pixel coverage such as private communications and security/privacy-minded apps. And without implementing something like a proxy server to pre-cache/sanitize images and strip tra…

Does the fact that it is integrated into iOS keyboard have any implications? WlWhat kind of data does this have access to when I send gifs from iOS keyboard?

iOS keyboards given “full access” in settings can see literally everything you type. That’s why I don’t use GBoard on my iPhone, also why I don’t enable “enhanced spellcheck” in Chrome.
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