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Any time I hear about a hot new analytics company, my first thought is always: how do I opt out? Freshpaint, how do I opt out of your data collection? Now, int

Any time I hear about a hot new analytics company, my first thought is always: how do I opt out? Freshpaint, how do I opt out of your data collection? Now, into the future, and also for any historical data that you might have collected about me.

jamiequint 7y ago
"Look at me I'm so self-important I must not let any service I use collect information about how I use their product to make the service better, that would be horrible, god fucking forbid"
- flaque 7y ago
  ^ kind of agree. Merging behavioral analytics like “people are still using this feature” and the more creepy type like retargeting ads that follow you around seems to be at the root of this. If you use a service, why would you expect them to not know you used the service? It makes tons of sense to be concerned with giving them PII or access to your other habits. But you’re upset that clicking a button on someone’s website informs that website? Combining benign behavioral analytics in criticism just serves to degrade real privacy concerns.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    You are not just "informing that website", but also up to "70 destinations like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Hubspot, Fullstory, Intercom" - including Freshpaint itself. Which can follow you around just as well as any ad service.
- jshevek 7y ago
  I see nothing in the parent comment to imply a desire for gratuitous attention, nor self importance, nor a predilection for drama nor profanity. I just see someone who is tired of being tracked, and earnestly wants to know how to opt out.
  - omarchowdhury 7y ago
    Parent's HN profile indicates a 2009 registration date and whose Keybase reveals they're a software dev... I'd bet he knows how to block javascript and/or maintain a host files block list. But I'm being assumptive.
    - jshevek 7y ago
      Forgive me if I misunderstood, but it sounds like you are simply questioning the word "earnestly" in my comment? And not implying agreement with the snark laden comment to which I was responding?
      - omarchowdhury 7y ago
        I just think that parent knows very well how to opt out of being tracked on his own.
        vageli 7y ago
        > I just think that parent knows very well how to opt out of being tracked on his own. How is maintaining a local block list opting out? It certainly doesn't seem to have legal force.
        omarchowdhury 7y ago
        How are they going to track him if none of their requests are ever loaded on his end? Presumably we have different definitions of opting out. I was thinking more of the DIY type. It's certainly more reliable than to trust the people you don't trust not to track you because you tell them not to.
        jshevek 7y ago
        Without further clarification, I'm honestly confused whether you comment is related to my own, or you just wanted to make this observation for its own sake.
aloukissas 7y ago
100% this. Hopefully by the end of the decade data collection will default to opt-in rather than opt-out.
- jamiequint 7y ago
  No, it will just be all server side and you won't have any choice.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    Good, server-side data is harder to fingerprint and track.
    - jamiequint 7y ago
      It’s pretty trivially easy to set a first-party cookie or ID for a user in local storage for non-logged-in users. Of course for SaaS all product usage is logged-in so fingerprinting doesn’t really apply.
      - icebraining 7y ago
        You can't set or read local storage from the server. As for first-party cookies, not only can those be blocked, as they don't let the server track across sites, which is the most annoying part.
malisper 7y ago
We respect Do Not Track. If you have Do Not Track enabled, we won't collect any data from you. Unfortunately Do Not Track has a number of fundamental issues and I'm not aware of any better way to signal you want to opt out.
- jamiequint 7y ago
  You really shouldn’t support DNT, it’s a useless “standard” that’s half-deprecated (Safari is removing support in 2020) and will potentially introduce significant bias into your customer’s data.

jamiequint 7y ago

"Look at me I'm so self-important I must not let any service I use collect information about how I use their product to make the service better, that would be horrible, god fucking forbid"

flaque 7y ago
^ kind of agree. Merging behavioral analytics like “people are still using this feature” and the more creepy type like retargeting ads that follow you around seems to be at the root of this. If you use a service, why would you expect them to not know you used the service? It makes tons of sense to be concerned with giving them PII or access to your other habits. But you’re upset that clicking a button on someone’s website informs that website? Combining benign behavioral analytics in criticism just serves to degrade real privacy concerns.
- icebraining 7y ago
  You are not just "informing that website", but also up to "70 destinations like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Hubspot, Fullstory, Intercom" - including Freshpaint itself. Which can follow you around just as well as any ad service.
jshevek 7y ago
I see nothing in the parent comment to imply a desire for gratuitous attention, nor self importance, nor a predilection for drama nor profanity. I just see someone who is tired of being tracked, and earnestly wants to know how to opt out.
- omarchowdhury 7y ago
  Parent's HN profile indicates a 2009 registration date and whose Keybase reveals they're a software dev... I'd bet he knows how to block javascript and/or maintain a host files block list. But I'm being assumptive.
  - jshevek 7y ago
    Forgive me if I misunderstood, but it sounds like you are simply questioning the word "earnestly" in my comment? And not implying agreement with the snark laden comment to which I was responding?
    - omarchowdhury 7y ago
      I just think that parent knows very well how to opt out of being tracked on his own.
      - vageli 7y ago
        > I just think that parent knows very well how to opt out of being tracked on his own. How is maintaining a local block list opting out? It certainly doesn't seem to have legal force.
        omarchowdhury 7y ago
        How are they going to track him if none of their requests are ever loaded on his end? Presumably we have different definitions of opting out. I was thinking more of the DIY type. It's certainly more reliable than to trust the people you don't trust not to track you because you tell them not to.
      - jshevek 7y ago
        Without further clarification, I'm honestly confused whether you comment is related to my own, or you just wanted to make this observation for its own sake.

aloukissas 7y ago

100% this. Hopefully by the end of the decade data collection will default to opt-in rather than opt-out.

jamiequint 7y ago
No, it will just be all server side and you won't have any choice.
- icebraining 7y ago
  Good, server-side data is harder to fingerprint and track.
  - jamiequint 7y ago
    It’s pretty trivially easy to set a first-party cookie or ID for a user in local storage for non-logged-in users. Of course for SaaS all product usage is logged-in so fingerprinting doesn’t really apply.
    - icebraining 7y ago
      You can't set or read local storage from the server. As for first-party cookies, not only can those be blocked, as they don't let the server track across sites, which is the most annoying part.

malisper 7y ago

We respect Do Not Track. If you have Do Not Track enabled, we won't collect any data from you. Unfortunately Do Not Track has a number of fundamental issues and I'm not aware of any better way to signal you want to opt out.

jamiequint 7y ago
You really shouldn’t support DNT, it’s a useless “standard” that’s half-deprecated (Safari is removing support in 2020) and will potentially introduce significant bias into your customer’s data.