4 ms·

I am pretty sure that they are still tracking you - but Microsoft can easily afford to do tracking in-house...

by BlueTemplar 6y ago

mrtksn 6y ago
What do you mean by in house tracking?
- BlueTemplar 6y ago
  Across Microsoft services like Github, Office365, Bing, LinkedIn, Windows...
  - mrtksn 6y ago
    yes but what does it mean tracking? having an account? keeping a tab of last time you used it?
    - BlueTemplar 6y ago
      Some identifier tied to a time and "place" (service)?
      - mrtksn 6y ago
        To do what exactly?
        vrperson 6y ago
        Learn at what moment your defenses are down so that they can sell you stuff, presumably. Isn't that the general assumption about tracking? Or sell your data to interested parties. Maybe if you liked certain GitHub repos, you are more likely to vote Democrat or whatever.
        BlueTemplar 6y ago
        I'm not sure that the GDPR really cares what is being done with that information? It cares more about who that information is being shared with, and about your consent.
rlpb 6y ago
Doing "tracking in-house" does not exempt you from GDPR requirements. The requirement is exactly the same: explicit and freely given consent is required to collect extra private information not specifically necessary to provide the service requested.
- chubs 6y ago
  In this case, is github uncompliant now? They say they're not doing third-party tracking but the blog post seems to hint that they're doing their own tracking.
  - rlpb 6y ago
    That depends on what personal data they're collecting and for what purpose, in the case that a person hasn't explicitly opted-in by giving consent freely. I don't think it's possible for us to figure those details out exhaustively merely by observation from the outside.
    - BlueTemplar 6y ago
      Yes, and it's not like the EU is going to send surprise inspections to go dig into Microsoft's code and databases to check whether they are violating this or not?
      - fwip 6y ago
        Sure, but it's also likely that Microsoft's lawyers allowed the Github team to do this if they didn't think that Github was still in compliance.
      - rlpb 6y ago
        They don't send surprise inspections to your house to check if you're engaging in criminal activity, either. My point is that you're moving the goalposts. Law enforcement generally always requires a complaint that justifies an investigation, and people and organisations get away with breaking the law all the time. However that has nothing to do with whether or not GitHub put their website behind a "consent" wall, or whether or not they're doing in-house as opposed to contracted-out analytics.
closeparen 6y ago
>We use Usage Information and Device Information to better understand how our Users use GitHub and to improve our Website and Service. https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-policy/github-privacy-statement#githubs-global-privacy-practices https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

I am pretty sure that they are still tracking you - but Microsoft can easily afford to do tracking in-house...

mrtksn 6y ago

What do you mean by in house tracking?

BlueTemplar 6y ago
Across Microsoft services like Github, Office365, Bing, LinkedIn, Windows...
- mrtksn 6y ago
  yes but what does it mean tracking? having an account? keeping a tab of last time you used it?
  - BlueTemplar 6y ago
    Some identifier tied to a time and "place" (service)?
    - mrtksn 6y ago
      To do what exactly?
      - vrperson 6y ago
        Learn at what moment your defenses are down so that they can sell you stuff, presumably. Isn't that the general assumption about tracking? Or sell your data to interested parties. Maybe if you liked certain GitHub repos, you are more likely to vote Democrat or whatever.
      - BlueTemplar 6y ago
        I'm not sure that the GDPR really cares what is being done with that information? It cares more about who that information is being shared with, and about your consent.

rlpb 6y ago

Doing "tracking in-house" does not exempt you from GDPR requirements. The requirement is exactly the same: explicit and freely given consent is required to collect extra private information not specifically necessary to provide the service requested.

chubs 6y ago
In this case, is github uncompliant now? They say they're not doing third-party tracking but the blog post seems to hint that they're doing their own tracking.
- rlpb 6y ago
  That depends on what personal data they're collecting and for what purpose, in the case that a person hasn't explicitly opted-in by giving consent freely. I don't think it's possible for us to figure those details out exhaustively merely by observation from the outside.
  - BlueTemplar 6y ago
    Yes, and it's not like the EU is going to send surprise inspections to go dig into Microsoft's code and databases to check whether they are violating this or not?
    - fwip 6y ago
      Sure, but it's also likely that Microsoft's lawyers allowed the Github team to do this if they didn't think that Github was still in compliance.
    - rlpb 6y ago
      They don't send surprise inspections to your house to check if you're engaging in criminal activity, either. My point is that you're moving the goalposts. Law enforcement generally always requires a complaint that justifies an investigation, and people and organisations get away with breaking the law all the time. However that has nothing to do with whether or not GitHub put their website behind a "consent" wall, or whether or not they're doing in-house as opposed to contracted-out analytics.

closeparen 6y ago

>We use Usage Information and Device Information to better understand how our Users use GitHub and to improve our Website and Service. https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-policy/github-privacy-statement#githubs-global-privacy-practices https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]