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To me (who doesn't use Twitter) this seems like a fair solution. If you are running a legitimate bot I don't see what you have to hide. It's only people trying

To me (who doesn't use Twitter) this seems like a fair solution. If you are running a legitimate bot I don't see what you have to hide. It's only people trying to be intentionally deceptive that have to worry.

capableweb 5y ago
You seem to be anonymous here on HN, why don't you use your full name instead if you have nothing to hide and you're not intentionally deceptive? No, privacy doesn't work like that. Even people who are not trying to deceive others are deserving of privacy as well. Most of my accounts (except one) on the internet are anonymous, as I don't want people to tie anything I do for fun on the internet to my real-life persona. It doesn't mean that I want to deceive people, only that I want my meatspace life to be something else than my online life.
- doubleunplussed 5y ago
  Your bot could be anonymous, the only thing you'd be forced to reveal is that it was a bot. just a [bot] marker of some kind next to the tweets that were posted by a bot. That's it. Still anonymous. I could tell you this comment was posted by a bot, that would reveal nothing about me.
- Swenrekcah 5y ago
  Anonymity is fine, they were saying that bots should be labeled as bots.
- afarrell 5y ago
  > privacy doesn't work like that Except we aren't discussing private conversations. We are discussing broadcast conversations on twitter.
- endisneigh 5y ago
  Without tying your anonymity to something else (whether it’s another anonymous account or a real world identity) it’s impossible to determine whether you want to deceive or not, no? In any case real identities have been a failure anyway
- Vinnl 5y ago
  There's plenty you could have to hide as a user on HN. But what reason does a bot have to hide the fact that it's a bot?
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
  You people and your absolutes. Nobody is saying that every anon is deceitful and untrustworthy- just that you need to make sure your BS detector is working.
- dharmab 5y ago
  I don't see how "I am a bot, beep boop" is a privacy issue.
- rPlayer6554 5y ago
  But a bot isn't a person. And you don't have to reveal who made the bot, just that it's a bot. Can you give me a good use case for a bot that is not some kind of manipulation and would still benifit from humans not knowing it's a bot? Usually you want people to know so they aren't confused why the account acts werid i.e. unhuman.
equality_1138 5y ago
Twitter makes its money as a marketing engine. Who can say what marketing is deemed intentionally deceptive? I'm not a Twitter user either but it seems to me an obvious question.
- freeone3000 5y ago
  Most bots aren't marketing bots, they're sort of... Goofs, or utilities, or projects. Like @MyDudes_, which posts a picture of a frog every Wednesday. Or alttextbot, which if you follow it, DMs you when you've posted a picture without alt text. Or wwiiInRealTime. Or wintbot_neo, which is inexplicable outside of twitter but serves only comedic purpose.
  - sigstoat 5y ago
    > Most bots aren't marketing bots, wouldn't you need to know how many marketing bots there are to determine that? making statements about goodbots/(goodbots+badbots) is difficult when the good bots already make it clear they're bots, and the bad bots are misleading.
  - CharlesW 5y ago
    > Most bots aren't marketing bots, they're sort of... Goofs, or utilities, or projects. In my experience those kinds of boutique/indie bots appear to make up a tiny percentage of total bots. If you have data that shows otherwise, I'd appreciate if you could share it.
    - freeone3000 5y ago
      They're the kind people engage with. There's obviously a lot more astroturfing and disinformation, but most corporate marketing on twitter is done by humans. Steak-Umm, Oreo, Microsoft, Wendy's, even indie game publishers have a human running their accounts.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

capableweb 5y ago

You seem to be anonymous here on HN, why don't you use your full name instead if you have nothing to hide and you're not intentionally deceptive? No, privacy doesn't work like that. Even people who are not trying to deceive others are deserving of privacy as well. Most of my accounts (except one) on the internet are anonymous, as I don't want people to tie anything I do for fun on the internet to my real-life persona. It doesn't mean that I want to deceive people, only that I want my meatspace life to be something else than my online life.

doubleunplussed 5y ago
Your bot could be anonymous, the only thing you'd be forced to reveal is that it was a bot. just a [bot] marker of some kind next to the tweets that were posted by a bot. That's it. Still anonymous. I could tell you this comment was posted by a bot, that would reveal nothing about me.
Swenrekcah 5y ago
Anonymity is fine, they were saying that bots should be labeled as bots.
afarrell 5y ago
> privacy doesn't work like that Except we aren't discussing private conversations. We are discussing broadcast conversations on twitter.
endisneigh 5y ago
Without tying your anonymity to something else (whether it’s another anonymous account or a real world identity) it’s impossible to determine whether you want to deceive or not, no? In any case real identities have been a failure anyway
Vinnl 5y ago
There's plenty you could have to hide as a user on HN. But what reason does a bot have to hide the fact that it's a bot?
2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
You people and your absolutes. Nobody is saying that every anon is deceitful and untrustworthy- just that you need to make sure your BS detector is working.
dharmab 5y ago
I don't see how "I am a bot, beep boop" is a privacy issue.
rPlayer6554 5y ago
But a bot isn't a person. And you don't have to reveal who made the bot, just that it's a bot. Can you give me a good use case for a bot that is not some kind of manipulation and would still benifit from humans not knowing it's a bot? Usually you want people to know so they aren't confused why the account acts werid i.e. unhuman.

equality_1138 5y ago

Twitter makes its money as a marketing engine. Who can say what marketing is deemed intentionally deceptive? I'm not a Twitter user either but it seems to me an obvious question.

freeone3000 5y ago
Most bots aren't marketing bots, they're sort of... Goofs, or utilities, or projects. Like @MyDudes_, which posts a picture of a frog every Wednesday. Or alttextbot, which if you follow it, DMs you when you've posted a picture without alt text. Or wwiiInRealTime. Or wintbot_neo, which is inexplicable outside of twitter but serves only comedic purpose.
- sigstoat 5y ago
  > Most bots aren't marketing bots, wouldn't you need to know how many marketing bots there are to determine that? making statements about goodbots/(goodbots+badbots) is difficult when the good bots already make it clear they're bots, and the bad bots are misleading.
- CharlesW 5y ago
  > Most bots aren't marketing bots, they're sort of... Goofs, or utilities, or projects. In my experience those kinds of boutique/indie bots appear to make up a tiny percentage of total bots. If you have data that shows otherwise, I'd appreciate if you could share it.
  - freeone3000 5y ago
    They're the kind people engage with. There's obviously a lot more astroturfing and disinformation, but most corporate marketing on twitter is done by humans. Steak-Umm, Oreo, Microsoft, Wendy's, even indie game publishers have a human running their accounts.
deleted 5y ago
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