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Is there a transcript? Not a fan of audio or video forms of information, far easier to read. However, no surprise. Literally every app anymore ought to be co

by Syonyk 5y ago

Is there a transcript? Not a fan of audio or video forms of information, far easier to read. However, no surprise. Literally every app anymore ought to be considered from the perspective of, "What can this app possibly get from my phone, by technical standards, regardless of what I think of that?" It's got accelerometer data and gyro data? It's doing something nasty with it. It's got location data? Oh, baby, hope it's precise! Contact list data? Call data? Wifi network data? Bluetooth data? Yeah, all of that going upstream for those juicy revenue streams on the backend. I mean, RobinHood is literally doing nothing but selling order streams to high frequency trading companies to front-run the transactions people are making "for free." There is no such thing as an app anymore that works in your interest, as a guiding first order principle. > Their rebuttal to all this surveillance, of the commodification of our behaviors as users is simple: personal empowerment and regulation. Oh. Well then. Maybe they'd be so kind as to offer a pony to go with "personal empowerment," and perhaps some recommendations or written regulation that might go with the second?

tzs 5y ago
The icon on the far right on the same line as the play button shows the transcript.
- Syonyk 5y ago
  Greatly appreciated, thanks! > E TOGNI: Since I've started using Flo, every time my period is late, even just by one day, I receive ads on Facebook, Google and YouTube about pregnancy tests all the time. And then if I'm late for more than one day, I receive other ads about family planning, how to have a healthy baby. And, you know, a lot of products are just advertised to me constantly. I'm bombarded with this. And this happens every month for the past six years (laughter). AGGGH. That's not "funny, cute, lulz." That's "Remove from phone and never look back!" I'm glad to see surveillance capitalism in the general discussion, but, man, it's depressing just how much it's taken over literally everything in the past decade.
seba_dos1 5y ago
> There is no such thing as an app anymore that works in your interest, as a guiding first order principle. There's Free Software.
- wizzwizz4 5y ago
  If you have Android, there's an app for that: https://www.f-droid.org/ https://www.f-droid.org/.
- leppr 5y ago
  Android users have F-droid. It has been my first destination for a while when I need an utility app. Many (relatively) expensive paid apps are also fully pro-user.
  - rogual 5y ago
    I wonder if it would be feasible to have some sort of trademarked "Pro-User" badge, and an organization which vets apps and licenses the trademark to them? I know such things exist for "cruelty-free" (i.e. no animal testing) -- why not for "MBA tech bullshit free?"
    - leppr 5y ago
      I like Steam's implementation they call curators[1]. Any marketplace can implement a similar system, and you could have a curator list for any kind of criterion. [1]: https://store.steampowered.com/curators/topcurators/ https://store.steampowered.com/curators/topcurators/
  - mook 5y ago
    Unfortunately I couldn't spot a good period tracking app on F-Droid (or other open source ones on GitHub); something pretty with a decent estimate when the next one would be would be nice. Does anybody have recommendations?
    - seba_dos1 5y ago
ginko 5y ago
> Is there a transcript? Not a fan of audio or video forms of information, far easier to read. If you're in the EU it'll show you a GDPR choice then refer you to the text-only article if you decline: https://text.npr.org/1068930998 https://text.npr.org/1068930998 (have to say, of all the news sources NPR handles this the best)
feanaro 5y ago
For phone apps, you may like https://trackercontrol.org/ https://trackercontrol.org/. It's mostly set and forget and blocks 99% of tracking by default in my experience.
- vermilingua 5y ago
  Trackers are a tiny part of the problem, most nefarious data collection isn’t some third party ad network (in apps), but is intrinsically bound to the core functionality of the product. It’s impossible to block the data collection when the data collection is the service.
  - feanaro 5y ago
    From my experience, this is a problem only with the largest and most popular of apps, the kinds that are made by surveillance companies such as Google and Facebook. And even those usually use dedicated domains for tracking. So while not perfect, I think Tracker Control works exceedingly well in practice. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and all that.
busymom0 5y ago
> There is no such thing as an app anymore that works in your interest, as a guiding first order principle. Hey there’s still a few of us left. I am the developer of mood tracker MoodWell, a similar genre apps as this post. Users input a ton of their private data in the app- from their mood and emotions data to what activities they are doing, notes, photos, weather etc. to track their mental health and how it’s affected by different activities, weather etc. This is very personal data and that’s why my app keeps all this data locally. Only if they use iCloud sync between multiple devices, then it goes to Apple iCloud server. But none of that ever gets sent to me and I have no control or access over their data. I have similar reputation about privacy for my other apps including my hacker news client app HACK, school timetable app, resume builder website etc. my resume builder website even builds the resume pdf locally in the browser and no data gets sent to any server. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/moodwell-moody-tracker-diary/id1443436795 https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/moodwell-moody-tracker-diary/i... https://resumetopdf.com/ https://resumetopdf.com/ https://resumetopdf.com/privacypolicy.html https://resumetopdf.com/privacypolicy.html
tyingq 5y ago
Direct link to the transcript: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1068930998?_pjax=main https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1068930998?_pjax=main

by Syonyk 5y ago

tzs 5y ago

The icon on the far right on the same line as the play button shows the transcript.

Syonyk 5y ago
Greatly appreciated, thanks! > E TOGNI: Since I've started using Flo, every time my period is late, even just by one day, I receive ads on Facebook, Google and YouTube about pregnancy tests all the time. And then if I'm late for more than one day, I receive other ads about family planning, how to have a healthy baby. And, you know, a lot of products are just advertised to me constantly. I'm bombarded with this. And this happens every month for the past six years (laughter). AGGGH. That's not "funny, cute, lulz." That's "Remove from phone and never look back!" I'm glad to see surveillance capitalism in the general discussion, but, man, it's depressing just how much it's taken over literally everything in the past decade.

seba_dos1 5y ago

> There is no such thing as an app anymore that works in your interest, as a guiding first order principle. There's Free Software.

wizzwizz4 5y ago
If you have Android, there's an app for that: https://www.f-droid.org/ https://www.f-droid.org/.
leppr 5y ago
Android users have F-droid. It has been my first destination for a while when I need an utility app. Many (relatively) expensive paid apps are also fully pro-user.
- rogual 5y ago
  I wonder if it would be feasible to have some sort of trademarked "Pro-User" badge, and an organization which vets apps and licenses the trademark to them? I know such things exist for "cruelty-free" (i.e. no animal testing) -- why not for "MBA tech bullshit free?"
  - leppr 5y ago
    I like Steam's implementation they call curators[1]. Any marketplace can implement a similar system, and you could have a curator list for any kind of criterion. [1]: https://store.steampowered.com/curators/topcurators/ https://store.steampowered.com/curators/topcurators/
- mook 5y ago
  Unfortunately I couldn't spot a good period tracking app on F-Droid (or other open source ones on GitHub); something pretty with a decent estimate when the next one would be would be nice. Does anybody have recommendations?
  - seba_dos1 5y ago

ginko 5y ago

> Is there a transcript? Not a fan of audio or video forms of information, far easier to read. If you're in the EU it'll show you a GDPR choice then refer you to the text-only article if you decline: https://text.npr.org/1068930998 https://text.npr.org/1068930998 (have to say, of all the news sources NPR handles this the best)

feanaro 5y ago

For phone apps, you may like https://trackercontrol.org/ https://trackercontrol.org/. It's mostly set and forget and blocks 99% of tracking by default in my experience.

vermilingua 5y ago
Trackers are a tiny part of the problem, most nefarious data collection isn’t some third party ad network (in apps), but is intrinsically bound to the core functionality of the product. It’s impossible to block the data collection when the data collection is the service.
- feanaro 5y ago
  From my experience, this is a problem only with the largest and most popular of apps, the kinds that are made by surveillance companies such as Google and Facebook. And even those usually use dedicated domains for tracking. So while not perfect, I think Tracker Control works exceedingly well in practice. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and all that.

busymom0 5y ago

> There is no such thing as an app anymore that works in your interest, as a guiding first order principle. Hey there’s still a few of us left. I am the developer of mood tracker MoodWell, a similar genre apps as this post. Users input a ton of their private data in the app- from their mood and emotions data to what activities they are doing, notes, photos, weather etc. to track their mental health and how it’s affected by different activities, weather etc. This is very personal data and that’s why my app keeps all this data locally. Only if they use iCloud sync between multiple devices, then it goes to Apple iCloud server. But none of that ever gets sent to me and I have no control or access over their data. I have similar reputation about privacy for my other apps including my hacker news client app HACK, school timetable app, resume builder website etc. my resume builder website even builds the resume pdf locally in the browser and no data gets sent to any server. https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/moodwell-moody-tracker-diary/id1443436795 https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/moodwell-moody-tracker-diary/i... https://resumetopdf.com/ https://resumetopdf.com/ https://resumetopdf.com/privacypolicy.html https://resumetopdf.com/privacypolicy.html

tyingq 5y ago

Direct link to the transcript: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1068930998?_pjax=main https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1068930998?_pjax=main