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The permissions[1] the android app wants are rather terrifying. Think I'll pass. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/datasafety?id=com.instagram.barcelona h

The permissions[1] the android app wants are rather terrifying. Think I'll pass. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/datasafety?id=com.instagram.barcelona https://play.google.com/store/apps/datasafety?id=com.instagr...

afavour 3y ago
Same with the App Store. Apparently the app is going to collect health and wellness data about me. Wonderful.
- hbn 3y ago
  What does that even mean though? Firstly if you don't use Apple's Health app it probably means nothing. And if you do, maybe an iOS dev could give us some insights, but I assume Apple doesn't provide an API to just freely peep at all your Health data. It doesn't even let apps access your photos, or push notifications, or location without a runtime consent prompt. There's no way Apple will just tell any app that wants it when a woman is on her period.
  - afavour 3y ago
    All I know is that the App Store lists that permission for Threads and not other apps I use. Given how much I trust Facebook (not at all) I’m happy to skip.
  - faizmokh 3y ago
    My guess is they just use the same "privacy nutrition labels" as Facebook app. Probably because they use the Graph API. It's If the app uses health data through Apple HealthKit you would probably noticed it because the app would have to ask for permission first.
- p-e-w 3y ago
  How can this be legal? I'm pretty sure that in order to legally process health data, an entity must have a plausible reason for doing so, at least in some jurisdictions. What could that reason possibly be for a social media app?
  - Tijdreiziger 3y ago
    Hence why they're not launching it in the EU https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/threads-no-eu-launch/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/threads-no-eu-launch/
  - rchaud 3y ago
    In 2012, FB ran psychological experiments on its users to evaluate how they felt after seeing a series of posts with either happy or sad information [0] Just think about the rich data they could collect in 2023! Tracking changes in your heart rate and sleep quality on the basis of your app use! [0] https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/06/30/326929138/facebook-manipulates-our-moods-for-science-and-commerce-a-roundup https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/06/30/32...
  - WhyNotHugo 3y ago
    It’s apparently not legal in the EU, which is why Threads is no available here. It’s probably only legal in jurisdictions with none (or almost none) privacy laws.
- TechBro8615 3y ago
  I was able to install the iOS app and post a Thread without granting any permissions. Presumably it only wants to collect health and wellness data if you want to use the app to share that data with your friends, just like it only wants to access the camera if you want to use it to take a photograph to share on Threads.
frankacter 3y ago
Which permission specifically? They all seem valid for what the app does (and most are not present in app or disabled by default) Location - for providing localized content (disabled by default) Personal Info - for providing log in and personalizing content (questionable) Financial Info: For in app payment/subscription (disabled by default) Health - for personalizing content (not present in app and could be mislabeled by me) Messages - For automating 2 factor auth (disabled by default) Photos - For sending photos and videos (disabled by default) Audio - For sending audio (disabled by default) Files - For sending and saving files (disabled by default) Calendar - Not 100% sure, but some guesses could be content personalization and/or time based events in app (could be mislabeled by me) (disabled by default) Contacts - For establishing your social network (disabled by default) App activity - This could be suspect for sure, but also useful as a troubleshooting/debug mechanism (not present in app) App info and performance - troubleshooting/debug mechanism Device ID - Security, Ad personalization --- That said, I just installed in on my Android device and some considerations: 1) The suspect permission (App Activity) is not requested or present in the permissions list. Nor is health. Financial is better worded in that it is requesting "Google Play billing service" 2) Only Notifications permission is enabled by default. Camera, Contacts, Location, Microphone, Photos and Videos, etc are all explicitly disable, presumably till needed by the app at some point (meaning you'll know when and why they make use of it).
- chrisco255 3y ago
  Thanks, but no thanks, I'll just stick to mobile.twitter.com and instagram.com and login when I feel like it.
- pavon 3y ago
  By that logic, any permission is justifiable because it all helps "personalizing content".
  - frankacter 3y ago
    Let me preface, as I pointed out in my reply, a good number of the permissions listed on the app store are either not present in the app or disabled by default in the app. That said, it is a social network prioritizing text based discussion. Using location to prioritize content local to you seems appropriate (and is disabled by default, so you'd need to enable it via prompt). Things like "Personal information" requesting "Political or religious beliefs", "Sexual orientation", etc. have some consideration of being problematic certainly. I'm not entirely sure why the health permission, I listed for personalizing content, but it is honestly just a guess. Does not actually appear to be a permission present in the app currently. Regarding calendar, the only other permission I labeled with personalizing content, it is disabled by default, and could possibly be used for other purposes (scheduling events, etc) so without knowing more it is a guess and possibly mislabeled by me.
everybodyknows 3y ago
Navigating to threads.net on Firefox Linux gets me only a swirling-galaxy animation, with a scan code drawn on top. Non-responsive to mouse clicks or key strokes.
- troupo 3y ago
  You can't even begin to imagine how hillariously bad it is. https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668138866311169 https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668138866311169 (And for non logged in users, continuation: https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668144499281940 https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668144499281940 and https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668146663538688 https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668146663538688) ~30 requests to load this, totaling at ~5.5 Mb. 18 of those requests, accounting for 4 Mb, is just JavaScript. How many divs does it take them to center 1 word? Glad you asked! About 13. How many CSS classes? About 90. Yes, 90 distinct CSS classes. 13 nested divs. To center one word
  - zeroonetwothree 3y ago
    And I’m sure that is something every user will actually care about.
    - troupo 3y ago
      This type of thinking is exactly why our supercomputers struggle to show even the basic text on screen. And yes, users do care about this crap.
  - exadeci 3y ago
    At least they haven't released to production an inifinite loop that DDOS their own servers

afavour 3y ago

Same with the App Store. Apparently the app is going to collect health and wellness data about me. Wonderful.

hbn 3y ago
What does that even mean though? Firstly if you don't use Apple's Health app it probably means nothing. And if you do, maybe an iOS dev could give us some insights, but I assume Apple doesn't provide an API to just freely peep at all your Health data. It doesn't even let apps access your photos, or push notifications, or location without a runtime consent prompt. There's no way Apple will just tell any app that wants it when a woman is on her period.
- afavour 3y ago
  All I know is that the App Store lists that permission for Threads and not other apps I use. Given how much I trust Facebook (not at all) I’m happy to skip.
- faizmokh 3y ago
  My guess is they just use the same "privacy nutrition labels" as Facebook app. Probably because they use the Graph API. It's If the app uses health data through Apple HealthKit you would probably noticed it because the app would have to ask for permission first.
p-e-w 3y ago
How can this be legal? I'm pretty sure that in order to legally process health data, an entity must have a plausible reason for doing so, at least in some jurisdictions. What could that reason possibly be for a social media app?
- Tijdreiziger 3y ago
  Hence why they're not launching it in the EU https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/threads-no-eu-launch/ https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/threads-no-eu-launch/
- rchaud 3y ago
  In 2012, FB ran psychological experiments on its users to evaluate how they felt after seeing a series of posts with either happy or sad information [0] Just think about the rich data they could collect in 2023! Tracking changes in your heart rate and sleep quality on the basis of your app use! [0] https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/06/30/326929138/facebook-manipulates-our-moods-for-science-and-commerce-a-roundup https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/06/30/32...
- WhyNotHugo 3y ago
  It’s apparently not legal in the EU, which is why Threads is no available here. It’s probably only legal in jurisdictions with none (or almost none) privacy laws.
TechBro8615 3y ago
I was able to install the iOS app and post a Thread without granting any permissions. Presumably it only wants to collect health and wellness data if you want to use the app to share that data with your friends, just like it only wants to access the camera if you want to use it to take a photograph to share on Threads.

frankacter 3y ago

Which permission specifically? They all seem valid for what the app does (and most are not present in app or disabled by default) Location - for providing localized content (disabled by default) Personal Info - for providing log in and personalizing content (questionable) Financial Info: For in app payment/subscription (disabled by default) Health - for personalizing content (not present in app and could be mislabeled by me) Messages - For automating 2 factor auth (disabled by default) Photos - For sending photos and videos (disabled by default) Audio - For sending audio (disabled by default) Files - For sending and saving files (disabled by default) Calendar - Not 100% sure, but some guesses could be content personalization and/or time based events in app (could be mislabeled by me) (disabled by default) Contacts - For establishing your social network (disabled by default) App activity - This could be suspect for sure, but also useful as a troubleshooting/debug mechanism (not present in app) App info and performance - troubleshooting/debug mechanism Device ID - Security, Ad personalization --- That said, I just installed in on my Android device and some considerations: 1) The suspect permission (App Activity) is not requested or present in the permissions list. Nor is health. Financial is better worded in that it is requesting "Google Play billing service" 2) Only Notifications permission is enabled by default. Camera, Contacts, Location, Microphone, Photos and Videos, etc are all explicitly disable, presumably till needed by the app at some point (meaning you'll know when and why they make use of it).

chrisco255 3y ago
Thanks, but no thanks, I'll just stick to mobile.twitter.com and instagram.com and login when I feel like it.
pavon 3y ago
By that logic, any permission is justifiable because it all helps "personalizing content".
- frankacter 3y ago
  Let me preface, as I pointed out in my reply, a good number of the permissions listed on the app store are either not present in the app or disabled by default in the app. That said, it is a social network prioritizing text based discussion. Using location to prioritize content local to you seems appropriate (and is disabled by default, so you'd need to enable it via prompt). Things like "Personal information" requesting "Political or religious beliefs", "Sexual orientation", etc. have some consideration of being problematic certainly. I'm not entirely sure why the health permission, I listed for personalizing content, but it is honestly just a guess. Does not actually appear to be a permission present in the app currently. Regarding calendar, the only other permission I labeled with personalizing content, it is disabled by default, and could possibly be used for other purposes (scheduling events, etc) so without knowing more it is a guess and possibly mislabeled by me.

everybodyknows 3y ago

Navigating to threads.net on Firefox Linux gets me only a swirling-galaxy animation, with a scan code drawn on top. Non-responsive to mouse clicks or key strokes.

troupo 3y ago
You can't even begin to imagine how hillariously bad it is. https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668138866311169 https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668138866311169 (And for non logged in users, continuation: https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668144499281940 https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668144499281940 and https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668146663538688 https://twitter.com/nikitonsky/status/1676668146663538688) ~30 requests to load this, totaling at ~5.5 Mb. 18 of those requests, accounting for 4 Mb, is just JavaScript. How many divs does it take them to center 1 word? Glad you asked! About 13. How many CSS classes? About 90. Yes, 90 distinct CSS classes. 13 nested divs. To center one word
- zeroonetwothree 3y ago
  And I’m sure that is something every user will actually care about.
  - troupo 3y ago
    This type of thinking is exactly why our supercomputers struggle to show even the basic text on screen. And yes, users do care about this crap.
- exadeci 3y ago
  At least they haven't released to production an inifinite loop that DDOS their own servers