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In my opinion, all the people complaining about privacy policies are barking up the wrong tree. As the saying goes in business, if you have to read the contract

In my opinion, all the people complaining about privacy policies are barking up the wrong tree. As the saying goes in business, if you have to read the contract, you're already screwed. The reality is that the privacy policy will almost never be a determining factor in whether somebody will use a service. The Facebook haters on HN were never gonna use a Facebook product anyways, regardless of what the policy said, and the same goes for the people that are happily using threads now. Does the privacy absolutist who refuses to do anything outside of a VM behind Tor exist? Of course, but not in any meaningful amount for it to matter. The people closely reading terms of services and opting out of arbitration provisions or whatever are wasting their times with busywork. It's doing work that feels meaningful and feels like giving it to the man without actually accomplishing much of anything.

timmytokyo 3y ago
Why should a social media app have access to the health data stored inside your phone? Why should we not be demanding laws to make this illegal?
- g5revo 3y ago
  I wish iOS would give us the capability to selectively toggle these app privacy permissions on an individual/granular level. If I want to disable all the toggles and have a non-functioning app, I’d be ok with that. At least I could selectively enable the bare minimum and then have a more deliberate decision regarding how much of my privacy I want to give away, rather than what an app developer might be hungry for (and not actually need).
- epistasis 3y ago
  Which social media app has access to your phone's storage of health data? Certainly not the one that's the subject of this post. Strava, a social media app for exercise, has selective access to "health" data about exercise stored on the phone, but that's the closest I can think of.
  - brxck 3y ago
    The App Store page for Threads lists “Health & Fitness” under the Analytics and App Functionality sections of App Privacy. I am completely unfamiliar with what that implies or what access would actually be allowed, but I can see how that would raise concern.
    - serf 3y ago
      I sort of wonder about that, too -- it's not well reflected in their privacy policy.[0] An altruistic guess -- maybe another way for them to achieve geolocation if other methods are hindered? [0]: https://terms.threads.com/privacy-policy https://terms.threads.com/privacy-policy
      - dylan604 3y ago
        That's a huge dose of benefit of the doubt you're giving to the Zuck. Do you for a second believe that granting the Zuck access to your Health & Fitness data that he will stop at just getting the information to geolocate you or would it be more like "let's just suck in all of the data we are given access to and then maybe at a later date we can use it beyond what we originally needed"?
        epistasis 3y ago
        I have an iPhone, I can see which apps access Health & Fitness data, and must in fact explicitly give apps access to that data. Threads does not have access to that data and I can not even find some way to get it to ask me to access that data. So what are we really talking about here?
        dylan604 3y ago
        > So what are we really talking about here? The very first thing in the listing for the app in the AppStore. Why are you so obtuse to this? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/threads-an-instagram-app/id6446901002 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/threads-an-instagram-app/id644... DATA LINKED TO YOU The following data may be collected and linked to your identity: Health & Fitness Purchases Financial Info Location Contact Info Contacts User Content Search History Browsing History Identifiers Usage Data Sensitive Info Diagnostics Other Data
- e63f67dd-065b 3y ago
  The simple answer is that they don't -- all the health metrics like heart rate, exercise, etc. collected by iOS and Android are both locked behind pretty stringent privacy walls. To get access you'll see (on iOS, not sure about Android) a popup asking for the app to connect to your health info, which I haven't seen happening.
Barrin92 3y ago
> a determining factor in whether somebody will use a service Threads is currently not available in Europe because its privacy policy isn't compliant with EU law, that's literally what the article is about. We're not talking about individual choice here, or absolutists behind Tor. I don't understand what your post has to do with the topic. Clearly we have with privacy legislation at least accomplished that Meta must follow the rules or not operate here. You're right that individual users agreeing with TOS's is meaningless, but we've been beyond that for years.
- jonny_eh 3y ago
  That doesn’t sound right. It surely can’t be any worse than Instagram which works fine in the EU. I believe it hasn’t launched there yet because the lawyers haven’t cleared it.
  - laserbeam 3y ago
    The main difference is Threads is a new product. Unlike Instagram which was released before GDPR was a thing. Sadly, it's way simpler for business to juat avoid the stringent regulated market at launch if you don't want to comply with regulations, then to actually comply. I don't think the severity of tracking is important when comparing insta vs threads, just the inertia of an old vs new product.
smohare 3y ago
[dead]
spaceman_2020 3y ago
I still appreciate these pieces because they help educate people. If it dissuades even a few people from signing up for these apps, or forces another app to adopt a more private approach, all the power to them.
thelock85 3y ago
This is true now, but over the long arc a paper trail of complaints lay groundwork for legal and political challenges. Historically that has been the meaningfulness of such busywork —no one cares today, but what if someone does in the future? Now if you are saying there is no willpower to follow through over the long arc aka this fight is over and lost, then I disagree but could be wrong.
renegat0x0 3y ago
Does that mean we should not anylyze programs if are user friendly, or hostile? Should we not check what hostile activities is company X doing? I read such articles and it gives me the idea what goes in mind of CEOs. This is the reason I have left Facebook. Such stories and comments have real world impact.

timmytokyo 3y ago

Why should a social media app have access to the health data stored inside your phone? Why should we not be demanding laws to make this illegal?

g5revo 3y ago
I wish iOS would give us the capability to selectively toggle these app privacy permissions on an individual/granular level. If I want to disable all the toggles and have a non-functioning app, I’d be ok with that. At least I could selectively enable the bare minimum and then have a more deliberate decision regarding how much of my privacy I want to give away, rather than what an app developer might be hungry for (and not actually need).
epistasis 3y ago
Which social media app has access to your phone's storage of health data? Certainly not the one that's the subject of this post. Strava, a social media app for exercise, has selective access to "health" data about exercise stored on the phone, but that's the closest I can think of.
- brxck 3y ago
  The App Store page for Threads lists “Health & Fitness” under the Analytics and App Functionality sections of App Privacy. I am completely unfamiliar with what that implies or what access would actually be allowed, but I can see how that would raise concern.
  - serf 3y ago
    I sort of wonder about that, too -- it's not well reflected in their privacy policy.[0] An altruistic guess -- maybe another way for them to achieve geolocation if other methods are hindered? [0]: https://terms.threads.com/privacy-policy https://terms.threads.com/privacy-policy
    - dylan604 3y ago
      That's a huge dose of benefit of the doubt you're giving to the Zuck. Do you for a second believe that granting the Zuck access to your Health & Fitness data that he will stop at just getting the information to geolocate you or would it be more like "let's just suck in all of the data we are given access to and then maybe at a later date we can use it beyond what we originally needed"?
      - epistasis 3y ago
        I have an iPhone, I can see which apps access Health & Fitness data, and must in fact explicitly give apps access to that data. Threads does not have access to that data and I can not even find some way to get it to ask me to access that data. So what are we really talking about here?
        dylan604 3y ago
        > So what are we really talking about here? The very first thing in the listing for the app in the AppStore. Why are you so obtuse to this? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/threads-an-instagram-app/id6446901002 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/threads-an-instagram-app/id644... DATA LINKED TO YOU The following data may be collected and linked to your identity: Health & Fitness Purchases Financial Info Location Contact Info Contacts User Content Search History Browsing History Identifiers Usage Data Sensitive Info Diagnostics Other Data
e63f67dd-065b 3y ago
The simple answer is that they don't -- all the health metrics like heart rate, exercise, etc. collected by iOS and Android are both locked behind pretty stringent privacy walls. To get access you'll see (on iOS, not sure about Android) a popup asking for the app to connect to your health info, which I haven't seen happening.

Barrin92 3y ago

> a determining factor in whether somebody will use a service Threads is currently not available in Europe because its privacy policy isn't compliant with EU law, that's literally what the article is about. We're not talking about individual choice here, or absolutists behind Tor. I don't understand what your post has to do with the topic. Clearly we have with privacy legislation at least accomplished that Meta must follow the rules or not operate here. You're right that individual users agreeing with TOS's is meaningless, but we've been beyond that for years.

jonny_eh 3y ago
That doesn’t sound right. It surely can’t be any worse than Instagram which works fine in the EU. I believe it hasn’t launched there yet because the lawyers haven’t cleared it.
- laserbeam 3y ago
  The main difference is Threads is a new product. Unlike Instagram which was released before GDPR was a thing. Sadly, it's way simpler for business to juat avoid the stringent regulated market at launch if you don't want to comply with regulations, then to actually comply. I don't think the severity of tracking is important when comparing insta vs threads, just the inertia of an old vs new product.

smohare 3y ago

[dead]

spaceman_2020 3y ago

I still appreciate these pieces because they help educate people. If it dissuades even a few people from signing up for these apps, or forces another app to adopt a more private approach, all the power to them.

thelock85 3y ago

This is true now, but over the long arc a paper trail of complaints lay groundwork for legal and political challenges. Historically that has been the meaningfulness of such busywork —no one cares today, but what if someone does in the future? Now if you are saying there is no willpower to follow through over the long arc aka this fight is over and lost, then I disagree but could be wrong.

renegat0x0 3y ago

Does that mean we should not anylyze programs if are user friendly, or hostile? Should we not check what hostile activities is company X doing? I read such articles and it gives me the idea what goes in mind of CEOs. This is the reason I have left Facebook. Such stories and comments have real world impact.