Microsoft’s much-heralded Notepad.exe was storing files as plain text

Same level of security concern. Quit putting your sensitive data into apps that aren’t meant for it.

I think that’s what Diaspora is trying to be. I’ve not heard much from that project recently, though, so I have no clue if there’s any activity on that platform anymore.

Sorry, I kinda got lost in the sauce on my original comment, lol. My issue isn’t so much with the data collection, itself. My problem is that their FAQs say things that appear to be outright lies. Not even just embellishing the truth or something, but complete falsehoods.

I don’t care so much that they collect a bit of data. But if they’re wiling to lie to a potential user about their data collection, I can’t help but wonder what else they might be willing to be dishonest about. I already have doubts about their crypto claim in the FAQ based on their founder’s history with NFTs, so I worry that this might also be something they’re not being truthful about.

Oh for sure, I don’t doubt that. The issue that I take is that their FAQ - which I imagine is rarely actually read by users, but is definitely read more often than the ToS - is directly contradicted by their ToS. While they say they only collect one data point in the FAQ, the ToS outlines several other data points they collect. While they say they don’t share your collected data with third parties, the ToS states that they may share your collected data with third parties for advertising purposes. The FAQ denies being connected to crypto schemes, despite their founder (Tiffany Zhong) and parent company being heavily involved in crypto.

While these are all standard practices for just about every web platform, it’s the lies in the FAQs that should be concerning to users. If they would have just said exactly what they do with your data or what their background is in, or even just not included it in the FAQs at all, I wouldn’t have any problem with it. But they’re willing to openly lie to their users, and I don’t think they should be trusted.

Yeah, I thought about that halfway through looking through their ToS. I wish I was smart enough to figure out how to package this into a message Gen Z can actually understand and care about.

From noplace’s FAQs: *

do you collect my data?

we use your phone number as a way for you to sign up and log into the app. that’s the only thing about you we collect.

we don’t share your number or anything else about you with third parties like some other apps do. we want you to be able to securely log in and chat with ur friends, that’s it.

Emphasis mine. Now their privacy policy: *

Types of Data Collected

Personal Data While using Our Service, We may ask You to provide Us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify You. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

Phone number Usage Data Usage Data Usage Data is collected automatically when using the Service. Usage Data may include information such as Your Device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g. IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that You visit, the time and date of Your visit, the time spent on those pages, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. When You access the Service by or through a mobile device, We may collect certain information automatically, including, but not limited to, the type of mobile device You use, Your mobile device unique ID, the IP address of Your mobile device, Your mobile operating system, the type of mobile Internet browser You use, unique device identifiers and other diagnostic data. We may also collect information that Your browser sends whenever You visit our Service or when You access the Service by or through a mobile device.

So, it looks like they’re starting off with lies right at the top, like every other tech startup.

EDIT: To also address the “we don’t share your number or anything else about you with third parties” part, the privacy policy also outlines exactly how they will share your data with third parties:

We may share Your personal information in the following situations: […] With business partners: We may share Your information with Our business partners to offer You certain products, services or promotions.

Go fuck yourselves, noplace.

EDIT: Another issue I just found with their FAQs:

is this a crypto thing?

wut? no.

I thought it was weird that crypto would be a frequently-asked question for what appears to otherwise be a pretty generic-looking social network. Then I found that noplace’s parent company, Islands XYZ, was originally launched to be an NFT platform of some sort, financially backed by our old friend Alexis Ohanian.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2021/11/30/web3-startup-islands-creators-nft-communities-launch/

So they’re totally not a crypto thing. Definitely not crypto. 100% something other than crypto.

Guys, I swear they’re not a crypto thing.

Defederating/blocking doesn’t stop Meta from datamining you.

Is it common for Japanese URLs to use non-Latin text like that? I rarely end up on Japanese websites, but I feel like I’ve always seen romaji domains when I’ve ended up there.

“If you can’t reinvent the wheel, then just make the wheel more expensive.” -Tim Apple, probably

Oohhh, that sounds delicious! My old boss at work was telling me about Brazilian lemonades a while back and I’ve been meaning to try it at some point.

So what’s the reason to go to a mall? Crappy food court food?

The last dozen or so times I’ve been to a mall, the only thing I’ve spent money on was food. It’s hard to justify spending money at the mall when I know I can get just about anything there from an online retailer for a lot cheaper. But I can’t get an Orange Julius online. Yet.

You can’t prove there isn’t!

“Oh yeah, are you sure about that? Then why does my AirTag say it’s already landed on Jupiter, hmm? I’d like to speak to your manager.”

Probably move on to YouTube Shorts or Instagram reels.

Likely YouTube. While neither are great, between Google and Meta, Google’s got the better reputation. YouTube also has a larger audience, because it includes a ton of users who wouldn’t fall under traditional social media usage. Reels might be used as a periphery platform to drive more people to their main channel on YouTube.

Any TikTok creator who moves to Instagram full-time is either shooting themselves in the foot, or got a good contract from Meta.

That’s really cool! I wonder if there’s a way to find the previous owners of the house, that’d make for a really fun story if you were able to track down the original owner somehow.

No wrongdoing was found!

On surface level, sure. But the consequences of this drama will be seen across the industry. Google and Amazon both appear to have worked to have kept this quiet, which raises a lot of important questions about how the business of video streaming will handle child safety.

Even though it may seem like drama, there’s an important story here, and it directly involves the futures of some key players in the tech sector so it’s relevant.

I’m 100% certain that if he actually didn’t know the kid’s age beforehand, that he would have said so in one of his responses. If the situation was anything other than what everybody is already suspecting, he would have put it out there instead of letting the internet speculate wildly. He wouldn’t just be sitting on that little nugget of information if it existed. He was too specific in his responses to have left that out unintentionally.

Yeah, and there’s a much different context. Those aren’t real children on the show. Those text threads are with adults on both ends. The entire interaction from start to finish is mitigated by professionals.

We’re talking about a situation involving a real child, not a sting operation where there isn’t an actual victim. There’s a real child whose identity would be put at risk of being exposed by releasing the logs.

This isn’t primetime TV drama. This is a real situation involving a real minor. You should take a step back from the screen for a minute if you’re struggling to see the difference.

The amount of people eager to see a sexting thread with a child is fucking absurd.