Which is illegal in the EU and about to be illegal in Australia
¯\_(ツ)_/¯The EU just does so many things right.
America: “SoCiALisM”
Australia? How ? Isn’t Australia one of the five eyes country? Like more the data these companies collect its better for Australia.
I’ll be very surprised if our govt does anything positive when it comes to digital rights. The current shower of arseholes in government supported the previous even bigger shower of arseholes to pass diabolical legislation like data retention and assistance and access bills.
This may or may not be illegal, depending on what the “this” is you’re agreeing to. As a simple example, if it is “you agree to functional cookies by continuing to use the site”, that’s fine. If it is “you agree to us scraping your computer and selling everything we find to China”, that is most definitely not legal, nor is refusing service if you don’t agree.
ＥＮＳＨＩＴＴＩＦＩＣＡＴＩＯＮ
Oh nooooo who could have seen this coming… anyway continues using Lemmy
Consider redacting your data and deleting your account
https://old.reddit.com/r/redditseppuku/comments/14frr4u/reddit_seppuku_how_to/
First, delete all of your comments using the automated tools
Didn’t these all stop working when they shutdown the public API?
deleted by creator
I thought it would too, but some replies indicate it still works!
Your mileage may vary.
Meh. I pondered this but leaving it helps users still using the platform.
No, redact your data, get banned and still request your data every 30 days under GDPR (just submitted my 3rd).
Uhm, that option was intreduced by sites and ad networks because the GDPR requires it so unless they plan to shut down buisness in the EU it’s probably going to fail!
The company said that it will still have opt-out controls in “select countries” without specifying which ones.
I’m guessing that’s how they plan to get around that. They will leave the toggle enabled for people registered in EU countries, and disable it everywhere else. A fairly risky way to handle it in my opinion.
Well, that’s certainly illegal too, the GDPR requires opt-in and while there is room for interpritation (see all the shitty cookie banners) if you enable anything by default it’s not going to fly!
About the cookie banners: I heard some time ago that EU wants to force browsers to have an option to automatically decline all non-essential cookies because those banners are pissing everyone off. What’s with that plan, any updates?
The feature is actually older than any cookie banner (do not track request) but idk if the EU will overwork the law that way, it’s a miracle that it passed at all and I would be surprised if the loopholes aren’t made for some lobbyists in the first place!
While that’s true, I’ve seen GDPR enforcement to be sparse, at best. Someone has a cookie banner and they aren’t questioned, but even if you “deny all” there is still spyware on the site. I will do the usual. Hope for the best, expect the worst
The method of “enforcment” for that part of the GDPR is awful but for a big and fairly hated player like Reddit it will probably actually work, some organization or competitor just has to file a formal complaint. There was some NGO a few years ago that filed cimplaints against various big players and got platforms like Twitch to fix their banners that way but idk what happened to them!
Oh yeah not saying it won’t make waves for something like Reddit, it just wish it was more actively enforced from reports
I couldn’t agree more, a single look at our newspapers in Austira reveals a sad trueth, even the good ones use illegal “consent or pay” cookie banners!
Something that always pissed me off is that while I might not be living in the EU currently I’m still a citizen but companies get to just fuck me over anyways?
Who didn’t see this coming? Kill all good third party apps and funnel everyone into their dogshit, undercooked app and then leverage every metric and interaction for advertising
This is how my love for uBlock Origin grows day by day…
I don’t know how anyone lives without it.
Fuuck I run 12 adblockers at once to chew up all ads and burn them.
they’re used to it. my mother forbid me from setting up ad protection on her phone, because she’s used to them and didn’t want to learn how to switch it off when necessary (e.g. when it breaks a site she needs)
I use Blokada 5 on my phone to block ads and trackers and the fucking banking app stops working if I have it turned on. FFS you already have my money why did you guys need to harvest more of my data (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻)
Removed by mod
deleted by creator
If we’re serious about transforming the conversation around this issue, we’ve got to be more intentional with the words we choose. Let’s call a spade a spade: labeling them as “personalized ads” is a gross understatement.
It’s more than that. It’s like someone constantly lurking behind you, watching every move you make, and getting into the private spaces of your mind. It isn’t mere content tailoring—it’s relentless stalking and a brazen assault on our psyche.
We need to call it what it is.
It’s theft is what it is. Personal data has value - so much value that companies like Google and Facebook have used solely data to become some of the wealthiest businesses in the world. These companies take our data for free, tell us it’s so worthless it isn’t worth paying us, and then they make pure profit. We might not know how to do what they do with the data, but you can’t build a car without paying for the nuts and bolts; we should be paid our fair share for every data point they collect.
People on sites like this really need to understand that for good or bad we are a vocal minority. People by and large understand “if you aren’t paying for it you’re the product”. Many people have come to terms with this be it reddit, or Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc.
Does it make it right? Or course it doesn’t.
But I seriously don’t know, outside of a serious privacy breach involving hundreds of deaths, how do we effectively change the narrative in a way the masses can not only consume but understand?
I’m in my echo chamber here but at the same time I’ve come to terms that if it’s online expect it to be sold and nothing is private.
I disagree with you there, what people need to understand - the masses in general - is that this is a completely new and deeply flawed way for human beings to trade value between each other. One where the things one party is giving up are poorly defined, and they don’t get anything in return or have any room to negotiate. Hell, it isn’t even really a transaction, they just invite you in and then rummage through your pockets.
We have a long-established set of rules for forming deals, called contract law, that we’ve developed over thousands of years. Mass commercial data collection flouts the core principles of this.
we should be paid our fair share for every data point they collect.
And every time they sell it, every transaction it leads to.
I think a flat one time fee per access is fine, so long as it’s proportional to the sales they make. Data has a value with respect to time anyway, new data is more valuable than old data, even if the data is the same, so it’s not like they’ll just be getting it one time.
watching every move you make
Just like The Police.
Sting has a lot to answer for
I agree with you but let’s cut the hyperbole please? It is not “a brazen assault on our psyche”. Ain’t no one of sound mind seeking out a therapist for trauma because reddit changes it TOS.
I think they are an assault on free will. Ads aren’t well reasoned arguments for the purchase of a product or service; they’re whatever they need to be to get you to change your behavior. If they have to scare, shame, trick, etc. they’ll do it.
Just out of curiosity how old are you? My sense is your opinion is probably shared by those younger people who came of age during the beginning of the death throws of cable.
I’m not saying your opinion is wrong for you. But I’m 46 now. I grew up inundated by commercials. They have always done all those things you mention. We were raised in an environment where media literacy included commercials allowing us to better see and smell the bullshit. Maybe that is what is lacking?
They are definitely not an “assault on free will” as you put it. Advertising is one of the oldest industries known to man and it will continue to exist and evolve.
That said, you are very correct in that it has gotten worse in recent years. This is predominantly (I feel) because government has stopped regulating specifically what is marketed to kids (thanks 1980’s!). There is also an angle that we stopped teaching media literacy like we used to.
I’m in my late thirties, actually. I think the difference in the ads we were exposed to compared to young people today is that nearly all of ours were broadly targeted. ie there was no micro targeting or anything really tailored to the individual outside of direct mail. We all watched the same commercials, you know?
Modern ad tech is much less “spray and pray” but as to what difference that makes vis-a-vis people’s ability to see BS, idk. I’d imagine the proportion of young people who are skeptical of advertising hasn’t changed much but the effectiveness of ads on those who are susceptible to it has increased. But again, I’m just talking out my ass here haha.
But all ads share the goal of altering your behavior to their own ends. Isn’t that in and of itself a reduction of your free will? An idea or thought you might have had is supplanted by one placed there by an advertiser, right?
Maybe this is where we differ then. I agree with everything you’re saying but at the same time in no way do I feel like my choice to choose is being taken away. I am not being forced to buy anything.
No, you’re not being forced of course. But advertisers are absolutely trying to bend your decision making process towards their products. That’s how ads work, right? They ultimately want you to spend money on something. Not saying you’re like Homer Simpson driving down the road stopping to obey all the billboards, I’m just saying it’s the inherent nature of ads. I didn’t mean to imply anything else
My intention wasn’t to equate ads with psychological trauma, but rather to emphasize the profound impact such invasive practices can have on our sense of privacy and autonomy. The terminology of ‘personalized ads’ can often obscure the magnitude of surveillance behind it. I understand that this might come across as hyperbolic to some, but it’s essential to articulate the depth of concern many feel.
transforming the conversation
are we ever going to do shit about it or are we going to continue to sit and talk about the same thing over and over uselessly
some of us ARE doing something about it
lol I have yet to see barely a finger lifted by suburb libs to do anything for the rest of us
dude, don’t just assume my political beliefs based on nothing more than a comment…
sis if you have the ideology of a suburb liberal while not being one, you are an even sadder motherfucker than I thought you were
if caring about privacy and not wanting companies and governments to watch everything you do is “the ideology of a suburb liberal”, then fine, I’m a “suburb liberal” lol
EDIT: reading your profile you’re (in your words) a “Firm believers in Marxism Leninism, cartoons, and the need for Gulags” so I don’t think I will continue this discussion. have a nice day ^^
if caring about privacy and not wanting companies and governments to watch everything you do is “the ideology of a suburb liberal”, then fine, I’m a “suburb liberal” lol
strawman, love to see it. How is any of what you said relevant?
Im unapologetic about my love of Marxist freedom, I wonder why you feel the need to hide your ideology…
GDPR violation.
No chance they will block out the entire EU market. They will probably just do the same as everyone else and make a specific EU policy.
Actually I think Meta Threads is still not available in EU for the same reasons.
The company said that it will still have opt-out controls in “select countries” without specifying which ones. It mentioned in a blog post that users won’t see more ads but they will see better-targeted ads following this change.
The “selection” will all be yellow stars on a blue background. Can’t wait to see Vestager tear them a new one. Heeeere’s the EU, legislating your aaaaass!!
deleted by creator
Lol what ads. Old.reddit with Reddit enhancement suite and Ublock Origin. That’s the only way I ever browse Reddit anymore. I have never seen an ad on Reddit. If they ever get rid of old Reddit I’ll never go back there. As it is my Reddit usage has decreased by 95% since using Lemmy and never browsing Reddit any other place than my pc.
Problem is not just the ads they serve you, but also that they sell this data…
So all you need to do is fill your data with LOTS of porn
So we come to Lemmy where anyone can spin up an instance, collect our data, and sell it.
Or you can spin up your own and control your own data
Now we just need to figure out how to actually sell our data ourselves!
Sure, but because of federation other instances can collect your posts and vote data. Federation is the antithesis of privacy.
I’ll bet cash that it’s only a short matter of time before old.reddit is shutdown and within 6 months of that happening Reddit access will be locked behind account login.
I guarantee you the C-suite at reddit regularly kick themselves for giving into public backlash and keeping old.reddit. People weren’t happy with the redesign, but they would have definitely gotten used to it fairly quickly. Now, removing it will be another nail in the coffin they’re so desperate to build.
I suspect you’re correct, although I doubt removing old.reddit will cause much of a stir.
Notice how Reddit is releasing 1 shitty update every few weeks rather than all at once? By the time one shit update is released the vast majority of users have forgotten the previous one. Remember the API change? I reckon most of Reddits existing users don’t anymore. I suspect old.reddit will go the same way.
The only thing keeping the main community that I still visit reddit for (not nearly often enough, since I only look at it on old Reddit) on Reddit is discoverability. People search Google and the Reddit community is in the results, so I don’t think they’ll make it log in to view
That same community will probably leave the platform when old.reddit (with Reddit Enhancement Suite) is closed, unless Reddit actually adds comparable mod tools
A lot of sites show up in Google results and then force you to log in to actually see the content. I think most of them just get away with hiding the content a second after loading it in, that way the crawler bot still is able to see all the page but the user isn’t
Similar to twitter.
If I go to twitter mainpage I can’t see anything without logging in.
If I go direct to a profile I see can’t see anything without logging and;
If I go to a specific post, I can read the initial post but nothing else.
That’s what I expect will happen to Reddit
I wouldnt take that bet because I 100% agree.
Do you also get redirected to some random post with 2 up votes when you click on any i.reddit url/picture. I use the same setup and was wondering if I messed up some settings or if it reddit messing up the old interface.
But old reddit has changed a lot. Bringing it close to the newer interface.
- for what ever reason sometimes even internal links inside reddit opens up a new tab with the new interface
Old. Reddit still looks the exact same as it always has for me. I use Reddit enhancement suite so so maybe that’s it. Just turn off “use subreddits style” for every subreddit. Dark mode on. Ad blocker enabled. I don’t have the new tab issue. I can see that this won’t last forever though and eventually Reddit won’t exist to me anymore.
I thought spez was gonna calm down with his bs, but it seems he can’t stop dragging himself through the shit.
Line must go up, even at the risk of line going very down instead. No matter what.
Assholes generally don’t stop with their assholery when they keep getting away with it.
But he actually can not. He must have promised the world to shareholders, so now he has to deliver.
So they’re preparing to get sued tens of millions of dollors by the EU in March of next year?
The company said that it will still have opt-out controls in “select countries”
They’re not gonna go against EU.
People in “select countries” will still have a toggle.
Is reddit owned and operated by a malicious entity? I used to be addicted to that platform, but now I can’t stand it.
Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.
I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a “two sided market,” where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, holding each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them.
From https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
This is going to be the most quoted literary work of the 21st century
they are preparing for IPO, the most inherently malicious owner there is!
Are they really still just preparing?
Have been for years. Reddit is mismanaged, and the IPO is just an effort to get whatever they can before letting suckers hold the bag. They will never reach the valuation they had.
yeah they aren’t IPO yet, I think a lot of stuff didn’t play nicely for them, with the ukraine war, the tech bubbles popping and the general global economic conditions things aren’t exactly favourable. I think also the backlash to 3rd party apps and their general shittiness has been hurting them a bit more than they have said.
Is reddit owned by a malicious entity?
Always has been.
As with many things under capitalism, the ongoing mandate is that profits must go up, and must go up at a higher rate no matter what, or investors panic and the price drops steeply which can lead to a collapse. Reddit is just another ravenous profit-seeking vehicle of the same kind and is going into the same “line must go up” death spiral.
I wouldn’t say Reddit always has been owned by a malicious entity, Aaron Swartz was a cool guy. And if you’re telling me a man who freely distributed thousands of needlessly paywalled research papers is a some kind of arch capitalist, then there’s no helping you.
Swartz had good beliefs about freedom of information but politically was kind of a weirdo. What happened to him is an unlimited tragedy and outright criminal.
Swartz co-owned reddit for around 1 year, 2006-2007. His influence has overall probably been insignificant.
True true, I just specifically took issue with it always having been run by bastards. (I know it’s a meme template, but I just wanted to point to evidence that there is hope that not everything we use has always been yoked with pure greed. Call it a cope, IDC.)
there is hope that not everything we use has always been yoked with pure greed
If your basis for believing that is Reddit having one co-owner you liked for one year and that’s the best evidence you got, that isn’t a strong basis.
You can do sophistic tricks like exaggerating other people’s positions to try to make yours seem more tenable so you can mine for supposed exceptions, but the reality remains that capitalism requires increasingly unsustainable profit margins over time for the lifetime of each product and that consequently results in systemic enshittification of things that were previously decent and bearable. That is an inevitable ongoing process in this present system.
then there’s no helping you
That
tone isn’t necessary.One co-owner being around for one year doesn’t absolve the skullduggery of the other that is still here to the present day, as another poster already mentioned.
Honestly as a capitalist (I know, blasphemy) Aaron did the world a favor when he dropped those papers. Elsevier Wiley IEEE et al have a cartel and so many of them are NIH or DOD funded papers they should be public domain period.
The premise of our system depends on controls to avoid instilled entries extorting capital. Capitalism isn’t: it’s feudalism with extra steps
Honestly as a capitalist (I know, blasphemy)
Before you congratulate yourself again for internet bravery, do you actually own capital? Do you own the means of production? If not, you’re not a capitalist even if you wave pompoms and otherwise do apologia for capitalism.
Well damn, ya got me. I own a car. That’s about it.
You’re not really a capitalist in a meaningful way. You might cheerlead for it, but that isn’t a means of production no matter what Uber/Lyft might tell you.
The largest owners are Advance Publications and Tencent. Advance also own Condé Nasty (Reddit even used to be under the Condé Nast banner). Weirdly they also own everyone’s favorite plagiarism detection service Turnitin.
I know of Tencent and the controversy about them… I don’t know anything about Advance though. Are they also controversial?
how much does tencent actually own? I could swear they only bought company stocks and not direct controls over reddit.
Certainly by a greedy one. Greed and stupidity are often better explanations than outright malice, but… yeah, they’re a bunch of assholes, too.
I mean, I’m not denying they’re making wrong choices, and I’ve left Reddit myself, but given that they’re losing money I don’t understand how it’s considered ”greedy” to try and change that.
I urge everyone to install Adnauseum. You know what’s better than trying to starve advertisers of info? Filling their ad profile for you with total garbage.
Glad I’m reading this on Lemmy. Well, “glad” isn’t the right word, but you know…
I am actually glad about it. Lemmy represents a fundamentally different model for how to organize and pay for an online social network. It turns out that you don’t have to monetize socializing if you don’t want to. The worse Reddit becomes the more people will look for an alternative and the more people will be exposed to the concept of “maybe we can just chip in for server costs when we can” as a way of running social media.
In German we have a great proverb: “better a terrible end than unending terror” (rhymes in German, no good equivalent in English).
It’s sad that things “ended” the way they did, but it’s great that we’re finally in an actual open ecosystem which can’t be milked and changed the way Reddit did.
“better a terrible end than unending terror”
Huh. Those Germans. Always have a positive outlook on everything.
That’s what we’re known for!
There’s a regional saying I like even more: “Et kütt wie et kütt, un et hätt noch immer jot jejange”. Roughly: things come as they come, but so far everything turned out well :)
Glad to have escaped, with gladness tempered by the awareness of the suffering of those who have not escaped
All those religious ads for people “interested in religion” by their participation in /r/atheism
All those political ads for those participating in /r/worldpolitics
Sports ads for members of /r/SuperbOwl
Why don’t I expect Reddit to do this well?
Distantly appreciative?
I haven’t used reddit in months
I still read some niche subs from time to time, but I don’t post or vote on anything any more. It could just be confirmation bias, but the comments do seem to be more full of assholes than before the API change.
Not that it’s not confirmation bias but I can confirm what you’re seeing.
They lost a lot of active, enthusiastic, altruistic friendly people. I don’t think they’ve drawn in worse people, but there are less nice voices to balance out the vitriol. Under the circumstances there’s also less downvoting toxicity.
I’m pretty sure it’s a real thing but how much it’s felt probably varies community by community.
I also wonder if the combination of losing modding tools and mods being treated like garbage by reddit made them less enthusiastic about doing their (unpaid) job, too.
I still check in to certain niche subreddits that don’t exist on lemmy. Those feel pretty close to how they used to. The other day I took a look at /r/all and… ooof. It’s very apparent quality has completely nosedived. Lemmy /c/all is a much better representation of pre-blackout reddit /r/all right now.
Every time I see any news of Reddit, I’m glad I left
All the adds look like posts and all the posts are actually just adds now.
Has anybody seen that shitty boomer comic that’s been boosted to the top ad space on every YouTube video for the last two weeks.
Those have been the top post on comics for the last two days.
It is primarily bots advertising to each other at this point and liberals circlejerking each other that they’re the good guys for “critically” supporting nazis.
Reddit is making Dead Internet Theory more real.
Sometimes I’ll check in to see if anyone’s asking me a question and it always just ends up being some random groyped up nazi posting vitriol on a comment that’s like, 3 years old. Now I don’t even get that because everyone’s either lost interest or jumped ship.
