Technology

I've been seeing a lot of posts about Threads privacy policy lately, where people seem genuinely shocked about it. I think it's good to raise awareness about how much data you're selling to Facebook company if you choose to use Threads, but I think it's also good to remind people (as the article does) that this happens also when you use Instagram or Facebook itself. Ditch Meta

Threads helps itself to an absurd amount of personal information. That, combined with the fact that you have to DELETE Instagram to fully delete your Threads account, is absolutely ridiculous.

So far, I’ve yet to read a review that enthusiastically endorses Threads as a Twitter replacement. Caveats abound. This could have been truly significant, but in his greed, Zuck dropped the ball.

To be honest I don’t understand why people fixate on privacy in social media. The entire point is to accomplish the opposite of privacy. If you want privacy, don’t post personal stuff on the Internet, especially to sites explicitly intended to share it.

Can it even be called a privacy policy if there is no privacy? Heyo!

For Android users, the Google Play Store doesn’t require you to hand over the same amount of extensive data to try out Threads. You have more control than Apple users, since you can granularly toggle what personal data is shared with apps.

Data linked to you

Third-party advertising:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email >Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User >Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay >Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising >Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Developer's advertising or marketing:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content ( Photos or Videos, Gameplay Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Analytics:

Health & Fitness (Health, Fitness) Purchases (Purchase History, Financial Info, >Payment Info, Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Audio Data, >Gameplay Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Product Personalization:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay Content, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

App functionality:

Health & Fitness (Health, Fitness) Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Payment Info, Credit Info, Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Emails or Text Messages, Photos or Videos, Audio Data, Gameplay Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Sensitive Info Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

Other purposes:

Purchases (Purchase History) Financial Info (Other Financial Info) Location (Precise Location, Coarse Location) Contact Info (Physical Address, Email Address, Name, Phone Number, Other User Contact Info) Contacts User Content (Photos or Videos, Gameplay >Content, Customer Support, Other User Content) Search History Browsing History Identifiers (User ID, Device ID) Usage Data (Product Interaction, Advertising Data, Other Usage Data) Diagnostics (Crash Data, Performance Data, Other Diagnostic Data) Other Data

In addition to the Meta/FB policy, there is also a Threads Supplemental Privacy Policy.

It states that data from interactions on Threads from Third Party servers is collected to improve Meta/FB services including post content, post actions, public user profile and IP Address.

That in itself isn't unthinkable or unexpected, but the implication of Threads using all of our interaction data for their own specialized tracking purposes makes me uncomfortable, so I'm glad many Fediverse servers supporting blocking interactions with Threads servers.

As long as you are aware of what is being shared then you have an informed choice to make.