Comment by Stovetop@lemmy.ml on Can we have some clarification on what "Usage Data" the app collects and shares with advertisers?

What constitutes Usage Data. Is it sharing the posts I view, communities I subscribe to etc?

Does paying for a premium version stop this data being collected?

From DuckDuckGo:

For what it’s worth, I subscribed to Ultra about an hour ago and DDG hasn’t picked up any additional tracking attempts since then. I think it may be limited entirely to Google’s ad service for the free, ad-supported tier and maybe crash diagnostics that the app gives you the option of enabling or disabling.

I think that the lack of further attempts backs up what lj shared a bit ago in the Discord. That’s still a hell of a lot of tracking for folks who can’t or don’t want to pay, though.

Sure would be cool if this kind of information was provided outside of a proprietary service that not only requires a login but also you to join a specific server just to then have this be hidden by 1,500 random messages that you don’t care about. Shame there is no such place.

Can someone explain what this means. The ads/tracking is not activated in Sync for Lemmy? If so, why have it in the code.

Basically all tracking is done by Google ads. It checks at start up if you have purchased ad free or not. If purchased, launch app without ad library, else launch with ads. It has to be in the code because (according to the dev) Google is cracking down on similar apps, ie a pro version and a free version. So ad library has to be included, and it just won’t use it if you pay for pro

Makes sense, thanks. I think I misunderstood the comment I was replying to.

FWIW that page is a bit deceptive , it’s not saying it’s collecting all of that data. The only info on that page is “146 tracking attempts from Google”, which makes sense if it has Google ads.

Please note that the long list of things collected is what Google is known to collect, not necessarily that these are the things being collected. If you click on any other app that is also with Google trackers (practically every app listed on this page), you will find that the stuff listed are the same.

Can you explain more? Would DNS level blocking stop ads on a smart TV (for YouTube specifically) as well?

I am so happy whenever I see people asking more about privacy practices. It makes me feel like the fight is not so hopeless after all.

I feel the same way. As someone who studies and works in cyber security I love teaching people about how to stay safe or at least as safe as possible.

Some people don’t go the degree I go to just to keep my stuff secure. I use hardened Arch kernels and I hardly even use arch my entire time I spend on a PC is through a VM. I have 2 computers one just for windows and gaming and then one for Linux and cyber security and coding stuff

I hate dual booting and do not like windows being close to my Linux install so I keep them separate on two different computers 😂

Other than doing 3D printing and rendering stuff all I do is study malware and writing my own programs.

Man, you’re living my dream! I also have a windows machine relegated to gaming. Can you expand on using a VM when you want to use your computer? Is that a viable alternative? How is ease of use and boot up times? Do you use Linux on the VMs also? Do you see any performance issues in the actual PC when using the VM in parallel?

Most of my days are spent writing malware and studying and testing it to see how it infects a system and how to learn how to stop it I also study malware I find online.

When I say I use a VM almost all my time I don’t mean it as my actual “computer”

My computer is a 24 core threadripper beast with 64gbs of ram. When I study malware I do it strictly through a VM and when I’m browsing the word or YouTube I use a VM.

When I’m doing activities such as 3D printing and running my print farm I do not use a VM as it takes a lot of processing power and graphics power to run those programs.

I just like using VMs to learn about open sourced software and how it works and I like breaking and fixing things.

Cyber security is amazing but also sucks when you get a call at 3am lol

If you have any questions send me a message :D

Not for youtube, you can use smarttube for android tv. It has everything, like sponsorblock etc

Can confirm, pihole blocks nearly all ads on smart TVs and apps.

Tracker blocking youtube results in new videos not adding to your history, recommendations freezing permanently, youtube just regurgitates the same stuff and seemingly never refreshes

They are talking about on a smart TV.

I used ubiquiti’s dns level ad/tracker blocker

Effects were on every device and app except firefox - especially on smart TVs

I would really love to know what ads are targeting low battery levels. Chargers and battery packs obviously. But I wonder what else being at 5% tells you about a person 😅

Behavioral data at least. When and how person charges phone, how much they use phone and what times.

Btw, what duckduckgo app is this? Not their browser?

It is their browser. The tracking protection is in their browser and tells Android that it’s a VPN.

I found it! I thanks.

Side note, no tracking from sync has showed up for me so far.

I also don’t see any weird activity on my adguard logs after subscribing to Ultra.

Ik right! Just Google being Google

👀

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