this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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In the few short hours since I started using #Threads, #DuckDuckGo has already blocked over 200 data tracking attempts. These include things like "headphone status" and "screen density."

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[–] xpinchx@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

That's egregious, not even trying to hide it lmao.

[–] MrFagtron9000@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Other than GPS coordinates, what's the problem?

It's pretty standard stuff that every app collects.

I'm actually asking what specific thing is the problem.

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[–] sycamore@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (5 children)

We need a third party app.

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[–] EricHill78@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This is what I got after 5 minutes.

[–] dylanTheDeveloper@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I understand getting location because the big companies have country specific websites that have different pricing and products but why boot time?

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

If they collect enough metrics and link it to a single user they can use that as an id to tell if that user does things outside of their app. So they collect all the data and build a device finger print then they offer tools to website developers for marketing (Facebook tracking pixel, like buttons, etc ...). Those developer or marketing teams or whoever add it into the other apps you use and Facebook can track you without you being logged in.

[–] B1naryShad0w@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

my guess is so google can use this data for analytics for their operating system since it collects OS version too

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[–] Firipu@startrek.website 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

How did you block all that? Can duckduckgo block apps from accessing that data? There's no website version of threads yet right?

Edit: nvm. Duckduckgo has an app tracking blocker built in these days. Coolcoolcool

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[–] smokinjoe@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is this the duckduckgo browser?

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[–] wildeaboutoskar@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

That seems so unnecessary. Why do they want to interfere with screen density??

[–] kozonak@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

So they can build a better profile of you.

[–] dan@upvote.au 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Screen density is usually needed to work out the resolution of images to load. A high-DPI ("Retina") screen uses higher-resolution images than a low-DPI screen.

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[–] Ysysel@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

It's useful as tracking data

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[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago
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