Threads now has a Supplemental Privacy Policy (https://help.instagram.com/515230437301944) regarding "Third Party Services" like Mastodon. Should Threads interconnect with Mastodon via #ActivityPub, this addresses what they will do with our data.
Note that they will collect information from anyone "allowing Threads users to follow you or interact with your content". The information they collect will include your profile, your content, and your interactions.
@mastodonmigration I thought I might re-share this for #Fediverse instance admins — in addition to #FediBlock-ing #Threads from federating with your server, here’s a list of iptables firewall commands to drop all inbound and outbound traffic to and from #Meta’s IP address ranges (including Threads). This should completely stop all interaction from Threads to your server! https://mastodon.moule.world/@MOULE/110586556696261405
@happyborg@mastodonmigration@jele No reason yet.
Except for the IP address these are all necessary informations to interact - in that case I don't even see a chance for them to grab the IPs of Mastodon users.
This is different on other services within the Fediverse like Friendica/Lemmy - Mastodon acts as a proxy and you only get copies of the content from your instance. If a Threads would post something into a Lemmy thread, Meta would be able to create a protocol of those who read it there.
This Supplemental Privacy Policy (https://help.instagram.com/515230437301944) also addresses what Threads will do with the information they collect. These uses include advertisements.
@mastodonmigration Besides your life being used to fuel Meta’s bank vault, you can only deactivate your Thread account by deactivating your Instagram account as well??? So Meta is just mining both accounts for advertising dollars??? Wake up people!!! Your stories and humor and songs and pictures of pets and grandchildren and friends and lovers are all feeding Meta’s bank!
While it may be true that these Threads terms are common for commercial platforms, Mastodon is not a commercial platform and users are not necessarily comfortable with providing their data to Meta just because their instance federates with Threads.
@lscottspencer An issue is that Fediverse users are not explicitly agreeing to the Meta Privacy Policy. They are being told that by virtue of the fact their information is shared on Threads, that they are automatically subject to it.
@lscottspencer Granted that Threads has not federated yet. The issue is the data rights they are asserting when and if they do. This is a document they have published so it is appropriate to call attention to what they say they will do with our data even if they have not done it yet.
Hope you are right that any instance that federates with Threads will update their Privacy Policy and expressly inform their users what Meta can do with their information.
@mastodonmigration Oh, look, a trojan horse! Meta gifts us connectivityfor all, while actually aiming to monetize every single possible interaction! Well, I've heard this story before...
@mastodonmigration Isn't that what a Mastodon instance also collects? It's not possible to interconnect without retrieving username, profile picture, and what you need to display to your users from another instance.
@mastodonmigration
Ohhh! They want to connect to Mastodon to collect data! In that case, I change my mind about predicting their plans: they are definitely going to federate.
@mastodonmigration personally, these are not things that concern me. It’s all out there anyway to be is it in one way or another. The only issue for me is what’s done with it. If they can’t show me ads based on what they discover, that’s a very good reason to make my primary social carrier a fediverse carrier, and not Threads or any other ad-centric platform.
So, they won't be able to show you ads while you're browsing the fediverse, but they could potentially use that data to show you ads on other websites.
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