just another dev
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Joined 1Y ago
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Cake day: Sep 14, 2023

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So… Instances like lemmy.world, that this is posted to?

yes, I’m federated with them as well, but shit like this is why I dislike them being so big. In the end all the smaller instances can either have strong morals and integrity, or have access to the largest amount of content in the fediverse, but not both.


Yeah, that’s why I think it’s debatable. It’s a lot easier to make those decisions on traffic coming from a known vpn ip, versus all vps providers in the world - many of which have corporate uses.

On the other hand - if you’re smart enough to set up a vpn, you’ll also be smart enough to set up ad blocking, so the point is kinda moot anyway. Plus you’ll be a lot less likely to have your traffic logged opposed to a service vpn.


That’s debatable. In my estimation, by using a “service vpn” you’re giving advertisers some other kind of demographic information, namely that you’re the kind of person that pays for a vpn.



My guess is they put it in the terms and conditions of the vpn.


What the title and bot don’t mention: They did so by installing spyware on phones of users of a vpn they acquired:

After Zuckerberg’s email, the Onavo team took on the project and a month later proposed a solution: so-called kits that can be installed on iOS and Android that intercept traffic for specific subdomains, “allowing us to read what would otherwise be encrypted traffic so we can measure in-app usage,” read an email from July 2016. “This is a ‘man-in-the-middle’ approach.”

What’s more:

Later, according to the court documents, Facebook expanded the program to Amazon and YouTube.

Obligatory this is why you shouldn’t use a free/cheap vpn.



Glad to have amused you then. Hope you won’t take it too seriously, I certainly won’t.


Me: ip law is complicated.

You: you’re wrong, it’s used for (even more things).



They’re not wrong. On multiple occasions the devs have acted like assholes, this one as well. Especially the part where they initially didn’t think GDPR would apply because they aren’t a commercial entity (paraphrasing) is comically depressing.

Having said that, I won’t be cancelling my donations anytime soon. Assholes though they might be, I still want to pay back to the Lemmy community, and I can’t think of a better way than this.


Well, he is an author. I can heartily recommend his books “Little Brother” and “Homeland”.