
Reddit quietly updates 16 day old post: you are now tracked even if logged out - temp
https://voat.co/v/MeanwhileOnReddit/comments/1083516
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jedberg
Before anyone gets wound up about this, they posted an explanation _on voat_ :
[https://voat.co/v/MeanwhileOnReddit/comments/1083516/5406839](https://voat.co/v/MeanwhileOnReddit/comments/1083516/5406839)

Assuming that gets deleted, basically it says "we just keep editing that post
as we add more A/B tests so we can point people at that post if they have
questions".

This post on HN is really just trying to fan the flames I think, there's
nothing nefarious going on here -- they've been tracking how you move across
the site for years, and if you don't like that, it's super simple to avoid.

You can block the cookie or just incognito mode.

~~~
jsnk
"Assuming that gets deleted"

Are you saying that HackerNews deletes links related to Voat? I am genuinely
not sure what you mean by this.

~~~
jedberg
No I'm assuming Voat will delete the one comment that contradicts their
conspiracy theory (although honestly I think HN should delete this because
there is something fishy going on with the voting here).

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vessenes
The update clearly says that they will be using some sort of tracking (likely
cookies) for non-registered users and customizing content for them, as a
trial.

The poster worried publicly that this would mean too many stories about
Hillary on the front page -- I read that to mean he's a conspiracy nut, and
doesn't want Hillary to be in office in the US, and thinks reddit could be
used to push her there with this technology.

This seems like responsible disclosure, and so very far from the level of
customization many content sites do (have you ever seen an ad follow you to
reddit? I didn't think so), that I'm kind of surprised it's a big deal.

~~~
insickness
That guy is 'a conspiracy nut.' Why would anyone think a social media site
would push a political agenda? /s

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whistlerbrk
Seriously? A post from Voat on HN? This is what you get when you search for
voat on Google
[http://i.imgur.com/RnjbJTu.png](http://i.imgur.com/RnjbJTu.png)

~~~
jedberg
Yeah there's something fishy going on for this to shoot to the number one
position so quickly. I hope dang looks into it if he can.

~~~
Sylos
I don't know how crazy we're talking about here, but I just wanted to point
out that Reddit has been doing a lot of anti-privacy crap in the last few
weeks and just a couple of days ago, there was a post which got to the
frontpage, originating from multiple subreddits as well, and that post pointed
a lot of this shit out and also quoted the Reddit CEO talking down on users
like you'd expect it from Mark Zuckerberg.

Here's the post, in case you want to read it yourself:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/4ll9tc/it_looks_li...](https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/4ll9tc/it_looks_like_reddit_wants_to_become_a_profitable/)

In other words, maybe these upvotes are legitimate and there's just a big
portion of really pissed off Reddit users here...

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_RPM
I'm really not surprised. I assume every website does this. On my Linux
laptop, I run NoScript, and I've got Firefox configured to clear EVERYTHING
when I close my browser. I don't run Flash or any other plugins. I haven't
done much inspection, but the whole notion of "logging out" doesn't mean much
to me. In the context of cookies, I just assume they clear the one that says
"this guy is authenticated", to "not authenticated, but we know the last
person that was here".

~~~
vessenes
That really won't help you against modern browser fingerprinting technologies;
it's fine to do of course, but generally it probably just makes your own
experience worse without hampering tracking technology.

~~~
nsuser
What would help against modern browser fingerprinting technologies?

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dandelion_lover
What about a disposable VM in Qubes OS?

~~~
adiabatty
Sounds like all the fingerprinters would build up a profile of the one person
running Qubes from your IP.

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reitanqild
Interesting if for nothing else then because voat rarely makes the front page
here?

~~~
matt4077
Neither does the Drudge report, and there may be a reason for it.

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joliya65
That's not via us (we don't have keyword targeting or anything right now), and
we definitely don't have amazon cookies on our site. Could be via chrome? Tbh,
I don't know exactly hoe much Google collects through their browser.

~~~
endianswap
You say "us", who are you representing?

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polard2
Reddit reminds me of the Google, Don't be evil bullshit mantra with
shenanigans like this almost every week. I understand the fucking "monetize,
grow, and get bought out" mentality that every web business adopts, but it is
pathetic when it comes to places founded by guys like Swartz.

~~~
jedberg
> when it comes to places founded by guys like Swartz.

He had nothing to do with the founding of reddit, and also had no problem
collecting the payout when it was sold.

