46 posts tagged with privacy.
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MetaFilter's new Privacy Policy document

We're rolling out a new formal Privacy Policy document for MetaFilter! You can read it here right now; in the next few days we'll get a link added in the site footer and update the FAQ, etc. If you want to discuss it or have questions, come on inside. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Jul 16, 2021 - 15 comments

Three ponies for remembering things

I would like to request that, when considering how to delete things and preserve privacy, we adopt these three practices:
  1. Deliberately leaving empty spaces / blanked comments / deletion notices as replacements for comments in threads that have been closed to discussion and have additional comments removed (e.g. via an account purge). This will help keep discussions that have faded into site history in order while also preserving privacy
  2. Provides some means -preferably not entailing any kind of download or export- for users to access their own comments on posts/questions/etc. that have been purged. This will let folks remember their own contributions, even if the context has necessarily been lost
  3. If user A sends user B a memail, user B keeps that memail even if user A purges their account.

posted by Going To Maine on Aug 5, 2020 - 264 comments

An Interview with Mefi's Own Jessamyn

Jessamyn West on Intellectual Freedom, Creepy Basements, and the Library as a Safe Space. An interview with Jessamyn, as part of a new series called Secrets of the Librarians, just posted on the LitHub Bookmarks blog. Yay, Jessamyn!
posted by Stanczyk on Apr 22, 2019 - 22 comments

General Data Protection Regulation and Metafilter

There are some meta questions about Metafilter in the GDPR thread, and more are likely to come up soon given some US sites blocking EU users by default. [more inside]
posted by clawsoon on May 25, 2018 - 15 comments

What Does The Man Have On You?

wenestvedt suggested we have a MetaTalk thread to discuss what our Facebook/Cambridge Analytica advertising profiles look like. Check Your Information > Your Categories, and also be sure to look at Hobbies and Interests. Besides being a fan of Cattle, Thought, Crop and Brick, I apparently have a mystery Housemate, perhaps lurking in my crawlspace.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 on Mar 23, 2018 - 133 comments

The etiquette of thread poaching?

Question about thread poaching to external sites. I totally get that everything on MeFi is publicly accessible to anyone and everyone for ever and always. But, I was somewhat annoyed that one of my questions was made into an article on LifeHacker. They did credit it to MeFi, but it still seemed like a cheap thing for them to do (and presumably make money off of). Or at the least, poor netiquette? (Do people even say that anymore?) If I'm being a grumpy old dinosaur, do let me know. Just wondering if there's a precedent for this, and to hear others thoughts on the matter.
posted by stillmoving on Mar 7, 2018 - 38 comments

"I'm really surprised more people haven't done this; it's super-easy."

MeFi’s own rowdy-librarian-cum-privacy-activist Jessamyn West is suing Equifax in small claims court. You can follow her progress on Medium.
posted by Johnny Wallflower on Oct 1, 2017 - 22 comments

Privacy policy, revisited

I think the last discussion on this was several years ago where the general consensus was that the staff just hadn't "gotten around" to creating a privacy policy. Unless I'm missing something it looks like you still don't have one. It's not that I don't trust you guys to do the right thing. It's more that having a clear and comprehensive privacy policy is just the sign of being a good internet citizen, so to speak. Metafilter is a good community website that should set a good example for others and that includes having a clear privacy policy. If you do have one and I just didn't find it, my recommendation would be to have a link to it clearly displayed in the footer of each page.
posted by Deathalicious on May 9, 2016 - 16 comments

Two new profile pages options available

We’re rolling out a couple of new profile preferences options today: the ability to make the “Contributions” and “Social” segments of your profile page visible only to logged-in members, and the ability to enter your geographic coordinates but have them not be visible to anyone else. Come on in for some details! [more inside]
posted by cortex on Jan 25, 2016 - 93 comments

Profile Visibility Preferences

A proposal for changing the public visibility of certain profile information. [more inside]
posted by melissasaurus on Jan 18, 2016 - 351 comments

IRL pony: Making meetup locations private

Can we have a way to optionally restrict the visibility of a meetup location to the participants who've confirmed their attendance? Or to at least limit the visibility to logged-in mefites? Currently there's no way to, for example, announce a house party without the whole world seeing where the host lives.
posted by ardgedee on Aug 17, 2014 - 31 comments

How to make profile photo/info unfindable to an internet search engine?

When I began actively using Metafilter I put my photo and personal information in my profile, but discovered this was all viewable to anyone using a search engine so I took it off. Can I make my photo private to Metafilter members only, or, if not, might the moderators consider making this possible in the future? For those who know about computers, why might this be a difficult request for a website to fulfill? More inside... [more inside]
posted by partly squamous and partly rugose on May 28, 2014 - 40 comments

Metafilter on Freenet?

So, what with all the stuff about privacy and whatnot, I've been interested in alternative ways to internet. I've been investigating Freenet, and in particular, the Freenet Message System. It seems like a really good plan to me, full of all sorts of high tech goodness. The only trouble is that the actual content that's there is very disappointing. I entreat a bunch of Metafilter people to join Freenet and start an fms forum called "metafilter" where we post cool links that aren't quite cool enough to go on the real metafilter, and then discuss them. [more inside]
posted by Galaxor Nebulon on Oct 17, 2013 - 55 comments

CISPA Blackout?

On April 22 some websites will protest CISPA with a blackout. In January 2012 MetaFilter joined the protest against SOPA/PIPA, are we going to join this one too? [more inside]
posted by homunculus on Apr 22, 2013 - 23 comments

Doxxing Policy

I'm going to an IRL meetup later today, and as an extrovert I love meeting new people, adding them to my friends list on FB, and inviting them to fun things. However, I like to maintain boundaries between my online and offline personas, and my privacy will take precedence over establishing new friendships in 99% of all situations. [more inside]
posted by wolfdreams01 on Nov 28, 2012 - 263 comments

All about sockpuppets, privacy accounts, Brand New Day, and other multiple-mefi account things

Hey there! No big thing, but it's time for a general reminder post about what's okay and what's not with sockpuppets, alternate accounts, Brand New Days, and other multiple-accounts-related stuff on Metafilter. [more inside]
posted by cortex on Nov 12, 2012 - 171 comments

Oh no, my dirty laundry!

Is there a way to nuke my profile/change usernames for the sake of posterity? What if people I'd like to keep out of my business find out my username and suddenly all my business is out in the open? Can MeFi help me with that? Yes, I lead a double life. FWIW you're the ones I don't lie to. [more inside]
posted by Tarumba on May 8, 2012 - 132 comments

iPadGate

I'm a little uncomfortable with the personal information being revealed in this thread. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 18, 2011 - 236 comments

Can mods see anonymous ID?

Two related privacy questions: (a) Can the mods see who has posted an anonymous AskMe? The submission page suggests "no" but the anonymous submission page suggests "yes". (b) can mods see if multiple accounts are created by an specific IP address?
posted by Foci for Analysis on Jul 16, 2011 - 36 comments

Can I tell you how old I am but not my birthday?

Is it (or would it be) possible for users to share our correct ages on our profiles without displaying our entire dates of birth there? [more inside]
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars on May 29, 2011 - 78 comments

Spies from the future

I think that there ought to be a caveat somewhere about AskMe questions, pseudonymity, privacy, and social network scraping tools. [more inside]
posted by XMLicious on Feb 17, 2011 - 62 comments

Detynt detente

When crafting a front page post, you may end up using the copy/paste feature of your OS. Some web sites are using Tynt to track copying and insert links and other useless info into your clipboard. John Gruber discusses the annoyance that Tynt causes and how to cut it off at the start.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on May 28, 2010 - 127 comments

Those who do not care about their reputations

What do the mods do with AskMe posts that aren't anonymous, but really should be? [more inside]
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis on May 20, 2010 - 49 comments

Where's the line drawn on public figures and privacy?

In this thread, regarding the attacks and vandalism on Democratic Party offices nationwide, I requested a photograph of Mike Vanderboegh, the Tea Party activist who has been in the news for inciting these attacks. He has been discussed widely in mainstream media. When I asked if there were any photos of Vanderboegh, cortex said "can we please not do this" and jessamyn asked me to take it to MetaTalk if I had a problem with it. [more inside]
posted by Optimus Chyme on Mar 24, 2010 - 156 comments

Woah

This post turned into a clusterf*** of individual stereotyping and talking about the education levels of posters' kids (negatively). Let me just say: woah. [more inside]
posted by jock@law on Jan 7, 2010 - 948 comments

Does MeFi have a privacy policy?

Why doesn't Metafilter have a privacy policy? [more inside]
posted by genome4hire on Feb 9, 2009 - 266 comments

Privacy concerns for social networks*fnord* ?

am I the only person hoping for more tinfoil-hat in this question? [more inside]
posted by namewithoutwords on Nov 23, 2008 - 65 comments

Take it to Metatalk if you don't like it.

Blazecock Pileon says " I'm not playing your games. Own your comments. Take it to Metatalk if you don't like it. And that's the last I will hear from you, because you're going to be ignored." [more inside]
posted by three blind mice on Sep 24, 2008 - 318 comments

Can't get in to Metafilter with Firefox

I can't log in with Firefox, Safari's working just fine. Following Jessamyn's suggestions I deleted cookies & disabled greasemonkey, but just get directed back to MeFi homepage as not logged in. Anyone else having trouble? Anyone solved it? [more inside]
posted by tula on Apr 2, 2008 - 19 comments

Privacy or Criminal Activities?

It seems like there have been several questions lately about how to do things that make it easy to do illegal things or hide one's identity generally in a way that does not seem to have a legitimate purpose, or at the very least seems to only have a vague "I want to avoid harassment" or "I want to protect my privacy" purpose. What gives? [more inside]
posted by iknowizbirfmark on Jan 31, 2008 - 104 comments

Making an AskMe anonymous after the fact?

This comment on this AskMe made me wonder - would it be possible to make an AskMe question anonymous after it had already been posted?
posted by Zephyrial on Jun 13, 2007 - 32 comments

I have a question about personal info privacy concerns on MeFi

I have a question about personal info privacy concerns on MeFi. [more inside]
posted by Kwine on Oct 18, 2006 - 54 comments

Policy on posting personal info

Lately, we seem to do a lot of googling-and-posting of whatever personal info we can find. It's publicly available stuff, but it's proven to be a pretty powerful tool for getting to people, and it seems like using that power often might lead us down a certain road we might not want to take. Should there be some kind of guidelines or boundaries?
posted by koeselitz on Sep 28, 2006 - 65 comments

What is Metafilter's stance on handing over information to the authorities?

matt, jessamyn -
as far as i can tell this is nontrivial.
what is your stance on handing over information to the authorities? at&t, google, other, or something entirely different?
posted by dminor on Sep 26, 2006 - 59 comments

Too much information and not enough privacy? Where does one draw the line?

To etiquette/policy: How bad is it to have posted a full name with some work history while asking AskMe for help in finding that person?
posted by snsranch on May 12, 2006 - 19 comments

Where did the death threat go?

Hey Matt, what happened to Alumshubby's death threat email post to The Jesse Helms? It was here, it got closed, and then it disappeared. Did you uncover some info to lead you to believe it was fake, and you removed it to keep from besmirching alumshubby's good name? Cause if so, say something, cause he still seems like a death threat issuing prick otherwise.
posted by jonson on Feb 13, 2006 - 18 comments

Notification of need to cooperate with LEO?

I've noticed that many AskMe threads (like this one) dealing with potential crimes and/or civil suits could be subpoened as evidence if the right person connected the dots. Should there be a notice on the anonymous question page that Metafilter may be compelled by law to release the IP address of anonymous posters?
posted by justkevin on Dec 27, 2005 - 40 comments

Trying to "out" a MeFian in meatspace?

In AskMe, CMichaelCook attempts to out the offline identity of a MeFite. I don't know if it's correct or not, but either way it seems completely out of place in that thread.
posted by raedyn on Dec 7, 2005 - 261 comments

Invasion of Privacy in AskMe?

Lame.
posted by cribcage on Jun 12, 2005 - 43 comments

Greasemonkey script displays picture next to username

Ever wondered wonder what that user looks like? I've written a quick greasemonkey script that adds photos of users next to their usernames. Photos were gleaned from meetup pictures and there are currently about 75 photos in the database (Firefox only).

If you do not have Greasemonkey, you can install the script by clicking here. If you have Greasemonkey, right click here and hit "Install User Script".

I'd like to know what you guys think.
posted by null terminated on Jun 4, 2005 - 223 comments

Posting personal information of other people not kosher

Good idea: Playing with kittens. Bad idea: posting the address and phone number of someone tangentially involved in a news story, who didn't do anything wrong, can't do anything about the situation, and actually tried to help in the only way he could. Oh yeah, and who may not even be the actual person referred to in the story.
posted by Saucy Intruder on May 17, 2005 - 11 comments

Callouts are fine, but leave the personal info offsite, please.

Posting the phone and fax number of an organization for protest seems fair game. Posting the home address of that organization's director, not so much.
posted by headspace on Sep 11, 2003 - 104 comments

the Laurie Garrett thread and its implications for privacy.

Accidental Privacy Spills. (found via /.) In which are discussed the Laurie Garrett thread and its implications for privacy, correspondence, and the getting of life.
posted by brownpau on Feb 28, 2003 - 6 comments

announcement: non-logged in users can no longer see contact info.

I made a slight change to the user pages. Logged in users see everything as it was before, but non-logged in users don't see any contact information except for websites URLs. I had long worried about the spam thwarting measures I have employed not being good enough, and I've also been hearing about non-members hassling members for memberships, posting, etc. So with the new change, non-members won't be able to harvest addresses, or send you an email (unless you've got it listed on your homepage URL somewhere), and they won't know your AIM/ICQ or location.
posted by mathowie on Mar 15, 2002 - 34 comments

Is this a violation of privacy?

How do we feel about the real or imagined privacy violations involved in signing up for the google PageRank toolbar system? I find an old discussion here but the privacy issue really isn't discussed in detail. I seek the opinions of the learned.
posted by bingo on Mar 11, 2002 - 5 comments

How about making the membership information opt-in open source

How about making the membership information opt-in open source. Anyone who wanted could download the membership information in a variety of formats. Users who checked a box in their profile could then use their username on any other site that wanted to use it.
posted by chaz on Oct 4, 2001 - 6 comments

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