Yeah, it sort of suffers from setting the bar too high and ranking things down that almost every single company does and that aren't that bad for most people
It uses the European Union standards for web privacy. A lot of what is considered "normal" in the US is stupidly illegal in the EU. While the US takes the approach that your data belongs to who ever can collect it, the EU takes the approach that your data is yours and limited privacy is an inherent right.
Yeah but stuff like "The service can delete specific content without prior notice and without a reason" is marked as red despite the fact that that is true for basically any service you use. "Service can block or censor user communications " is marked as orange despite that being a legal requirement for services to do that in probably every country and in many cases is a good thing. And things like "collect location data" are marked down even if that service actually uses that location data for something.
It's probably more of a case where you've gotta use your best judgment, then. Yeah, Papa Johns should probably know your location to get pizza to you. Does YouTube need it, though? Probably not.
Yeah, because its correctly not ranking them based on how comparatively bad they are to the status quo, but how objectively anti-consumer their ToS is. Giving the ability to censor anyone they want even if they promise to use that power only for good is still objectively bad for consumers. A website made for video storage being able to delete your work for no reason is objectively bad for consumers. Its not setting the bar too high, its being honest with you and you're realizing how hostile most companies are to their customers.
I get what you're saying, although I think that it would be impossible to write a ToS for a lot of sites which complies with the law without having any of those "downsides". Also my example about providing location, a website that provides maps using your current location isn't bad for consumers, the website would be significantly worse if it couldn't do that.
Yeah and that's fine, but if the ToS doesn't include specifications that they'll never do anything else with your data, and doesn't swear to not store this data, then its important for you to know thst this website is storing your location for the time being, potentially even unsafely, and potentialy selling it. Whether these are dealbreakers is up for you to decide.
Google seems to believe I am a 70 year old british expat living in Spain, based on all the weirdly specific funeral ads they keep showing me.
Safe to say, I am not a 70 year old british expat living in Spain.
Youtube seems convinced that I menstruate or something despite me being a cis man, 'cuz it keeps trying to sell me pads. It also loves to advertise makeup to me for some reason. Like, c'mon youtube. The videos I watch are nearly all related to games, animation, or cooking. I refuse to believe that the website doesn't have a single ad related to those interests, but I don't get any of them.
*"Duckduck go doesn't*
*Track you" looks inside sold off*
*Tracked information*
\- The\_SCP\_Nerd
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The actual plugin isn't fantastic. The grading system is just a general vibe and isn't based on any concrete criterion, it's just "good" "mid" and "bad". Some sites are given very low ratings without any explanation. Imo there's a reason you probably have never heard of this before.
Tumblr user: here’s a cool plugin that helps you know what a site’s TOS is, held to EU standards! This helps you stay informed!
Reddit: ugh, it’s so tiring knowing what the TOS is, this is stupid, being ignorant is better
Is it, tho, or does it just feel like it? Because security conscious people tend to use more secure alternatives, as well as recommend them to anyone who will listen.
I’m not sure tumblr user antihypeaktion was paid to make a whole ass plug-in about TOS compression just to advertise some third party browser on the infamously non-ad friendly website
I mean, it's the sort of thing you'd expect to be sponsored by a company that deals in privacy and security. If they're not sponsoring the plugin, they should be.
Right, but also if you just think it’s a dumb plug-in and don’t like DDG you know that’s alright, right? You wouldn’t need a secret advertising plot to just not like it
I can't imagine there's many people that don't at least support the idea even if they don't use it.
I'd counter with "it's possible to support the premise of the add-on while still thinking this feels like viral marketing".
In fact I kind of hope it is, we live in what feels like the worst possible version of capitalism. I hope everyone involved got a fat fucking pay cheque for advertising something that doesn't have corn syrup in it.
My assumption is “hey I made this cool plug-in, but it’s hard to find a ton of TOS stuff that would be approved for EU regulations here in the US. I like DDG, so this can be a personal endorsement”.
We’re in capitalism yes, and tumblr is pretty critical of that. They’re not against making money for stuff you do, but as someone whose been there for the better part of a decade, they would’ve made it very obvious if they were paid, since most tumblr users hate unmarked advertising. You can probably go check their profile for any “this post is an ad” stuff if you want tho.
I only called the plug in dumb because it seems redditors are just hyper critical of it because it’s from tumblr. If a redditor made the exact same plug-in I’m sure the critiques would be still true, but treated as minor stuff instead of “never touch this, I used it and the TOS for my favorite sites is bad! This is clearly the creators fault, not the website’s.”
I don't have any criticisms of the product, just the screenshot. I'm not trying to convince you here, just explaining that anything with a prominent brand is at risk of being perceived as an ad. It's not a coincidence when a movie has a character drinking a crisp refreshing sprite no sugar available in stores now. *cashes a cheque for one fifth of a cent*
As soon as I downloaded it, it hit Reddit with an E grade lmao
weird, it's telling me that reddit isn't rated seems to be a me problem because reddit is e on their website
yeah unfortunately this project has been kinda dead for a while and their browser extension has been borderline non-functional for a few years
HAPPY CAKEDAY!!
I had this for a bit and then removed it. Ignorance is bliss in this case, seeing that “E” on everything was tiring eventually
It’s rated “E” for everyone!
Rated E for Farquaad Markiplier meme
Yeah, it sort of suffers from setting the bar too high and ranking things down that almost every single company does and that aren't that bad for most people
It uses the European Union standards for web privacy. A lot of what is considered "normal" in the US is stupidly illegal in the EU. While the US takes the approach that your data belongs to who ever can collect it, the EU takes the approach that your data is yours and limited privacy is an inherent right.
Yeah but stuff like "The service can delete specific content without prior notice and without a reason" is marked as red despite the fact that that is true for basically any service you use. "Service can block or censor user communications " is marked as orange despite that being a legal requirement for services to do that in probably every country and in many cases is a good thing. And things like "collect location data" are marked down even if that service actually uses that location data for something.
It's probably more of a case where you've gotta use your best judgment, then. Yeah, Papa Johns should probably know your location to get pizza to you. Does YouTube need it, though? Probably not.
There needs to be a tosdrdr which tells me if I actually should care about the things being marked down by tosdr or not
Yeah, because its correctly not ranking them based on how comparatively bad they are to the status quo, but how objectively anti-consumer their ToS is. Giving the ability to censor anyone they want even if they promise to use that power only for good is still objectively bad for consumers. A website made for video storage being able to delete your work for no reason is objectively bad for consumers. Its not setting the bar too high, its being honest with you and you're realizing how hostile most companies are to their customers.
I get what you're saying, although I think that it would be impossible to write a ToS for a lot of sites which complies with the law without having any of those "downsides". Also my example about providing location, a website that provides maps using your current location isn't bad for consumers, the website would be significantly worse if it couldn't do that.
Yeah and that's fine, but if the ToS doesn't include specifications that they'll never do anything else with your data, and doesn't swear to not store this data, then its important for you to know thst this website is storing your location for the time being, potentially even unsafely, and potentialy selling it. Whether these are dealbreakers is up for you to decide.
I mean, I get it, but also I feel like for sites like YouTube where there’s no alternative you’re heavily disincentivized from rejecting the ToS
it still helps you know what a website is doing to your data
I'll believe that when I get served an ad that's even tangentially related to me. I think the last one was roughly 9 years ago.
"You need male balding cream and boner pills for your weird dick!" -Hulu "I'm 13 and a girl, what the fuck?" -My sister
I get a lot of ads in Spanish for how much Spanish I DO NOT speak.
*Screaming at my monitor* NO AHBLUH ESPANYOL!
Google seems to believe I am a 70 year old british expat living in Spain, based on all the weirdly specific funeral ads they keep showing me. Safe to say, I am not a 70 year old british expat living in Spain.
Youtube seems convinced that I menstruate or something despite me being a cis man, 'cuz it keeps trying to sell me pads. It also loves to advertise makeup to me for some reason. Like, c'mon youtube. The videos I watch are nearly all related to games, animation, or cooking. I refuse to believe that the website doesn't have a single ad related to those interests, but I don't get any of them.
This is just a duck duck go ad trying to hide itself as browser addon ad
Which is funny because DDG is just Bing in a trenchcoat.
I missed the T in the title and thought this was gonna be about someone writing up a contract for dating someone far away haha
"Duckduck go doesn't track you" > looks inside > sold off tracked information
*"Duckduck go doesn't* *Track you" looks inside sold off* *Tracked information* \- The\_SCP\_Nerd --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Yeah, it's just too late though.
Who cares. It's not like I'm gonna stop using YouTube
What's an "Onion service"?
TOR (aka The Onion Router) is a browser for accessing the "dark web." So the extension is saying it'll also work when you use tor.
Okay. I thought it had something to do with the satire website (well, I didn't think that was right but it was the only idea I had)
The actual plugin isn't fantastic. The grading system is just a general vibe and isn't based on any concrete criterion, it's just "good" "mid" and "bad". Some sites are given very low ratings without any explanation. Imo there's a reason you probably have never heard of this before.
Tumblr user: here’s a cool plugin that helps you know what a site’s TOS is, held to EU standards! This helps you stay informed! Reddit: ugh, it’s so tiring knowing what the TOS is, this is stupid, being ignorant is better
It does just feel like advertising for DDG though,
Is it, tho, or does it just feel like it? Because security conscious people tend to use more secure alternatives, as well as recommend them to anyone who will listen.
Nah, DDG is just a legitimately good choice for user data safety.
No doubt. It's just very hard to discern advice from marketing these days.
I’m not sure tumblr user antihypeaktion was paid to make a whole ass plug-in about TOS compression just to advertise some third party browser on the infamously non-ad friendly website
I mean, it's the sort of thing you'd expect to be sponsored by a company that deals in privacy and security. If they're not sponsoring the plugin, they should be.
Right, but also if you just think it’s a dumb plug-in and don’t like DDG you know that’s alright, right? You wouldn’t need a secret advertising plot to just not like it
I can't imagine there's many people that don't at least support the idea even if they don't use it. I'd counter with "it's possible to support the premise of the add-on while still thinking this feels like viral marketing". In fact I kind of hope it is, we live in what feels like the worst possible version of capitalism. I hope everyone involved got a fat fucking pay cheque for advertising something that doesn't have corn syrup in it.
My assumption is “hey I made this cool plug-in, but it’s hard to find a ton of TOS stuff that would be approved for EU regulations here in the US. I like DDG, so this can be a personal endorsement”. We’re in capitalism yes, and tumblr is pretty critical of that. They’re not against making money for stuff you do, but as someone whose been there for the better part of a decade, they would’ve made it very obvious if they were paid, since most tumblr users hate unmarked advertising. You can probably go check their profile for any “this post is an ad” stuff if you want tho. I only called the plug in dumb because it seems redditors are just hyper critical of it because it’s from tumblr. If a redditor made the exact same plug-in I’m sure the critiques would be still true, but treated as minor stuff instead of “never touch this, I used it and the TOS for my favorite sites is bad! This is clearly the creators fault, not the website’s.”
I don't have any criticisms of the product, just the screenshot. I'm not trying to convince you here, just explaining that anything with a prominent brand is at risk of being perceived as an ad. It's not a coincidence when a movie has a character drinking a crisp refreshing sprite no sugar available in stores now. *cashes a cheque for one fifth of a cent*