So I’ve been warning people to not use the tumblr live feature and i had this discussion in the notes of one of the people i warned @mikescubes
said person already used live themselves and was not aware of what all TumblrLive’s partner MEETME collects with its feature and i wanted to take the time to make a post going over the privacy policy for anyone who is interested
for the first part here MEETME talks about how creating an account (downloading) (or having a tumblr account that auto updated to include the tumblr live feature (which is a vast majority of the tumblr mobile population in the US rn)) automatically makes any information they collect visible to any of the partners they have the three partners mentioned there Skout Flurv and Boy Ahoy are all dating sites that promote primarily their location tracking fuck all knows what they want with your live data most likely they want to advertise singles near you??? but MEETME’s other current partners are apps like PlentyfFish Zoosk Chispa and Badoo which is Match.com and Bumble
the main important parts to notice from section ii of the privacy policy is the location information limit mobile ad tracking and do not track signals the rest of the section mainly puts the onus of revealing private information that can be used maliciously on the user ie. don’t share your password say your full name in a live video where you live etc. as far as the location information goes what its saying here is that they collect the location information when you first register for tumblr live when you first log in and whenever your phone is on even if youre not using tumblr live what does it use this information for??? well advertising purposes of course!!!
now they try to get around saying they dont track your location or share it with other users by using this word precise several times now what that means is they have a rough geotag of your location
(your ip address they dont say here its your ip address but in later parts of the document they do in fact say they collect your ip address and if you want an idea how close an ip address can get to your exact location enter your ip address in google maps sometime)
theyre being intentionally vague about that so when you see on the live tab something that says near you you could probably not follow that exactly to said persons house but you can damn well be you will at the very least find their city
heres a reminder to all of you who havent most phones now bury in the settings an option to disable adID do it now!!! but remember that TumblrLive can still use all other information they gather they do not at all process do not track signals so you arent safe there and what data would that be that they can collect other than your location and adID??? glad you asked!!!
this is a non exhaustive list which means there is DEFINITELY other data they collect about and from you
so they collect: your email and phone number any info in your tumblr bio any metadata connected to any photo youve ever uploaded adID ip address cookies and beacon which devices you use which features you use which pages you visit which chats you use anything in your private chats or posts anything from any connected social media accounts how well ads are doing what youre interested in and in some cases even your biometric information
and what do they do with this information???
ads of course
and to give anything they want to cops :)
i dont make this post in order to like ruin peoples fun when it comes to this new feature or to try to talk down to anyone or make anyone feel stupid or anything im not here to make fun of people or belittle anyone but i think its real fucking important people know what privacy rights they are forfeiting by having their phone on right now with this new feature
also everyone please feel free to give a kind fuck you to tumblrs current ceo @photomatt
it doesnt and thus tumblr live is illegal in most of europe MEETME is trying to find away around that but yall are safe for now
thank god for the mythbusters though because it used to be that whenever i knew i had insomnia i’d just kind of accept it and stay up doing whatever until my morning classes and spend the day feeling like shit
but then they did an episode where they established that even just fucking laying there for a half hour, not even sleeping just laying there and not even for an hour, makes a significant difference and you’ll feel way better
it has made a huge difference in my life to know that it’s okay if i can’t fall asleep, it takes a lot of the pressure off and ironically helps me fall asleep better
…i did not know this, thank you
If anyone wants to look it up, the episode was specifically the Deadliest Catch crossover ep, and the myth was that it’s better/safer when working a 30 hour shift to take a 20 minute nap every six hours rather than try to power through. They did an obstacle course test, one without naps and one with, and even though they couldn’t even sleep half the time the naps resulted in their scores doubling.
So actually I undersold it, even if it’s 7:40 and your alarm goes off at 8 just lie down and shut your eyes and it will still be better than nothing
This was immensely huge for me as someone with anxiety issues. I used to drive myself delirious trying to ‘calm down before I went to sleep’ by staying up and just working myself into a panic. Having this knowledge and knowing that laying down and closing my eyes is a better option and counts as rest was way more helpful, eased my mind and actually sends you to sleep faster.
I didn’t know this. This makes me feel a little better
I saw this post a while ago, and my life has been all the better for it. Releasing that stress to fall asleep when you’re on short hours to begin with has been a huge relief.
I shared the info with a coworker who had trouble sleeping the night before a sun-has-just-come-up shift, and it has helped her as well.
“She is steered mighty strangely, for she doesn’t mind the hand on the wheel; changes about with every puff of wind. We’ll hear more of her before this time tomorrow.”
I just wanna say, if you aren’t American, definitely try setting a modern AU in your country. Fill it with the things you know, to breathe life into it. It’s really nice to see new settings, to open up a fic and go ‘oh wait, hold up, I know that place’. It might only apply to a few people who read your fic but it’s really rewarding to get that feedback.
(Americans keep doing you, just trying to encourage the rest of us lol)
also fics that localize the action to Not America are extremely interesting and show a lot of people something new and wonderful, while also letting the writer express their own love for their own place. it’s a win/win.
Listen. As an American who can’t afford the $200 for a passport, much less the $2000 for a plane ticket:
Please show me your beloved places. I’ll probably never get to go. At least let me see it through your eyes.
