this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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There is a fundamental misunderstanding here.
Our data has never been 'invisible'... We've just trusted that places like Reddit and their staff will do the right thing. That's literally how it already works.
If you sign up for Reddit, Reddit staff can see your posts and votes if they want to.
If you sign up for a private forum the admin there can also see database contents.
One way encryption is not possible without stopping functionality... If data about you was encrypted then posts you make couldn't be displayed. If you include a means to decrypt then there was no point encrypting anyway.
This is how it's always been, and Lemmy doesn't change this status quo much.
A faceless corporation that has had access to your data is just replaced by a variety of admins distributed across instances.
This isn't a good or bad thing, the potential for abuse does exist, but when we have literally made agreements with places like Reddit that they can use and sell our data... then what difference does it make it an admin takes a peek?
It wouldn't be great... but nothing is perfect.
It's still worth working on however, to see if a better solution can be found, but at this time I'd say just be aware that it is possible that your data can be seen and understand the only safeguard against that if you need to communicate something private would be to use direct messaging with end to end encryption.
The problem is that it's actively worse than Reddit. While only Reddit employees can access your data and it's being sold to the highest bidder, Lemmy sells your data for $0.00.
Anyone can become an instance admin through their own instance, so your voting data is pretty much unprotected. That is the opposite of privacy. I get that it's a consequence of the fediverse, but then it just may not be the solution to social media.
Your choice of wording is driving me take you less seriously. You sound passionate though so I'll explain.
Actively worse? Your use of of the word active implies that something deliberately malicious is happening. It's not the case, this issue is a side effect of how lemmy works. It is an issue, it is a concern and it does need addressing, but your hyperbole is unwarranted.
Lemmy isn't selling anything... it's a piece of software. This is the most false and malicious claim you've made. If our data were to be used nefariously then it would be the actions of a rouge server admin.
The definition of privacy is somewhat flexible. Nothing is private unless end to end encryption is employed. And nothing like lemmy can work with end to end encryption. So there is the dilemma. Yes it sucks... yes voting should be private. How about you propose a solution? Because at this point, outside of shutting everything down there is none.
The technical fact is the software must be able to reference data in a database to then create this page you are viewing, this text you are reading and the votes you are seeing.
Possible lemmy / server side solution...
Possible user side solution... Don't vote Simply not participating in voting means there is no voting data tied to you; and this is, believe it or not an actual valid solution if you are concerned.
Ultimately for lemmy to work some tradeoffs are required. I do agree that where there is some gain to be made, someone will abuse the system, I'm not naive enough to say there is no problem here... there is. It's just that yelling at the wall isn't going to fix it. I've exhausted myself trying to think of a solution, and the only real and workable solution i can think of is as i said above, that voting be removed, or that you simply don't participate in voting.
So if you're really concerned and want an immediate solution effective for you then don't vote on anything ever. I'm not saying this to be a prick, but as a piece of legitimate advice. If no vote data exists for you then no one can harvest your voting preferences.