Questions tagged [privacy]
For questions related to user privacy.
260
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47
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0
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395
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Is the company selling our Personal Information or not?
While once again reviewing the Data Request page looking for an answer to my ignored concerns, I stumbled on the current revision of the Privacy Policy page.
In its first paragraph the policy reads:
...
- 30.8k
9
votes
1
answer
184
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Are the logs that record moderators' access to users' personally identifiable information (PII) monitored and/or independently reviewed?
This 11+ year old answer states that per-site moderator access to the following information about individual users is logged:
real name
email
IP address
Notwithstanding the need to keep certain ...
- 300
29
votes
1
answer
362
views
I log in and I find out I am another user. What are the privacy implications?
I just logged in after being off for a week and I found out I was in the profile of another user. I understood what happened because some notifications pointed me to this and this question.
I ...
- 467
14
votes
0
answers
210
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In the data request page, what does the "Object to Processing" request type do?
Following my earlier, still unanswered question "In the data request page, what does the "Do not sell my information" request type do?" I noticed that the aforementioned page ...
- 30.8k
15
votes
1
answer
312
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Does the new image uploader keep track of the uploader identity (i.e., who uploaded what)?
I wonder the following: Does the new image uploader keep track of the uploader identity (i.e., who uploaded what)?
- 41.3k
7
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91
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If I accept all cookies, why is it not saved that I have accepted all cookies?
Every single time I go to a stack exchange website, I am prompted to accept cookies.
Why does this decision not get stored in a cookie? Why do you have to ask me every single time, and no matter what ...
- 171
22
votes
0
answers
293
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GDPR deletion form is unintuitive
One would assume that a user who's going to be deleting their account completely and irrevocably network-wide would be unimpressed with dark patterns.
I was looking up the GDPR deletion page to point ...
- 183k
20
votes
1
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207
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German localisation of policies.stackoverflow.co/data-request contains 2 paragraphs in Dutch and 1 heading in English
The German localisation of https://policies.stackoverflow.co/data-request contains 2 paragraphs in Dutch and 1 heading in English:
First reported by @Bergi in this comment: Upcoming privacy updates: ...
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26
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0
answers
297
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How does Stack Exchange verify an advertiser is adhering to its advertising policies?
How does Stack Exchange ensure that ads don't deliver a tracking pixel if I have opted out of cookies? Is it impossible for an ad to track me if I have opted out of targeting pixels or could an ad ...
- 26.2k
29
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0
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356
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In the data request page, what does the "Do not sell my information" request type do?
The recent "Upcoming privacy updates: removal of the Activity data section and Google conversion pixel deprecation" communication made me realize that the Data Request submit page includes &...
- 30.8k
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Upcoming privacy updates: removal of the Activity data section and Google conversion pixel deprecation
Activity Data section within the Users Preference page
Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange sites currently have an “Activity data” section within the Users Preference page. It looks like this:
What’s ...
- 1,139
-23
votes
2
answers
298
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Allow regular (non-moderator) users to easily view if/when a moderator accessed their PII
Mods can view some PIIs of SE users. There seems to be no easy for regular (non-moderator) users to view if/when a moderator accessed their PII.
Feature request: allow regular (non-moderator) users to ...
- 41.3k
17
votes
3
answers
523
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Can a user request to know if/when a moderator accessed their PII?
Moderator have access to user's PII, for the sake of moderation activities.
Can a regular user request at any moment to know when and if moderators of a given community have accessed their PII?
- 726
13
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0
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260
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The Activity Data section of the user settings page is misleading
The new advertising policy states:
Retargeting pixels are allowed for a limited number of vetted and pre-approved Programmatic partners.
On the settings page of my profile it states:
Stack Overflow ...
- 26.2k
-3
votes
1
answer
312
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Does SE track previous website access?
I am wondering if math.stackexchange.com tracks or otherwise has a record of specific user-initiated access to the site, from a certain device at a specific time and date.
3
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0
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Do Stack Exchange websites know my location? [duplicate]
Do Stack Exchange websites know my location?
Stack Exchange uses cookies, right?
Do my coordinates go to some database?
- 171
27
votes
1
answer
670
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Will the tracking pixels replace the existing advertiser tracking?
The company has recently announced a change to its advertising practices: they plan to allow the use of tracking pixels by select advertisers. I am under the impression that this is merely formalising ...
- 21.8k
17
votes
1
answer
723
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Update to cookie consent modal for EEA/UK users
Our sites feature a cookie consent banner to ask users for permission to store cookies on their devices. It currently looks like this:
In order for us to continue to serve personalized ads in the EEA ...
- 3,306
20
votes
0
answers
292
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Honour the Do Not Track header
2011-10-26: waffles's answer to Do Not Track header:
We do not do anything special for the proposed spec. There is no requirement anywhere that we implement anything. A bill may be passed in congress ...
- 21.8k
4
votes
1
answer
144
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Can one view who visited a chatroom, and if so, how?
One view the list of users who are currently in a chatroom. Can one view who visited a chatroom in the past (past = before they left the chatroom), and if so, how?
- 41.3k
-36
votes
3
answers
388
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Are there some ways to prevent abuse from moderators? [duplicate]
I don't know why, but I got my account suspended for 1 month for allegedly voting myself, but I don't remember doing that in the last 1.5 years roughly speaking. The only reason I voted for myself ...
- 71
0
votes
0
answers
73
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Why am I unable to close the cookie consent popup on iOS 12.5.7? [duplicate]
Not a Duplicate
It does not seem to be a duplicate of these:
The cookie consent dialog (coming from cookielaw.org) keeps popping up
Why can't I dismiss these Stack Exchange cookie popups on mobile ...
- 117
12
votes
0
answers
86
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Use a different CAPTCHA provider for privacy and security [duplicate]
Note: this is not a duplicate of Replacing reCAPTCHA or Please use another captcha than reCaptcha, because this post is chiefly about privacy and security concerns, and not usability, challenge ...
438
votes
12
answers
34k
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We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup
We’ve added a “Necessary cookies only” option to our cookie consent banner across stackoverflow.com, all Stack Exchange sites, stackoverflow.co, stackoverflow.blog, and all other Stack Overflow sites. ...
- 21.7k
5
votes
4
answers
909
views
Which user IP addresses can moderators view?
Moderators may view user IP addresses. E.g., moderators can view the user's last known IP address, when viewing a deleted user.
Which other user IP addresses can moderators view? E.g., can they view ...
- 41.3k
3
votes
1
answer
149
views
Does Stack Exchange collect immutable data?
I want to use Stack Exchange but I am unsure what data is collected. The data I am most worried about is data that cannot change, like my race, device id's, or legal identity.
Does SE collect data ...
- 55
7
votes
1
answer
148
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Can Google and Cloudflare find my SE password?
We are using Firefox with the NoScript extension on GNU/Linux, mainly for security reasons.
When we go to the login page of a Stack Exchange site, say https://mathoverflow.net, the NoScript extension ...
- 233
12
votes
0
answers
101
views
Why are Filter Subscriptions public? And can that be changed?
A while ago, I discovered the Filtered Questions feature on stackexchange.com (not to be confused with custom filters on individual sites) and wanted to use it to receive email notifications about ...
- 15.2k
19
votes
0
answers
231
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Websockets can be used to spy on users' activity
Stack Exchange's removal of "last seen" has demonstrated that the time that users are active is considered private information. However, there are still a variety of ways to circumvent that, ...
- 5,114
40
votes
1
answer
580
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The Flow State homepage is tracking users without consent
I just took a look at the Agenda of the SO Flow State conference, and I noticed that it seemed a bit absurdly slow and buggy for such a simple site. So I poked around with the dev tools and noticed ...
- 187k
50
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Replace Google Analytics with a transparent, privacy-respecting alternative
Earlier this year, Google announced that Universal Analytics (UA) will be going away and will stop processing new data after July 1, 2023.
Stack Exchange currently plans to switch to Google Analytics ...
- 21.8k
54
votes
1
answer
958
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Can you make bookmarks private OR make it abundantly clear that they're not? [duplicate]
This is not a duplicate of Can there be an option to keep your list of bookmarks private? for the reasons mentioned below.*
When I started using the favorites (now, bookmarks) feature years ago, I had ...
- 15.2k
8
votes
1
answer
6k
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Given an imgur image URL, can one see which user uploaded it, and if so, how?
Given an imgur image URL (e.g., https://i.sstatic.net/ZZRVq.png, I uploaded it just for the example), can one see which user uploaded it, and if so, how?
- 41.3k
99
votes
6
answers
3k
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John Oliver calling out Stack Exchange cookie dialog
In the recent Data Brokers episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver showed this picture: (jump to relevant part around 18:57)
which is of the Stack Exchange cookie screen. He said this:
Privacy ...
- 1
104
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Stop tracking users without their consent
Right now, if you visit an SE site the following things happen:
two cookies _ga and _gid are saved, those contain unique IDs used for Google Analytics
a request is made to www.google-analytics.com ...
- 187k
11
votes
2
answers
413
views
What's with the SE pulse survey and is the community OK with SE gathering personal data?
So first of all a "pulse survey" is basically a survey to factor user sentiment about something. This is usually a product or something that a company sells. How did we do then? How ...
- 282
4
votes
1
answer
184
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Why doesn't the privacy popup go away? Can you fix it? [duplicate]
I sometimes have a popup that shows up and refuses to go.
Regardless what button I click it doesn't react. It just stays and covers part of the page. I have to resort to ctrl-shift-C to remove it. ...
- 657
90
votes
5
answers
11k
views
We’ve made changes to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy - January 2022
We’ve just made two adjustments to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy. They were made to return a section that was accidentally removed about the DMCA Designated Agent - there’s little to no ...
- 21.7k
194
votes
1
answer
10k
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Why is the Google Analytics cookie defined as "strictly necessary" and saved without consent?
When you open a Stack Exchange site the first time you are asked about your consent for storing cookies. You can disallow all cookies except those that are defined as "strictly necessary". ...
- 187k
4
votes
1
answer
309
views
Add the [featured] tag to the "Updates to Privacy Policy (September 2021)" post
Update:
On 22/10/2021 at 16:53:37Z, the featured tag was removed from the post. So, the post had the tag for 23 days 20 hours 42 minutes 15 seconds totally (12 days, 21 hours, 50 minutes and 27 ...
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150
votes
18
answers
27k
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Updates to Privacy Policy (September 2021)
As you know, periodically we update our privacy policy. Today is one of those days: we've made a few changes to the privacy policy. The policy covers how we collect and use data on the entire network, ...
- 21k
63
votes
5
answers
1k
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Why I go by Rosie (discussion about people using pseudonyms for privacy reasons)
It’s been almost seven months since I joined the Community Team at Stack Overflow. I’ve been having a wonderful time learning the ropes, working with incredible colleagues across the company, and ...
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59
votes
8
answers
2k
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SE is a dating site (revisit the last seen field)
We have amongst others:
Please make the "last seen" entry optional (which is not a duplicate of)
"Last seen" time appears on Google and SE profile pages and should be removed
...
- 900
4
votes
1
answer
118
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Do I have to use a browser plugin to stop being accosted on SE sites with the “Accept all cookies” pop-ups over and over and over? Bug? Options? [duplicate]
I keep seeing these on SE sites:
Your privacy By clicking “Accept all cookies”, you agree Stack
Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in
accordance with our Cookie Policy....
-9
votes
3
answers
462
views
Is it safe to keep the reasons for user suspensions confidential?
I've become concerned for one particular user who's extensive content I really value on SE.
Some time ago this user began to complain of "arbitrary" and "unfair" moderator ...
- 1,537
-2
votes
2
answers
267
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Option to remove the @username references in the replies from your history, when you change your name [duplicate]
Regarding Change all @username references in comments when a user changes their name? and taking into account the issues raised.
Rather than suggest a change, I suggest a reference removal from every ...
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90
votes
2
answers
2k
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User data in light of Stack Overflow's / Stack Exchange, Inc.'s acquisition
I would like to know how the acquisition impacts our user data, and specifically private user data.
I am aware that a large part of our contributions could be scraped from the outside (or even, ...
- 2,083
13
votes
1
answer
333
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Privacy updates?
I can see that Stack Overflow does not participate in the Privacy Shield program since 2020/04/17. This was two months after the last update on privacy policies and three months before the EU–US ...
- 851
12
votes
0
answers
358
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Opt-out cookies in cookie consent
Sometime over the last month, the cookie consent on the SE network now defaults to having all cookies enabled when you press the "Customize settings" cookie popup, forcing users to opt-out ...
- 221
18
votes
1
answer
416
views
Area 51 uses insecure avatar generation
Area 51 uses a different system for avatars than the rest of the network. While on every other site Gravatar URIs are salted, on Area 51 they aren't because it hasn't been updated (Area 51 uses a 2011 ...
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