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POLAR
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Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 6, 2019 at 12:32 PM
No, I took note of your warning and intriguing though the app is, haven’t taken the risk of installing it.
You’re right that it’s all too easy to be lulled into trusting developers who may not have your best interests at heart. At the same time, I think it’s important to encourage developers (especially independent ones) who are doing something because they’re passionate about it. And I’m getting mixed vibes from the developer behind Polar.
Similarly, a new Facebook competitor has recently launched in London (inLink); I’ve already sent them an e-mail querying the way their Terms of Business treat end-user IP (having read through them and discovered that they don’t undertake to attribute authorship to content creators even though they arrogate the right to use/sublicense users’ content).
After all, Google started off promising to “do no evil” - a message that has now disappeared from the company’s mission statement. And if that doesn’t tell you all you need to know about late-stage capitalism, I don’t know what does!
Cheers!
Bill
Posted by washere
Mar 6, 2019 at 01:36 PM
MadaboutDana wrote:
No, I took note of your warning and intriguing though the app is,
>haven’t taken the risk of installing it.
>
>You’re right that it’s all too easy to be lulled into trusting
>developers who may not have your best interests at heart. At the same
>time, I think it’s important to encourage developers (especially
>independent ones) who are doing something because they’re passionate
>about it. And I’m getting mixed vibes from the developer behind Polar.
>
>Similarly, a new Facebook competitor has recently launched in London
>(inLink); I’ve already sent them an e-mail querying the way their Terms
>of Business treat end-user IP (having read through them and discovered
>that they don’t undertake to attribute authorship to content creators
>even though they arrogate the right to use/sublicense users’ content).
>
>After all, Google started off promising to “do no evil” - a message that
>has now disappeared from the company’s mission statement. And if that
>doesn’t tell you all you need to know about late-stage capitalism, I
>don’t know what does!
>
>Cheers!
>Bill
Ah good, if you use it, let us know how it goes.
Yeah these guys, Kev Burtons, hide completely (ok) but want full access to files and processes on the whole system (not ok) calling it a browser cookie falsely and monitor for themselves and ‘others’ what user does constantly and transmit data to multi unknown destinations (definitely not ok).
It’s a sophistry to equate this to developers who are known people. And/or registered companies in proper legal territories with recourse and one can check the names of directors of. Different kettle of fish, man.
As to your emailing new tech corporations, this is how it goes. Poor Techie and/or Hippy dippy easy going guy (like me or you) gets greedy (Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Zuckerberger, Jack Dorsey etc) and steals others’ ideas and repackages. Goes IPO. Loses majority stake holder and full control. Feels the need to defend the corporation’s ever increasingly fascist encroachments due to profit pressures and more greed. Then tires and moves from CEO to honorary chairman type position and only does occasional PR when the boardroom snaps and says jump. Goes and enjoys riches and pet projects. Dies, leaves fortune to wife and kids to go mad. Gets a little gravestone no one gives a sh!t about.
Good luck emailing them, let us know what they say, should be fun.
Peace Love Om Shanti and all that jazz bro
Posted by Jan S.
Mar 6, 2019 at 04:12 PM
Did you all go insane? The creator is clearly identifiable—among other things he is one of the co-inventors of RSS and runs a serious data analysis company. Those ‘spyware threats’ are standard legal disclaimers (Microsoft Windows, Apple, Adobe etc. Terms of Service are much worse anyways).
I tested the app a couple months ago but it wasn’t useful for me. The most interesting feature, the ability to create flashcards and sync them with Anki, wasn’t fully implemented. It also created too much redundance with other reference management tools.
Posted by Lothar Scholz
Mar 6, 2019 at 04:38 PM
In the blog you find the comment:
“At Datastreamer (my company when not working on Polar) we have nearly a petabyte of web data to play with. We provide data indexing services for companies serious indexing web data (think search engines).”
The domain “datastreamer.io” is registered to “Tailrank”
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=260629906
Then search for Tailrank, Kevin Burton etc.
And from there you just get all info you need give a bit to understand the service of this serial entrepreneurs. And from what i read in the blog that they use Google Firebase turns away all my interest for them.
And that Datastreamer is not giving out any names on their main website is also a huge warning sign for me.
Jan S. wrote:
Did you all go insane? The creator is clearly identifiable—among
>other things he is one of the co-inventors of RSS and runs a serious
>data analysis company. Those ‘spyware threats’ are standard legal
>disclaimers (Microsoft Windows, Apple, Adobe etc. Terms of Service are
>much worse anyways).
>
Posted by washere
Mar 6, 2019 at 04:48 PM
Jan S. wrote:
Did you all go insane? The creator is clearly identifiable—among
>other things he is one of the co-inventors of RSS and runs a serious
>data analysis company. Those ‘spyware threats’ are standard legal
>disclaimers (Microsoft Windows, Apple, Adobe etc. Terms of Service are
>much worse anyways).
>
>I tested the app a couple months ago but it wasn’t useful for me. The
>most interesting feature, the ability to create flashcards and sync them
>with Anki, wasn’t fully implemented. It also created too much redundance
>with other reference management tools.
i) Do you have a link for him? Linking him to this project?
ii) Why is there no info about him or the company on the website?
iii) Message is standard but this is no browser confined ‘cookie’.
That’s a lie.
It’s a system-wide file-manger process that sends data back constantly to them.
He or they then send it on to other companies.
Why lie.
Are all these parties and companies working for free with the data they gather?
As they collect user data constantly:
Who pays for their wages and for what are they getting paid?
iv) Can you tell us what are the third parties or companies or entities he sends the user data gathered in real time to?
v) What happens to the constant data they gather from the computers non-stop? Is it archived for FOI access or is it not available to the users they use? Which is what it seems.