Anyone know of an open source alternative to Padlet? https://padlet.com
I like the functionality but it did something weird: I had added some stuff to others' pads before I had an account; then I created an account and it had tracked me and added my contributions to those pads (before I had an account) to my new account.
When I emailed them to ask how this happened and how data is tracked, I got a non-answer.
@scottbw That's probably it. Annoying. I expect this sort of thing happens all the time and we just don't find out about it the way I did.
I don't like that kind of thing either.
Just a guess, but it sounds like they used your IP address to build an anonymous profile on you in the background without your consent, then they were able to put an identifier on it once you created the account, thus able to merge the data, again without your consent.
If it wasn't IP address, it was some other variable to monitor you. A beacon, maybe, or Etag. I don't know.
Pretty sure that's not doing it right whatever the case.
Maybe a cookie or something? Is that the same as beacon or Etag? I don't know what those latter are!
I use privacy badger from EFF in my browser, but apparently that didn't stop it.
Agree--not doing it right. They could at least have explained it to me when I asked over email.
Oh yeah, could have been a cookie. I overlooked the obvious. I block all cookies so I sometimes forget about them. ;)
Web beacons and Etags are not cookies. Each is a little different. But all can be used for tracking under certain circumstances. I'm surprised there was not more specific wording about them in the GDPR as there was for cookies and IPs.
@clhendricksbc I imagine it tracks anonymous contributions using persistent cookies in your browser; once you had an account it was able to connect them together.