Warning: Lemmy doesn't care about your privacy, everything is tracked and stored forever, even if you delete it
raddle.me

Federated services have always had privacy issues but I expected Lemmy would have the fewest, but it’s visibly worse for privacy than even Reddit.

  • Deleted comments remain on the server but hidden to non-admins, the username remains visible
  • Deleted account usernames remain visible too
  • Anything remains visible on federated servers!
  • When you delete your account, media does not get deleted on any server
  • kool_newt@beehaw.orgEnglish
    24·
    1 year ago

    The fediverse is the real internet, it’s not a company providing a service. On the real internet, once something gets out there, there can never be a guarantee that it’s taken back. Even on Reddit, once you post something, Reddit might fully delete it but someone out there may have copied it.

    • Zetaphor@zemmy.ccEnglish
      14·
      1 year ago

      I had years worth of posts and comments that I deleted via the interface a while ago. Then as part of the reddit exodus I decided to run a removal tool that used the API, and it turns out 11 years worth of “deleted posts” were all still sitting out there, they were just hidden from me.

      I did find it strange when I received a reply to a years old comment that my profile page said was deleted, but I just thought it was a caching issue. Turns out all of that content was still out there with my name attached, I was the only one who couldn’t see it.

      • Ivyymmy@lemmy.oneEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        What about editing the comments? Do they keep any log of the original message and the subsequent edits or something? Maybe this would be a workaround to effectively delete them.

        • Zetaphor@zemmy.ccEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          There’s no way to know without proper testing, and I’m gone for good. I did use redact.dev, which overwrote all of my comments before deleting them, so fingers crossed that the account is nuked.

    • marco@beehaw.orgEnglish
      10·
      1 year ago

      Multiple people reported Reddit undeleted stuff they had deleted from their accounts recently …

      • zbyte64@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        That’s why you rewrite your old comments to actively steer people away from the site. ASCII rocket ships, Lemmy links, etc

        • Ivyymmy@lemmy.oneEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          That’s what I was thinking, do someone know if Reddit keeps logs or something?

          • marco@beehaw.orgEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            In general, when you delete something you are really just setting a property in the database that says hidden.

            Reality is the owner of the platform has access to your stuff forever, unless some “right to be forgotten” legislation comes into play.