Tumblr’s violating your privacy by default again

docholligay:

thoughtfulproxy:

flamethrowing-hurdy-gurdy:

kimbureh:

solluxisms:

Hey guys, a quick note. Tumblr just added a ‘feature’ that shows if you’re online or not. The only place I see it is in the messenger, though it might be elsewhere. It’s showing a friend as online even though they just have a tumblr tab open that they haven’t looked at in hours. It also shows how long ago they were active. I don’t know how it interacts with the app.

I have a few problems with this:

  • I personally don’t like the feeling of being stalked
  • People could actually stalk you
  • Person A could get mad at Person B because it said Person B was online but they weren’t (and thus didn’t respond) – or just wasn’t up to talking
  • Person X could message Person Y and get anxious when person Y doesn’t respond, since it says they’re online

I found the place to turn it off in account settings. There’s a section called “Availability” where you can toggle off the functionality.

image

Safe browsing, folks. 

@staff why do u want us off the site so badly

Well lovely, so I don’t have the setting yet but apparently people do see me as active. So I can’t opt out? That’s a dick move.

@docholligay, I noticed on my Mobile that Tumblr was doing this to your blog when I was reading fics from your page. I don’t know if you’d care, but since I definitively noticed it on your page, I figured I’d throw the information your way. 

I can’t find this on my account and I want it fucking GONE. I don’t even like MESSENGER

On mobile, it’s under Settings > Privacy > Let others see that you’re active 

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