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I am once again asking privacy advocates to try sounding normal for once. Trying to make a browser accessing your timezone sound nefarious isn't going to convin

I am once again asking privacy advocates to try sounding normal for once. Trying to make a browser accessing your timezone sound nefarious isn't going to convince anyone of anything.

mpalmer 4mo ago
It's the usual terse LLM voice that makes everything sound dramatic. Nails on a chalkboard
- thrance 4mo ago
  I can't stand this tone, it's truly the worst way to write, ever. Rapid successions of sentences 5 to 8 words long, where each must be impactful and profound but only end up sounding incredibly smug and abrasive. Fuck that.
warkdarrior 4mo ago
> Trying to make a browser accessing your timezone sound nefarious isn't going to convince anyone of anything. But I am the only person in this timezone in the world. It uniquely identified me!
- AlecSchueler 4mo ago
  The claim was that a site could "infer when you sleep, when you work, and when you browse because you cannot sleep." Is that not true? I know that the timing of my HN comments tells a pretty clear story about my schedule having recently looked at a histogram.
aucisson_masque 4mo ago
Agree, sending my language, if I use dark mode or time zones is all data that can be used to give me a better experience so I don’t mind.
Unai 4mo ago
> You prefer dark interfaces — your operating system told us. oOoOohh my settings worked as intended, spooky!
- voidmain 4mo ago
  But you sacrificed some of your 33 bits of anonymity to have this setting work as intended. And that isn't strictly necessary: the web could have been engineered so that the selection of light or dark styles takes effect in a way undetectable to a web site.
downrightmike 4mo ago
That's what helped L figure out Kira was in Japan, and likely a student given the times of deaths, in Death Note. Ruled out 7.8 billion people in one step
- nirava 4mo ago
  I really enjoyed this comment! The right intersection of everything to fire reward receptors in my brain lol. Edit: "fire reward receptors in my brain" is probably nonsense scientifically but hopefully it gets the point across

I am once again asking privacy advocates to try sounding normal for once. Trying to make a browser accessing your timezone sound nefarious isn't going to convince anyone of anything.

mpalmer 4mo ago

It's the usual terse LLM voice that makes everything sound dramatic. Nails on a chalkboard

thrance 4mo ago
I can't stand this tone, it's truly the worst way to write, ever. Rapid successions of sentences 5 to 8 words long, where each must be impactful and profound but only end up sounding incredibly smug and abrasive. Fuck that.

warkdarrior 4mo ago

> Trying to make a browser accessing your timezone sound nefarious isn't going to convince anyone of anything. But I am the only person in this timezone in the world. It uniquely identified me!

AlecSchueler 4mo ago
The claim was that a site could "infer when you sleep, when you work, and when you browse because you cannot sleep." Is that not true? I know that the timing of my HN comments tells a pretty clear story about my schedule having recently looked at a histogram.

aucisson_masque 4mo ago

Agree, sending my language, if I use dark mode or time zones is all data that can be used to give me a better experience so I don’t mind.

Unai 4mo ago

> You prefer dark interfaces — your operating system told us. oOoOohh my settings worked as intended, spooky!

voidmain 4mo ago
But you sacrificed some of your 33 bits of anonymity to have this setting work as intended. And that isn't strictly necessary: the web could have been engineered so that the selection of light or dark styles takes effect in a way undetectable to a web site.

downrightmike 4mo ago

That's what helped L figure out Kira was in Japan, and likely a student given the times of deaths, in Death Note. Ruled out 7.8 billion people in one step

nirava 4mo ago
I really enjoyed this comment! The right intersection of everything to fire reward receptors in my brain lol. Edit: "fire reward receptors in my brain" is probably nonsense scientifically but hopefully it gets the point across