Reddit, which is one of the world’s most popular sites, also known as a social hub, where people can share different ideas and find out more, has decided to change their privacy policy, thus sparking quite a lot of controversies.
Things started following a comment posted on the platform, which said that in a part of Reddit’s new privacy policy, it was signaled that the platform takes the liberty of sharing your personal information with 3rd party advertisers. The measure, which will become effective on January 1, 2016, has angered lots of users, who wondered why the decision was taken in such a short period of time.
While the decision affects all users equally, readers and users of the Bitcoin subreddit are worried that their information will be compiled into a list of bitcoin users, and then sold over to advertisers, who will implicitly also get access to their email addresses. However, it’s worth pointing out that while the platform did not share information with 3rd party advertisers until now, they have always provided information to governments when confronted to do so.
Because of this, the only actual difference will be that advertisers will get access to your email and interests, in order to supply you with better ads. It’s also worth pointing out that at this moment in time, the number of bitcoin advertisers is small, which is why bitcoin users will not be affected by the change that much. It’s only those involved in actual illegal activities who should be a bit more worried, due to the information sharing which will commence soon.
Aron van Ammers, who is the founder and Chief Technology Officer for Blockstars.io has stated that “I think the given timeframe of 42 days between announcement of the new terms and conditions is short. Given the complexity of these things it takes time for skilled lawyers to interpret the pages of legalese and explain the consequences to laymans terms. That leaves little time for the complete Reddit user base to be informed and decide whether they agree with the new terms and conditions”.
Based on this, there is a possibility that users who do not want to be affected by this privacy change will choose to migrate to other similar platforms.
Other CEOs have also made comments concerning the change, stating that it is worrisome that personal information will be shared for the sake of making money, or that the notice for the change is too short. Regardless of this, it seems like Reddit’s decision is final, and that starting from the next year, all Reddit users with actual accounts will be affected.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, while controversies did form quickly, most of them are inutile, as bitcoin Reddit users will not feel the effect more when compared to other users. What do you personally think about this privacy policy change? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.