Gravatar and WordPress blacklisted on AccountKiller, shame on you !
-
Hello to all,
I had a good opinion about WordPress…
…but that was until I found out that I cannot delete my gravatar (acquired by WordPress.com) account
And that’s a big deal given that
1) with google image search you can easily find on which websites I have an account
2) with crappy search engines like http://www.spokeo.com/username-searchthat specialize in making money by allowing everyone to spy everyone (the PRISM thing is just a joke compared to the dangers of websites like spokeo)
3) so, say goodbye to privacy !
4) It is against the law to not provide a way to delete one’s data, at least in my countryFor reference : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loi_relative_%C3%A0_l’informatique,_aux_fichiers_et_aux_libert%C3%A9s_du_6_janvier_1978
So, please, please, please, provide an account deletion proecdure !
-
-
-
I forgot to add what appears when you visit gravatar.com and launch the AccountKiller bookmarklet :
This site is blacklisted! You cannot delete your account. Click http://www.accountkiller.com/en/delete-gravatar-account for more info
-
All you were required to provide to register an account here was an email address that can be replaced at any time. Any personal information that you voluntarily posted can also be removed at any time.
Although username accounts are not deleted, so you cannot be impersonated and have your reputation affected by anyone registering the same username in the future, there are steps you can take that amount to removing all personal information and result in leaving only a throwaway email address behind. http://en.support.wordpress.com/deleting-accounts/
1. You can go to My Account->Edit Profile and remove all data except the account name and an email address. Create a throwaway email address and change the account email to that throwaway address. This only leaves the username behind.
2. To unsubscribe from email sent to you from WordPress.com, go here and click on “Block all subscription emails from WordPress.com”:
http://wordpress.com/#!/following/subsettings/3. To ensure the account is locked up tightly, visit this site, generate a password of 15-20 characters, and change the account password to it:
http://www.thebitmill.com/tools/password.html4. To hide your Gravatar profile, please read “How do I hide my profile?” section of the help page: http://en.gravatar.com/site/faq/#answer-1-8
-
Thank you for your constructive answer.
> so you cannot be impersonated and have your reputation affected by anyone registering the same username in the future
Ok, I now understand better why in the particular case of gravatar, deleting completely the profil would be a bad idea anyway.
BUT, I still think the current situation is not right !
When I created my gravatar account, I did it because it seems easy, fun and clever. I didn’t think twice about what it implies for my privacy.
And you just cannot expect your users to act cleverly with their privacies, you cannot expect them to go in this forum and find the information you give in the help files. This would be the same as expecting everybody to read everybody to learn how to use their computers with the command line interface. While the CLI has its pros, history has shown that the designer have to accept the premise that users are what they are, and let them think with how to deal with that.
In the case of gravatar, this is just too important. With the combination of Gravatar, Google Search By Image and http://www.spokeo.com/username-search, like I said, everybody (not just the US Federal Government) can now incredibly easily spy everybody. And this is terrible !
In my example, I just
1) had to upload the picture I used on Gravatar on Google Search By Image
2) found the most important nicknames I use on the web with it (because with Gravatar, they are everywhere)
3) used spokeo username search feature
4) was shocked to discover so easily weird things I used to say on different topics years ago, things that even myself had forgotten
5) was even more shocked to discover that easily that everybody can find that I have (in fact, used to have, but on the internet it doesn’t matter) accounts on dating web sites like Match.com, OK Cupid, PlentyOfFisch … This is just not acceptable that my neighbors can find this information that easily without my consent !Granted : right now, my neighbors doesn’t know about Gravatar, Google Search By Image and Spokeo.
But faith in “Security by obscurity” would be crazy there : what will happen in a couple of months when the next crappy TV show will teach everyone how to spy everyone using Gravatar, Google Search By Image and Spokeo ? Do you really want the bad buzz ?
So I really really think that Gravatar must be rethink with that in mind.
The bare minimum would be to have a link in the gravatar main page that would say :
“Important Note : we care about your privacy online. Find out here how to protect it !”
Then it will give common sense cues (that should NOT be taken for granted) and would help people like me to hide their ass on the web if they decide to.
Thanks,
toto
- The topic ‘Gravatar and WordPress blacklisted on AccountKiller, shame on you !’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 