cross-posted from: https://links.hackliberty.org/post/454425
When I visit this post:
the embedded short abstract intro to the article is “403 Blocked www.lecho.be” When I try visiting the link directly I get “403 bot detection”. This suggests that everyone who opens that thread independently visits that webpage by way of some javascript that’s not under the user’s control. If 1000 people open that thread, then 1000 separate fetches are made. That’s a poor design. The server could do that job just once and the results would be more reliable. As opposed to everyone getting different results.
This is also a #privacy #security bug. Someone who opens a thread does not necessarily intend to fetch the linked article. Non-tor users are under surveillance in some countries (e.g. the US, where Trump enacted law s.t. ISPs can collect data on users without consent). So they should have control over what sites they visit. Merely opening a thread is an abuse because it makes users actions instantly trackable. IOW, users share information with their ISP without their knowledge or control.
Note that the example thread shows the full text of the article because the author was diligent about copying it. But that’s not the general case.
#bug #lemmyBug
Apparently I’m wrong about this… the preview is said to be created by the server:
https://links.hackliberty.org/comment/1068761
EDIT: well, apparently it’s questionable. No one knows with confidence.