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Got a 30 day mute in a neighborhood watch app for saying the lockbox code out loud, and honestly I get it now
Last Tuesday our street had a package theft and the whole app was freaking out. I found the guy on my Ring cam at 2:14am, a dude in a gray hoodie with a limp, and I typed out the exact spot he parked so people could watch for the car. Then I did the dumb thing. I gave the code to the little community lockbox by the mailboxes, thinking only our block would see it. Within 20 minutes I had three people messaging me asking who gave me the right to share that, and a moderator muted me for 30 days for dropping codes in a public thread. What nobody told me is that the app has a hidden setting where you can post to just your block, not the whole 400 person group, and you get to it by tapping the little house icon before you hit send. I only figured that out after the mute, when a retired guy named Dale from two streets over walked me through it on the phone for 40 minutes. So if you're in one of these apps, check that setting before you post anything sensitive, because the default is way wider than you think. Has anyone else gotten burned by a default privacy setting like that?
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the_jason17h ago
Defaults being set to "share with everyone" is a pattern everywhere, not just these apps. Your phone does it with photos and location, your smart TV does it with viewing data, and even Google docs start out viewable by anyone with the link. The companies know most people never dig through settings, so the wide open option stays on and their network grows off your info. Dale is the real hero here for walking you through it, but it stinks that you had to learn the hard way.
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