Saw this today and now I’m reconsidering if Boost is right for me. I’m really hoping this is shitty boiler plate that was accidentally copied and over looked because that is some bullshit to say “unless we decide we want to use your personal data for whatever we want”.

I know “legitimate interest” is a phrase from the cookies law but there is no legitimate interest justification for this. My data is my data and I decide who has a legitimate interest in it so advertisers can fuck off, as can Boost if this the direction it’s going.

Edit to say this blew up. I didn’t realise I was kicking as big a hornet’s nest and haven’t read all the comments yet.

To be clear, what I don’t like about this and other provisions in the terms is the language and implications around data use. I’ve no problem with ads being shown - I want developers to get paid for the work they do and that makes it possible for users to have “free” access to software if they can’t afford to purchase.

I also want to add the response from Boost’s dev below to make sure it’s visible. You’ll see that it is boilerplate but required by Google and was present in Boost for reddit. I just hadn’t seen it because I purchased it immediately based on a recommendation. It doesn’t make me happy about it but does remove some doubts I was having about the direction Boost is heading.

I will be purchasing the app to support the dev because I do like Boost but I understand not everyone can afford everything so you’ll see some other suggestions in the comments below that don’t have any ads if you’re not happy with the free version and ads with their associated loss of data privacy.

Dev here.

The dialog and its content is not created by me, it is a standard solution from Google to comply with GDPR and other laws. More info here: https://support.google.com/admob/answer/10114014?hl=en

The consent dialog is also required by Google AdMob to show ads, and it is shown when the ad network is initialized.

When the app launches, first it checks for the remove ads purchase, and if it is not present, it will initialize the ads sdk. The ad network is not initialized if the remove ads purchase is detected.

Boost for Reddit was using the very same ad networks and consent dialog.

  • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4116·
    11 months ago

    Showing ads = exploiting and abusing your users.

    In a free app. (if you pay, the admob library is no longer loaded)

    What a reddithottake right there.

    • Ktheone@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2112·
      11 months ago

      Seriously dude, some redditors like to jump onto a freaking conclusion without examining the situation correctly

    • hypelightfly@kbin.social
      712·
      11 months ago

      Showing ads = exploiting and abusing your users.

      Correct, well almost correct. It’s not showing ads that’s the problem. It’s the tracking needed to show targeted ads.

    • pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1021·
      11 months ago

      I wasn’t talking about ads at all, but feel free to continue simping for a developer that clearly doesn’t give a fuck about you. The only one who’s going to suffer from it is you.

      • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldEnglish
        215·
        11 months ago

        Hey, I’m a programmer. I naturally get a bit pissed when people make comments such as this. I enjoy getting paid for my coding, I can hardly blame another developer for wanting to do the same. More so because hey, if you just buy the app, the ad library is never initialized. Just goes to show that users want their stuff for free and don’t understand the realities of most coding.

        Not everyone gets to be a Mastodon or a LibreOffice or so. Most just sell some purchases or ads or subscriptions, usually all of them, and get by that way.

        This is like the most silly thing to complain about. Just hit do-not-consent, be done with it. It’s just an ad network actually being forced by the EU to inform you that they’re doing their ad network stuff. You can say “It used to not be this way!”, which is true: Until very recently, you would simply not get informed about this. It’s as if you hit full-consent, every time, automatically.

          • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            11 months ago

            Hold on, are you saying that if you click “do not consent”, they’re still treating it as if you clicked “consent”?

            • get_the_reference_@midwest.socialEnglish
              1·
              11 months ago

              Yeah, despite all the butthurt downvotes, the message says that even if you don’t consent, we’re still going to do it if we think it is “legitimate.”