Can I prevent xmarks from sharing my bookmarks?
I understand wanting to be able to get suggestions based on other users' bookmarks, but I have several private company links that I don't want to share with anyone, anonymously or not. Can I opt-out of the discovery process? I don't want my bookmarks shared with anyone but me.
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Please read:
You can log into your Xmarks account here:
http://login.xmarks.com/account
On the right hand side, labeled "ACCOUNT OPTIONS" you will see:
1) an option to opt out of aggregate bookmark analysis, labeled "Change Bookmark Contribution". This will remove your bookmarks from our aggregated discovery engine while still allowing you to sync.
-and-
2) an option to completely delete your account labeled "Delete Account". This will remove all your data from our servers and delete your account. FYI, upon deletion your account user name will not be available for new accounts in the future.
The company says
this answers the question
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Everyone: Thanks for your feedback! We're mainly tracking a related topic, so please feel free to add any further thoughts here:
http://getsatisfaction.com/foxmarks/t...
Also, check out our recent blog post on the topic:
http://blog.xmarks.com/?p=798
Thanks again for sharing your input; it's great to have a passionate user base letting us know when we've done things right and when we've done things wrong!
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?Your bookmarks remain private. Note that bookmark data is only analyzed in aggregate--if you're the only person who's bookmarked those items, then they won't show up at http://xmarks.com/
If other Xmarks accounts are bookmarking those links, then it's possible the site will show up, but even then we've taken steps to remove intranet sites and the like.
If you find an errant private link showing up, use the "Report This" link to report the site as inappropriate. -
How do you identify my intranet sites? -
newuser: Since we try to access all bookmarks that we add to the xmarks.com site, any intranet sites that aren't publicly accessible wouldn't be added. -
You will undoubtedly fail many times to identify sites offering portal services to companies that are -not- meant for public consumation, breaching the rules of those companies' services, breaching their privacy, by your failure to default to excluding bookmark data from aggregation. You will go the way of Google and their Image search; companies will come after you to force you to remove any trace leading to their property. Don't believe for one second you are immune to failure and the consequences.
You will fail the same way with the data of non-corporate individuals, but much quicker. -
Inappropriate?I have the same concern and this doesn't answer the question. "Remains Private" doesn't really help and I'm concerned that if this is more than just a storage mechanism for me to synchronize my bookmarks between computers, I'm going to have to find another solution. If I can't opt out 100% on at the very least a set aside folder in my bookmarks, then I am risking too much with company-related bookmarks.
Furthermore, how can I make sure that data previously submitted won't be aggregated by your servers if I remove the service?
I’m nonthrilled
2 people say
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Inappropriate?Actually, I suppose one option is to run your own server, which I think I will start on today:
http://wiki.foxmarks.com/wiki/Foxmark...
But still- I think having a non-indexed folder would be a good idea for this service. -
Inappropriate?I agree with The Deej, that there needs to be an option to default bookmarks to private, that you could selectively allow some to be public. The feature to have things private is the main important thing differentiating your offering from all the others out there. If I wanted a social bookmarking capability I would have used one of the other zillion out there. At least allow some things to be private if not allowing a default setting for such, otherwise you'll force many of us to have to run our own servers.
There is too much risk that my private bookmarks could accidentally become public now. For example I can have URL's which contain account info which are shared by fellow co-workers that is not meant to be public. Now if we both use xmarks they can end up as public links. (very bad)
Please don't end up just being another social bookmarking site. Allow some privacy and you will differentiate yourself from all the other ones out there. It was your key feature IMHO.
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?I'm with the others. I do NOT want any of my bookmarks analyzed for any reason. I do NOT want all those extra features added which will only make the program slower and more bloated. Please, please, please stick to the KISS principle... Keep It Simple, Stupid. Foxmarks is a great utility. Don't ruin it.
And another thing. The survey y'all asked us to fill out was not very good. It required us to rank every single item, even if we did not like it/them. We could not leave any choices blank, even if we do not want more than one feature. This will make your survey results skewed. For example, I do not want Xmarks to alphabetize my bookmarks for me. I do not want it to delete duplicates (I actually have many entries duplicated for a very good reason). Poorly conducted, to say the least.
One more thing before closing. You'd think an outfit making an add-on for Firefox would understand that its users are fairly savvy and therefore would be against bloat while being more aware of possible privacy concerns. The features y'all are touting for Xmarks completely blows that all away. What are you thinking???
I’m ticked off.
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Inappropriate?I just want to add my voice to what others are saying. If I'd wanted a service to suggest sites based on my bookmark preferences, there are others I could have used. Foxmarks has been my favourite Firefox add-on, but I *really* don't want this new Xmarks service, and will now have to look for some other alternative.
I’m annoyed
2 people say
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Inappropriate?syncplaces turns out to be the solution, just installed it now and it looks to work perfect. Another one about to delete his foxmarks account
I’m sad
1 person says
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Inappropriate?just wanted to state my opinion, i too think this is a bad idea...
what about a fork, let foxmarks be the way it is, and for social bookmarking use xmarks?
I’m thinking this sucks
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Inappropriate?At first, I thought I was the only one who had a problem with this when I posted the question, but now that I know I'm not the only one, having the "trust us, we know what's best for you" approach is not going to work with this. People take privacy seriously, and I'm being serious when I say that I don't want to share my bookmarks. You guys have a great service, but if you don't let ME choose whether or not to share MY bookmarks, you can believe that the same people who blogged about you and praised you for your work will be the very same ones to condemn you for not taking peoples' privacy seriously anymore.
To quote your privacy policy (http://wiki.foxmarks.com/wiki/Foxmark...), "Your privacy, and the privacy of all registered users of foxmarks.com, is important to us". All I have to say is "PROVE IT"!
I’m unsatisfied
2 people say
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Inappropriate?I would have to agree with others in this thread. I really want to use Xmarks, but if there's not a way to exclude certain bookmarks from indexing, I don't think I can use the service.
I’m frustrated
2 people say
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Inappropriate?I too would like to express my disappointment at the way this appears to be going.
The privacy issues here are potentially significant enough to concern me but, add to that the changes in function that would either have no interest for me or even worse would actually detract from it's usability, and I'm looking for an alternative solution.
I understand that certain intrusive new features can be disabled such as the site info feature but, as many others have commented, things like the layout of bookmarks should be left alone. This is, or can be, a personal preference matter including the use of duplicate bookmarks. (I have several duplicates especially in folders meant for specific users. My kids have their own folders for instance). Similarly, alphabetising would frustrate me. I like my bookmarks to appear chronologically untill "I choose" when and how to reorder them to suit me.
On the subject of alternatives, if this is going to be forced on us without allowing suitable control, I will be looking into "syncplaces", mentioned above, but am very interested in the Mozilla "Weave" solution that appears to be on the horizon in very timely fashion.
Foxmarks has served me well for some time across a couple of my own computers as well as with a portable version of firefox on a flash drive and various live linux and win-pe cd situations so will be sad to part company. It's been nice and dependable.
I don't know!
You get comfortable with something and then "progress" comes along to "improve"
things for you...
I'm sure some people will love it but I'll be declining updates untill I either find a suitable alternative or it ceases to work. Otherwise it's back to manual methods.
Not good.
I’m a bit miffed!
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1 person says
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Inappropriate?I am also pretty dissatisfied about the way foxmarks/xmarks is handling my privacy. I started to have my doubts when it started suggesting tags for me - but thought that my privacy was sure to remain a priority. But I guess not.
Am also switching to syncplaces so I can keep my bookmarks synchronized while protecting my privacy and confidential bookmarks; I was going to use foxmarks with my own server, but then also read that they will be (to paraphrase) keep tabs on these users as well.
For what it's worth, I am thankful for the service they provided me before, but not letting me opt out on sharing my bookmarks is a deal breaker.
I’m deleting my foxmarks account
1 person says
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Jor, just to clarify, if you use the Foxmarks client with your own server, there is no way that Foxmarks can "keep tabs on you." You don't even need a Foxmarks account! Where did you read otherwise? -
I read that in your faq page - http://wiki.foxmarks.com/wiki/Foxmark....3F
This part -- "While we can't provide support if you're using your own server, we're collecting information provided by users who choose to go that route."
But I may have gotten that wrong and assumed something different from what was meant. Thanks for the reply -
Yeah, the "collecting information" is just the wiki page of best practices from people in the community. I'll update that for clarity, sorry for the confusion! -
Inappropriate?Everyone: Thanks for your feedback! We're mainly tracking a related topic, so please feel free to add any further thoughts here:
http://getsatisfaction.com/foxmarks/t...
Also, check out our recent blog post on the topic:
http://blog.xmarks.com/?p=798
Thanks again for sharing your input; it's great to have a passionate user base letting us know when we've done things right and when we've done things wrong!
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?"In response to your requests we’re adding an opt-out feature that will exclude your bookmarks from our discovery engine"
That actually would change a lot again. Good to see that you stopped your 'go away if you dont like it' mentality. Lets wait for the update.
I tried out FF3.1 beta with Weave now and this one as well is working very good, no issues with that.
I’m Starting to get better
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Inappropriate?>>Good to see that you stopped your 'go away if you dont like it' mentality. Lets wait for the update.<<
Personally I'd be interested to know how many people have already gone away. I think I probably have to count as one of them, since I've deleted my account, and Foxmarks (for some bizarre reason) retains our IDs forever and will not allow us to 're-join' with the same ID.
I'm not too bothered. To be honest, I've lost trust in the people behind Foxmarks, so I guess I'm now a syncplaces user.
I’m still not happy
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Inappropriate?Time to set up my own server. Now, how do I get my information purged from yours?
I’m (bleep)ing (bleep)ed off!
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They apparently will keep your data forever, as there is other data associated with it, that they are not willing to release. -
Doug and ARB: As JJ mentions below, you can completely delete your account and all bookmark data associated with it. We don't retain bookmark data associated with deleted accounts. -
Eric, with all due respect you and your team fail to fully address the retention of user account details such as user names and associated data; you have a legal obligation to purge any and all data associated with a user when deletion is requested, this includes username and any and all attached data; it is not limited to just bookmarks, as all data together form an identity which can be traced back to it's owner via the usual forensic ways. However you seem to purposefully avoid any questions regarding the legality of your services and practises by replying with smoke screen answers, and in doing so you only raise doubt.
JJ's 'reply' therefore is not acceptable as it is incomplete. -
Inappropriate?Please read:
You can log into your Xmarks account here:
http://login.xmarks.com/account
On the right hand side, labeled "ACCOUNT OPTIONS" you will see:
1) an option to opt out of aggregate bookmark analysis, labeled "Change Bookmark Contribution". This will remove your bookmarks from our aggregated discovery engine while still allowing you to sync.
-and-
2) an option to completely delete your account labeled "Delete Account". This will remove all your data from our servers and delete your account. FYI, upon deletion your account user name will not be available for new accounts in the future.
The company says
this answers the question
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Inappropriate?Not being totally synical I have decided to take Xmarks nee Foxmarks at their word and have updated to and am now using Xmarks.
I was happy when they decided to enable opting out of aggregation and was also pleased to find that the layout of bookmarks are not affected (in Firefox at least).
Perhaps being something of a luddite I really prefer to stick with just the features I'm used to from Foxmarks ie: bookmark and password synchronisation only and have disabled the new search features. (Bearing in mind that password syncing was a new feature once which I happily use relying on the assurances given about the security employed.)
When opting out of bookmark aggregation I noted the comment about how this service is what provides the company's income stream. I assume they are paid from advertising associated with search suggestions.
Personally I do not like the use of "targeted" advertising. It seldom feels very "inteligent" or particularly appropriate but I can see that it might be of use to others.
I do think, however, that as someone who has opted out of aggregation there is still a value that I and others like me will be able to bring to Xmarks such as our ability contribute to the feedback on websites. I notice this function is still active despite having disabled the search features.
Independent feedback as opposed to which company has the largest advertising budget or most aggressive marketing strategy can improve the relevancy of search suggestions thereby enhancing the benefits of using Xmarks.
On the subject of the deletion of accounts and data it does seem a little strange that old usernames are not able to be recycled if there is no longer any data associated with them.
Perhaps a little technical explanation of why this is so wouldn't go amiss to allay any concerns.
For now this particular luddite is going with the flow - up to a point - sort of...! -
Inappropriate?Eric and JJ, I'm glad to see that you have added the "Change Bookmark Contribution" option. I appreciate the fact that you really do seem to respect the privacy of others and I am satisfied with this change. Thank you for taking this concern seriously.
I’m relieved and thankful
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