Show HN: I'm Sad(imsad.io)

4 pointsby zhoujianfu14 hours ago1 comment

codingdave14 hours ago
I live in a rural area, so was surprised to see that there was already a marker where I live. And even more surprised to see that it indicated it was me.
Am I interpreting that correctly that there is no opt-in to having our location mapped when we hit the page? Just loading it publishes our location? Because if so, this is sketchy. Even anonymized, and even if my location is off by 7 miles from where I really am sitting, that is not far off for rural USA. This feels like a bit of a privacy violation.
- JohnFen13 hours ago
  > Am I interpreting that correctly that there is no opt-in to having our location mapped when we hit the page? Just loading it publishes our location?
  Ouch! Thanks for the warning.
- zhoujianfu14 hours ago
  Ah, thanks for the feedback… I’n just using a geo IP lookup by peoples IP for the first “very rough” location, but I hadn’t considered that even a 7 mile radius can not be very anonymous in rural areas! Hmm.. is there a larger radius you feel you’d be comfortable with? Like 50 miles?
  - codingdave14 hours ago
    Yeah, I believe that I'd be comfortable with 20 - that would encompass half a dozen small towns instead of just one, and at that range I know half a dozen tech folks in the area, so it feels less targeted.
    zhoujianfu13 hours ago
    Thanks, 20 miles it is! (Or will be when I get back to my computer… or actually I guess I can have Claude change it now)!
    zhoujianfu13 hours ago
    Okay, it should be a bigger random range now.. try reloading the page if you’d like!
    codingdave13 hours ago
    I'm hesitant to reload it - is it going to log another hit from within my range? Or does it somehow ID me to know that I'm already on the site?
    zhoujianfu12 hours ago
    Your unique id is your “device id” so if you visit from the same browser (not incognito mode though) you’ll be the same user.