Privacy and Feedjit, Rant and Request (UPDATED)

I like blogging, I read and follow many blogs, I don't always agree with what all of these other blogs have to say, but that is OK, we all have our own opinions and it's perfectly wonderful that we are all able to freely write what we want to.

I do have issues though, something I have seen more and more on blogs is a little box called Feedjit, specifically their "Live Traffic Feed". I still remember the first time I saw this widget, I was shocked and appalled, it was a slap in the face. What was it that hit me so hard? Simple, the name of my town was emblazoned right there for EVERYONE to see, not just on my browser, but for each and every person who visited that blog after that until my location rolled off the bottom of the widget.

That is a huge issue for me, I live in a very small community, and I try my best to keep my location private. And yet, there it was, listed in this box along with the last 10 or so visitors to that site, complete with their town/city names and the website where they came from. My location is there for everyone to see until enough other people visit that site and my location rolls off the bottom.

I am not blaming the bloggers who use this, it is exciting to see your visitors and where they are coming from, heck even knowing their location is cool, but it's not cool to have your visitor's locations plastered on the front page, let's make it to where you have to at least click on something to get that information.

In this companies defense, very tiny defense though, they do allow you opt out and make THAT site ignore you, but damnit, the next site you visit that uses the Feedjit widget lists your town/city/location again, and you have to tell THAT site to ignore your browser, meanwhile the damage is done. If you clean out your cookies, then all of those sites you previously told to ignore your browser will list your location again until you tell it, again, to ignore your browser. On top of all of this, they don't make it all that easy to FIND the place on the widget to tell it to ignore your browser, you have to click on "options" at the very bottom of the widget, then and only then can you tell it to ignore your browser, AFTER THE FACT that your location is listed there for the whole world to see. This is beyond annoying, it an invasion of privacy and should not be allowed.

Yes, there are many different trackers out there, they use your IP address to figure out your location, I use a tracker on my blog, the difference is most of these other trackers do not post your location on the first page, you have to click through a few pages to get to the page that lists your location, it's not so invasive.

There is a simple fix, if Feedjit would only do it, they need to make it possible to click IGNORE once and only once and have it ignore your browser on ALL OTHER sites that use the Feedjit widget. I have contacted Feedjit via email and asked them about this, I did this a month ago, I told them that I would be writing an article on privacy invasion in the near future and would be writing about their product/service, it was up to them whether I wrote about their widget being an invasion of privacy or a thoughtful widget that protected the privacy of those who don't want to see their location plastered on a website just because they visited.

As of this date, I have received no response from them.

I tell you it's like a slap in the face, I don't appreciate it, I don't expect it, at least give us the illusion of privacy, at least give us the OPTION to opt out forever, not after the fact on each and every site that uses that widget.

Many of my readers are very private people, if you have run across this yourself, and are bothered by this, here is the email address for Feedjit, send them an email to tell them what you think about their widget, now be nice, rudeness gets your nowhere but deleted :) be sure to include a request for them to enable those who wish to OPT OUT from ALL Feedjit widgets, and NOT after the fact on each and every site that uses it.

support@feedjit.com

Here is their blog, I already posted a comment letting them know what I think, so if this bothers you, go to their blog and post a comment letting them know that you want your privacy back, allow us to opt out 100% of the time. They moderate the comments, I hope they have the balls to post my comment, even if they don't, they do have to read it before they delete it, let's give them more to read and think about. Before visiting their blog, be sure to read the bottom of this message first, you might want to "change your location" before going to their blog. ;-)

http://feedjit.com/blog/

For those of you who use the Feedjit widget on your blog, well, it's your blog and you can put what you want to on it, but I'm here to tell you that I will not be quick to return to your site, and I guarantee there are lots of other people who feel the same way, why take the chance of alienating your readers?

I'm posting this on my personal blog instead of on the other sites (below) what I write for, this is completely my idea and I don't want to cause any trouble for the other sites I write for just in case Feedjit decides to get nasty with me.

I sincerely hope that Feedjit gets it, they have a good product/service, they just need to take care of this one little, no make that huge problem/issue. There are lots of people who like seeing their location listed on a site where they visit, it makes them feel important, it makes them feel like a part of that blog, but there are many many people who don't want their location announced on a blog just because they visited there. Give us the OPTION to OPT OUT, permenantly, don't force me to have to do this on each and every site that happens to use Feedjit, and worse, make me do it AFTER THE FACT.

Here is Feedjit's website, http://feedjit.com/join/

Wanna see something really scary? Go here http://feedjit.com/ and you will see your town listed (scary if you live in a small community) with the most popular sites visited from your location, if you live in a small community, chances are those blogs listed there are mostly the ones that you visited. I did this and there is a trail of many of the blogs I read, it's no one elses business which blogs I have visited unless I CHOOSE to give out that information.

Let's give Feedjit a virtual spanking for this invasion of privacy and give them the chance to rectify their mistake.

What do you think about this? Do you feel like I'm right? Do you think I'm being too soft on them? Do you think I'm blowing this out of proportion? Let me know by leaving a comment here.

You know what I would like to see? If Feedjit chooses not change their ways, someone needs to come up with an add on for FireFox and IE to block Feedjit from working, I did a search for this sort of thing, usually I'm pretty good at finding things with search engines, but I couldn't find what I wanted, I did find other sites complaining about the privacy issue, if anyone finds something that will work to block Feedjit from working, please post a link in the comments. If I find anything, I'll be sure to post an update on this matter.


UPDATE

I found a "feature" on their widget where you can change your location, I figure that's the next best thing to do until Feedjit fixes their problem, so what town to choose? I did a search for "Odd town names" on Google, I found a treasure trove of names, I chose one that means the same thing as "f*ck", so now when I visit a site that uses this widget, at the top of the widget it says "Top Intercourse Blogs" that's all I'll say about my new location, just choose a town name that represents how you feel about Feedjit and put that in the box to change your location, this way each time you visit a new site that lists your location, it will not be your real location and just maybe, if you choose an interesting enough name, it will be making a statement until you can tell the widget on that site to ignore your browser.

http://feedjit.com/changeLocation/

Let me know your creative town names you chose, LMAO

Some of the town names I found that you can enter there:

intercourse
balls
goat neck
horsegall
flea
bug
buggytown
bush patch
kill devil hills
deadmans crossing
dead horse
deadmans corner
dies
ho
ho-ho-kus
stinking
hide-a-way acres
hide (lots of fodder there)
pusey (lots of slightly misspelled fodder there too)
dirtdauber
satans kingdom

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Wretha

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