How to disable Facebook and Google logins

General Discussions
1

Sorry, am I missing something here ?

Just gone to login to Plex and I notice the invasive Google and Facebook logins. (why should it be cloud connected when I can access my server directly choose, and do not need Plex cloud crap? ‘Required for authentication’ is just so much bull. It’s my friggin server, and I bought a licence. Plenty of other stuff out there that doesn’t do this)

I didn’t ask for Feckbook and Google, don’t want it, and certainly NEVER paid for it in my subscription. It is a total invasion of my privacy with both now being able to track every time I logon regardless of whether I have an account or not. Not just on any device in my home, but ANY Device as the login ■■■■ is now on every bloody app which cannot be disabled.

This is ABSOLUTELY DISGRACEFUL and should be removed IMMEDIATELY, or at the very least an option to disable ALL of this tracking nonsense.

I paid for Plex so I wouldn’t get all this advertising crap.

Now going to have to black hole anything and everything related to Feckbook and Google, not that I will be able to block this from my mobile devices.

Plex, every day you are a bigger and bigger disappointment, particularly as I paid for the software and now feel I am being shafted with the rough end of a pineapple. Disgusting.

So angry about this it makes me want to puke.

Yours in extreme anger and frustration.

2

Nice rant :smile:

The Plex Media Server has become almost unusable without both the server and users being connected into a plex.tv account. I didn’t realise quite how much so until I took my server offline yesterday and realised how much no longer works, and how many clients simply won’t see your server.

Plex has been pushing us down this path for some time, and now with the new privacy policy, their goal has become somewhat clearer. Unless you’re logged in, they can’t collect your data. Making it work without being logged in is difficult if not impossible.

emby does much of what Plex can, without the Big Brother controls.

3

Yup this sure does annoy me!

o6cih9tcz41a.png1324×554 24.7 KB

[…By linking social media accounts, you authorize Plex, Inc. and the linked service provider to collect data about media and playback activity shared through the service…]

4

@HappyPig0 said:
Yup this sure does annoy me!

[…By linking social media accounts, you authorize Plex, Inc. and the linked service provider to collect data about media and playback activity shared through the service…]

What I find worse is that the login page itself allows Feckbook and Gobble to track you. You don’t even need to login for the b*stards to know you have got to the page.

The login page autoloads stuff via JS which you cannot modify and you have absolutely no choice as to whether it connects to the Feckbook/Gobble servers for tracking by both Feckbook, Gobble AND Plex. Yes, I can run noscript & other stuff in my desktop browsers to block some of this, but not on the say the mobile app. And from the look of the code they are trying their very best to ensure that it is extremely difficult to block any of it.

My guess is Plex don’t really want you controlling anything on your server - just a data store synced to the cloud so they can then gobble all your data and sell it to Feckbook & Gobble etc. Eventually that’s all it will be, with zero local control.

This is disgusting.

It is NOT why I bought in to Plex. I wanted a server I could control locally and choose remote access via my own router. Not come cloud connected, data scraping, privacy invading, bucket of rubbish that it has become.

Plex - you are are starting to suck big time. My regret is that I actually funded you.

Now is the time to cut my losses and look elsewhere. I suggest other do the same. Angry blogpost being written shortly where I can then swear as much as I want, and there will be plenty.

5

@adrianwi said:
Nice rant :smile:

I’m just saying it like it is. It isn’t what I paid for. I wanted a home media server that I could control access too.

I’m reasonably tech savvy and had it running in minutes originally (despite their RPM installer being broken and me supplying a suggested fix which took forever to sort - see https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/226895/install-failure-due-to-broken-scripts-in-spec-file-and-migrateplexserverconfig-sh), but it seems that it was probably too complicated for many so they dumb it down to the lowest common denominator.

emby does much of what Plex can, without the Big Brother controls.

I’ll take a look thanks, but I think this is a big field where a lot of VC funders see a profit, and as such I think if Emby are any where near successful they will go down the same route (though I sincerely hope not)

Here is the problem with Plex:

“In 2014, Plex raised $10 million from the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins.”

As soon as Vulture Capitalists get involved the funs stops. They want more than a pound of flesh for their investment. They just see Plex as yet another cash cow.

Looks like it is tie to dump Plex and move on.

6

Looks like it is tie to dump Plex and move on.

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/288265/moving-to-emby-sick-of-plex-devs-not-taking-their-users-requests-seriously/p1

7

@marcelhehle said:

Looks like it is tie to dump Plex and move on.

https://forums.plex.tv/discussion/288265/moving-to-emby-sick-of-plex-devs-not-taking-their-users-requests-seriously/p1

Yup… I’m not alone :slight_smile:

Two things I have that I use a lot and I am not sure they do as yet.

First is mobile photo sync - so my phone apps sync photos which is pretty handy (except Plex dumps videos in the same bloody directory where I don’t want them and I can’t change that it seems)

Second is the RasPlex client - which is handy with the remote control etc.

Notwithstanding those I am going to take a serious look at Emby later next week (as I am always on business for a few days). I’m that angry now that I am prepared to dump my lifetime subscription, pay another one to Emby, AND put up with something that doesn’t have as much bling.

One would hope that the Plex devs actually read these complaints, but I fear that they are playing deaf, dumb, and blind.

Just @tweeted them so the public can see. Suggest you all do the same and make a public noise though the VC vultures will ignore it and let the cash from less knowledgeable users roll in.

8

Just found this thread (as you can’t easily find jack all in this mess of a forum)

Both barrels. Am currently reloading. Thinks. Must invent machine gun.

9

Note that post has now been edited to remove all comments.

Complete censorship and still pushing the bullshit about Feckbook and Gobble

10

Well, I got blocked for complaining, despite this being the truth. Joy.

Here’s the screen shot when you log in to YOUR local server, that redirects you to the cloud.

I can block some of this at home, but not on my mobile. So EVERY TIME you use the app, FB and Google are tracking, you even if you don’t use their logins.

I’'m looking forward to GDPR.

ynukd4emum0m.png800×575 361 KB

11

I do not think that having those buttons enable any tracking at all. The only way that any tracking happens is if you choose to use those buttons.

The solution is simple: Don’t use the buttons, I don’t.

Also the Plex system is fully functional without any internet access unless you use remote access or when the server needs to download metadata.

Starting about 05:00 EDT today through a little before 12:00 my internet connection was totally down and I fired up Plex and watched movies just fine. In fact before I knew the internet was down I rebooted my entire system as part of my regular maintenance schedule and I had no problems and had to do nothing special to get everything working. In other words Plex, if properly set up, works perfectly well without internet.

12

No, that is not true.

The JS for the oauth logins is downloaded direct from FB or Google (that’s pretty standard these days) - hence the links in uMatrix. So even if you don’t login, F & G know where you are.

Re being offline, I have not checked myself. Ill give it a go and see on the weekend :slight_smile:

13

PS - even if the JS for oauth comes from Plex, it is still pinging back home - hence the links in the uMatrix screen.

14

If it is Java that is the problem then disable Java in your browser. If the problem is on mobile devices then I am sure there is a way to do the same thing.

I just think that it is a tempest in a teapot type of thing and really unimportant.

If you really want to hide then disconnect every wire entering your house and coat the entire inside with foil and smash your cell phone.

Or you can face the fact that you cannot hide from tracking and other forms of surveillance and just don’t do stupid things and do all your browsing with a secure browser and use a good VPN. Oh, and don’t use your real name and address for anything you don’t have to.

15

I do IT for a living thanks - I’m more than well aware.

JS - yes I have blockers - fairly obvious from the screenshot.

VPNs too, for anything I don’t want to be public. And a few other tricks. Yes, I know about phones and all the other phone home stuff only too well.

I’m quite careful about my privacy because it is important to me, because I care. And that is good enough for me.

What I particularly object too as a paid member is this being enforced on me with no chance for me to disable it. Fine, lob it at the free loaders. But don’t push it on paying customers.

So yes, I can block it, but other friends or family may not be as careful as me. We should not be put in that position.

My data is private, and my business. If Plex want my personal data then they should pay me for it, not sell me for profit as some product to the highest bidder.

Even worse, why should Google or Facebook know about me, even if I have no account?

If you don’t get the whole privacy thing, and that YOU are the product, then fine. if you think it is a nothing, then fine (the SM companies have done a really good job of convincing you that it is unimportant - and got very rich out of selling your data which by rights they should pay you for) just carry right on with your head in the sand.

But don’t force me to go down that road.

The trouble is, you don’t worry about what you can’t see - that’s the great boon for the SM companies.

Your Asimov quote on the cult of ignorance is quite ironic. You really ought to read it again :slight_smile:

So turn it around. If every single company tracking you right now was sat there in your house with clipboards writing notes as you watched the TV, used your computer, followed you wherever you went - to work, to the bar, to the shops, if they followed your kids and wife as well. A whole army of whites coated people trailing behind you 24/7. Ask yourself what you would do? I’d bet you’d throw them out of your home, out of your office, and probably take out a court order to prevent them following you.

But you don’t because you can’t see them, even though that is exactly what they are doing. Plex too.

It’s my privacy. It’s MY data. It should not be stolen, by anyone. And I care about it.

16

@reetp said:
I do IT for a living thanks - I’m more than well aware.

JS - yes I have blockers - fairly obvious from the screenshot.

VPNs too, for anything I don’t want to be public. And a few other tricks. Yes, I know about phones and all the other phone home stuff only too well.

I’m quite careful about my privacy because it is important to me, because I care. And that is good enough for me.

What I particularly object too as a paid member is this being enforced on me with no chance for me to disable it. Fine, lob it at the free loaders. But don’t push it on paying customers.

So yes, I can block it, but other friends or family may not be as careful as me. We should not be put in that position.

My data is private, and my business. If Plex want my personal data then they should pay me for it, not sell me for profit as some product to the highest bidder.

Even worse, why should Google or Facebook know about me, even if I have no account?

If you don’t get the whole privacy thing, and that YOU are the product, then fine. if you think it is a nothing, then fine (the SM companies have done a really good job of convincing you that it is unimportant - and got very rich out of selling your data which by rights they should pay you for) just carry right on with your head in the sand.

But don’t force me to go down that road.

The trouble is, you don’t worry about what you can’t see - that’s the great boon for the SM companies.

Your Asimov quote on the cult of ignorance is quite ironic. You really ought to read it again :slight_smile:

So turn it around. If every single company tracking you right now was sat there in your house with clipboards writing notes as you watched the TV, used your computer, followed you wherever you went - to work, to the bar, to the shops, if they followed your kids and wife as well. A whole army of whites coated people trailing behind you 24/7. Ask yourself what you would do? I’d bet you’d throw them out of your home, out of your office, and probably take out a court order to prevent them following you.

But you don’t because you can’t see them, even though that is exactly what they are doing. Plex too.

It’s my privacy. It’s MY data. It should not be stolen, by anyone. And I care about it.

To be truthful I’d be tackling this the other way around.

  1. Change your passwords and credentials for Facebook, Google.
  2. Follow guides on how to control your Google and Facebook privacy settings. (4 and 6)
  3. If you have used these methods change your email (username) to something like proton mail.

4 . Check your Facebook data file

A list of data available.



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  1. Password selection
    GRC's | Password Haystacks: How Well Hidden is Your Needle?  

  2. Google accounts

  1. Definitely use a VPN with AES - 256 Encryption, Data Authentication SHA256, Handshake RSA-4096 for maximum protection.

  1. A good Adblocker, carefully Whitelisted and Optional ad settings considered.