There are several feeds that I would like to read via NewsBlur, but their content is sensitive (read: security via obscurity) due to personalized content or an authorization prerequisite. Often the URL contains a personal token intended for one consumer only. I would love to track these feeds via NewsBlur, but I would fear that their content might end up showing up in some “global” feed, a recommendation engine, or statistics reports.
Could we have an option that lets us enable an “enhanced privacy” mode for individual feeds that disables all sharing and commenting options and guarantees that their content won’t show up to anyone but the authenticated owner?
And to clarify, these feeds are usually the product of a website where as a user I log in and then get a RSS link that has a unique token in it customizing the content to me. This typicaly is an artifact of paid services, services that limit content to registered users in particular countries, or blogs that require permission (aka, you are ‘friends’) in order to view.
So here’s how this works: if you are the only subscriber to a feed, it will remain 100% private. It won’t show up in statistics or the add site dialog. Where you have to worry is if you were to export your feeds as OPML and then re-import them as another username. Effectively, there would be two subscribers on the feed and it would then show up if you search directly for the feed.
I’m about the only person who does that (test accounts and what not), and I make all future decisions with the basis that feed subscriptions (not just read stories) are private and don’t show up to other users. What does show up are “Interactions”, not “Activities”. Hope that helps.