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ever used a search engine ? Google uses keywords too..... yet we use it.... Yahoo or any search does the same thing...

Either u like this, or u hate it.

I think we believe privacy polices, and say "well it must do this cause they said it" No one ever thinks "are they secretly recording everything, and not telling us" ?

Doesn't take long does it.

Well, there are kind of lines or level. Yes, when you do a keyword search on Google (or others) that info is being sent and stored, etc. I guess we expect that (or most people do), though we might not realize the extent to which all this, sometimes anonymous or 'innocent' data is being aggregated across the web. (ex: even if you use a VPN, which most don't, apps on your device/computer are constantly checking into various services... so by aggregating, it's REALLY easy to figure out who an IP address belongs to on any given site.

But, on another level, services are being designed to give users the impression of encryption and privacy, and then send all sorts of data to or through various 'services' where that data might be private from one-another, but it's all potentially being monitored by the government. (And, again, remember that's all possible to be aggregated with the above.)

Then on a final level, there could be undercover stuff where because of a hack or government design, stuff we don't even think is available might be being monitored or sent. This last level is much more detectable though, as if we were watching we might notice the effects (i.e.: our router might notice the extra traffic, or battery life reduction, etc.)

But, the first two levels above ARE happening, as we're signing agreements to that effect and our government officials are openly discussing it and using our tax dollars to implement it.
 
Agreed. Live photos, IMO, isn't a big deal. Hey Siri probably is. It depends on whether we think we can trust what Apple is actually saying vs what is really going on behind the scenes. I personally (as much as I love Apple) don't.

And, I think people are going to be in for a rude awakening one of these years... it's just a matter of time now. :( The mechanisms have been in place for quite some time now. And, for the typical citizen, it's kind of like the frog in boiling water. But, it's getting SO bad in the last year or two, that I think even the average person is starting to realize something is afoot.

There is a great podcast called Congressional Dish where you can keep up with what is actually going on in the US government. While I don't always agree with her particular take on whether the things are good/bad... the information is crucial to understand what is REALLY going on (and no, it's not what we're hearing in the media!). And yes, it should make any person who understands USA history furious!

Another discovery I've been following for a bit, is Curry & Dvorak's "No Agenda Show" podcast. While it's a bit crude at times... and you'll have to evaluate the 'conspiracy theory' aspects and where they run with the data they uncover... the data they uncover is priceless to understand what's going on in the world.... and how HORRIBLE (and propaganda) ALL of the mainstream media coverage is. Even if you've started to get that impression (as I had), you'll be shocked when you actually have the evidence of how bad it is (I was/am).
I would not be as shocked as you might expect of an ordinary housewife. but the things I could discuss are way off topic for this thread.

I do agree with the assertion that if our phones were monitoring us we'd notice the drain on the battery. Oh wait...I do have frequent unexplained drainage of my battery. Cue the X-Files music!

Thanks for referring the podcasts. I'll give them a listen sometime
 
Recently, Apple has been quick to point out that security and privacy for its users is a priority for the company, repeatedly noting that Apple does not rely on serving ads based on user data to make money.

Apple may not rely on ads to stay in business, but they certainly do serve ads based on user data to make money: iAds.

Ahh so Siri's data is stored on Apple's data servers until Siri is turned off completely on the actual iOS device? So in theory the user's data can be on Apple's data servers for years? hmm.

According to Apple's past revelations, Siri voice data can stay on Apple's servers for up to two years.

For the first half year, the data is associated with your device. After that the direct association disappears, and the data might be kept for another 18 months for general dev and testing purposes.

And, to the extent that it is, it's tagged to an anonymous id.

Yes, an id associated with a device. That's how it learns. Of course, if you get another device, it has to learn us all over again.

That's the advantage of Google's voice recognition, which is tied to a user, not any particular device. You can pick up a new device and it instantly has all the knowledge gained from years of using other devices.

In both cases a paranoid user can turn off and delete such learning, but there's little reason to do so.

Just take a look at a company's business model and you'll know whether to worry or not. (Cough) Google.

Worry about WHAT? That they know things about us? They all do. So what?

Apple knows just as much about us as Google, and also uses that info to sell anonymously placed ads. Moreover, while claiming that it cares about privacy, Apple pimps its customers out to others. They accepted over a billion dollars a year from Google just to be a default search engine. And with Apple Pay, they get a fee in large part to keep purchase data flowing freely to the banks. (Plus, the Apple Pay contract requires the banks to kick info back to Apple, such as where most purchases are made.)

It doesn't matter. Neither Apple nor Google are the ones to worry about. They serve anonymous ad slots, and have every reason to keep our data safe, in order to keep that data valuable, and to keep their customers' trust.

Instead, the companies you should worry about, are the hundreds of smaller less known groups that have absolutely no qualms about directly selling our detailed personal data and activities.
 
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Worry about WHAT? That they know things about us? They all do. So what?
...
It doesn't matter. Neither Apple nor Google are the ones to worry about. They serve anonymous ad slots, and have every reason to keep our data safe, in order to keep that data valuable, and to keep their customers' trust.

Well, if we had a good government abiding by a good constitution, etc. then you'd be right. Nothing to worry about, apart from being advertised to, unless you were a criminal or something like that.

But, we're living in an increasingly corrupt society, with an oligarchy/fascist government, with kangaroo courts and witch-hunts for non-politically correct behavior, etc. And when you go there, it's typically the good people who aren't going along with the program who are in danger.

It's not the ads I'm worried about. It's the data aggregation these companies are selling to the government that I'm more concerned with. And, it's the big players that have that kind of data, not the small companies.
 
I just wanna know what happens if I send a live photo. Will the recipient have the before and after, even if I didn't mean for them to?

it's my understanding the before and after is part of the photo so yes. Now if you mean the before and after the 1.5 seconds of your photo, no. that disappears as not needed
 
I believe it means it is continuously buffered in RAM, and only gets saved to the flash memory if the user invokes the "shutter" to take a photo. Perhaps that area of RAM gets continuously overwritten by new buffered images that are three seconds newer. But in order to save a picture starting a second and a half before you even told it you wanted to take a picture, the data for that lead-in has to be saved somewhere.

correct. when you turn on the camera it starts buffering. but anything too old to be saved in a photo is dumped
 
Just take a look at a company's business model and you'll know whether to worry or not. (Cough) Google.

The way Apple is about their customers privacy is the main reason I still use them as my primary personal devices even when I know another company may have a better or cheaper offering to perform the same task.
Keep this up Tim and I'll continue being a customer for life.

Oh please. Clever wording to use "rely" by Apple. iAds serve up advertising based on user data. At no time does Google, Microsoft or Apple sell identifying data. Personal data is never sold. An advertiser picks an audience segment by demographic data and these companies serve the ad to those people. The 3rd party does not get the information unless you opt-in, fill out a form, respond to the ad, etc.

If those that think Apple wouldn't love to have as much revenue coming in from iAds as Google does, then I really don't know what to say to you...
 
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My first thought when I heard about Live Photos were the Harry Potter movies where they have the portraits on the wall that have little movements to them. Seems like an interesting idea to me, it certainly was a cool effect in the movies. Would be neat to have a lifetime of photos that included that effect, I could see it having much more emotional impact than a static photo.

As far as privacy goes, Apple would be blowing people's data caps if they were exporting ongoing audio and video to the cloud so I choose to believe that they are not doing so.
 
I wonder what happens when you take multiple pics pressing the button less than 1.5 seconds between each shot.
Either you have live pictures sharing most of the frames or only the best shot is stored in its "live" version.
 
maybe off topic but sorta tied in... i used to be a die hard apple fanboy. still buy only apple devices but just haven't had time to keep up with every single little thing like i used to...

a few years ago i remember there was a series of post on the apple forums about users who would have their iPhone take pictures on its own. the people didn't have jailbroken devices, the phones weren't being touched, and they didn't have apps open. the best example i can remember is people who would place their iPhone in the cupholder in their car, and later see random pics of themselves driving in the camera roll.

the story quickly spread and just as quickly apple took down the thread and nothing was said that i remember on any of the rumor sites.

does anyone else remember that? if I had to guess maybe 3-4 years ago.
 
I believe it means it is continuously buffered in RAM, and only gets saved to the flash memory if the user invokes the "shutter" to take a photo. Perhaps that area of RAM gets continuously overwritten by new buffered images that are three seconds newer. But in order to save a picture starting a second and a half before you even told it you wanted to take a picture, the data for that lead-in has to be saved somewhere.

It probably only does any kind of pre-buffering if you actually have the camera app running...
 
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Here is from the BuzzFeed interview:

“Hopefully people will look at our stance on privacy in general and know that we’re not trying to operate outside of a fairly distinct line that we’re drawing,” Cook elaborates. “I hope that people trust us to do the right thing there.”
 
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