Minimize collection of customer data? Why minimize instead of completely disabling? Let me tell you: because Apple wants business from services, and that model needs to get data from users. Apple doesn’t respect privacy in a 100% reliable way. If that was the case, I would be able to completely disable internet access on an app-by-app basis (including Apple apps, like Photos to begin with). Apple is better than Google, but “better privacy” is not enough when you want privacy, period. I’m waiting for a real privacy-respecting mobile OS. A Linux (not Android) phone would be perfect. Apple needs at least some of our data for getting money from services.
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Apple Responds to U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce: 'The Customer is Not Our Product'
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errrr.... what? who is asking u to use them?
if u don't want ur data to be collected, u can keep using apple stock apps.
Sure, here is one. Google makes 84% of their revenue from targeted advertising. Targeted advertising is advertising that is specific to an individual based on collected data. That collected data comes from their users, from a variety of sources such as Gmail, Android, Google Search, Google Photos, etc. All of the data that flows through Google services can be collected and monetized. The only reason any of their products or services exist is to help serve targeted ads. It's pretty simple, but won't last. Not technically Spyware per se, considering they put everything in the fine print, but the same idea.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pite-youtube-backlash/?utm_term=.c6964126945b
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You completely missed the point didn't you?
It has nothing to do with me using them or not and everything to do with highlighting Apple's hypocracy.
Apple's only too happy to crow about privacy when it suits them but is even more happy to take kickbacks from Google to be the default search engine on iOS.
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We've been over this before but it seems some people completely missed the memo that all of the data is completely anonymous and feel the need to regurgitate falsehoods
Let's see. Apple is fighting with Samsung yet they are buying their components for their phone. Apple can certainly condemn (comment) on Googles' privacy policy and still use their cloud based services. No hypocrisy here. And in addition, they are bound to adhere to local laws, which in some countries may be different than what we here in the USA are used to.
So what is your point? Did you quit buying apple products due to your conviction of their supposed hypocrisy. Did you put your money where your mouth is?
Apple isn't perfect regarding privacy, but they are still by far the best services+device provider where this kind of thing is concerned. It's the combination that's important.
There are other device makers that can match Apple in terms of privacy, but they all ship with Windows or Android on them. And there are plenty of service providers out there for Windows and Android devices that can help you keep your privacy intact on both of those platforms. Power users can remain private on any device or platform if they know what they're doing. That covers a lot of us on this forum.
But the average user isn't going to be able to match those services to those devices easily, and so Apple's approach really does help them control their data with privacy in mind. It's not the primary reason I use many of their devices. But it sure doesn't hurt.
There are other device makers that can match Apple in terms of privacy, but they all ship with Windows or Android on them. And there are plenty of service providers out there for Windows and Android devices that can help you keep your privacy intact on both of those platforms. Power users can remain private on any device or platform if they know what they're doing. That covers a lot of us on this forum.
But the average user isn't going to be able to match those services to those devices easily, and so Apple's approach really does help them control their data with privacy in mind. It's not the primary reason I use many of their devices. But it sure doesn't hurt.
False equivalence. Is apple supposed to block google services from safari and remove their apps from the app store because you believe they are hypocritical?
I second DDG. Only search engine I use on my devices.
I agree, it motivates me to stay within the Apple eco-system. As technology evolves privacy is too important of an issue to ignore, or just believe "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear".
Wait, I'm confused. If Google has no way to tie that data back to me and my devices, how do they use it to target advertisements toward me out of hundreds of millions of users?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not accusing Google of any malicious use of the user data they collect. Targeted advertisements are pretty benign, and I trust their data handling and security practices more than, say, Facebook. But even though that data has been scrubbed of my name and other immediately recognizable forms of identification, it does still have identifiers of some sort that could be used to tie it back to my user profile on the services I maintain with them if you had access to the entire data pathway.
Where Apple's approach is marginally different is that they don't gather a lot of that information in the first place. It's not world changing. It's not the main reason I'd recommend a device to anyone. But it is a nice plus to not have to worry about toggling a bunch of switches in your settings app every time you set up a new phone to keep the OS from, say, tracking your location constantly.
The dark theme on their search page looks great too!
Tim was questioned about this issue, I vaguely remember he said that Apple had to start somewhere with China and help influence China about user privacy (I could be wrong, and I do see the hypocrisy you point out).
And Apple can choose not to do business with a human rights violating country, but they did anyways. Soooo..no moral high ground for Apple here.
What services of Google's is Apple using? The only thing at this point I can think of is the default search engine, in which Google pays Apple handsomely to have access to. It's easy to swap it out for something else. It has also been rumored that Apple is working on their own search engine, and having recently hired Google's head of search and AI, I have a feeling we'll be seeing that come to fruition in the next year or two.
As for human rights in China, Apple has done more than any other company in making sure that employees are treated fairly at all of their manufacturers and suppliers. They have third party independent auditing teams that check in with them constantly to make sure high standards are being upheld. They've gone further than any other company in this regard. As for manufacturing in China, that's because there is not the infrastructure to handle it in the U.S. Could we someday? Sure, but there aren't enough skilled workers and high end equipment to handle everything that goes into not only building the iPhone but the supply chain behind it. That will take time as the U.S. is currently being pivoted from a services driven economy back into one where everyone works in a factory like the early 1900s.
Nice completely unrelated straw man argument there at the end, though.
I use Brave with DuckDuckGo.
It's a little lacking on iOS, and doesn't work 100% of the time on certain websites. Also it sucks my bookmarks and browsing history aren't synced between my iPhone and Mac, but it's not all that bad. Bookmark sync is coming "soon".
Seems like semantics, Apple says "Up to this point, all audio data is only local on the device in the short buffer." It even goes on to say that only Siri related audio is transmitted with a random device identifier which the user can simply delete by turning siri/dictation off then on again. And that's with Siri voice recognition turned on, which you expressly have to do. If it's turned off (which is default) then you most likely don't get even that buffer, although I can't say that's the case for sure as they don't mention this scenario.
So I suppose if Siri voice recognition is enalbled the iPhone does "listen", although I don't equate a computing chip momentarily storing audio locally only on the phone as "listening", at least not the same as the information being either saved on the local phone, and/or transmitted to Apple. It seems kind of weird to harp on that, they seems quite transparent about it.
Just reading through the document I am amazed at Apple's stance on privacy in a world that most likely could care less even if they had massive data breaches. Look at Facebook, Google, etc and their almost daily scandals, and no one cares or even bothers to slap them on the wrist. This isn't stuff Apple just changed yesterday to appease an upcoming senate hearing, this has been their policy all along. From how they sandbox 3rd party apps to how the apps function and the wall between them and your information, as well as the data tracking and the amount of information that is used but not actually uploaded from the local iPhone. Really engenders a lot of loyalty and satisfaction with Apple as a company, and I cannot for the life of me recall any other company I've felt this way about in a long time.
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Tim Cook was CEO when iAd was discontinued, but not when it was started back in 2010.
As for dropping Facebook integration, that's something Apple has done, in both MacOS Mojave and iOS 12. https://appleinsider.com/articles/1...acebook-twitter-integration-from-macos-mojave
Of course! Privacy of Correspondence is article 40 of the Chinese Constitution.
There's other great things in the Chinese Constitution too, like:
- Democracy
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom of Assembly
- Freedom of the Press
- Freedom of Demonstration
- Freedom of Religion
- Freedom from Unlawful Search
- Freedom of Association
China must be a really awesome, clean, and free place to live. In fact I hear that 1989 some students got together in a square to practice their freedom of assembly and freedom of demonstration in order to celebrate their constitutional right to democracy. I'm sure the government appreciated the students' patriotic reverence for their nation's constitution!
Anyway, sarcasm aside, this is just a little reminder to my fellow Americans that a piece of paper called the Constitution doesn't protect us. Quite the opposite--we must protect the Constitution by continuously challenging the ever-increasing powers and reach of the government. And I thank Apple for their part in doing exactly that.
I wish they allowed Startpage.com Very good and private search engine that is as good as Google IMO. Only thing missing are things like movie listings, measurement conversions, etc. But the search itself is very nice and actually allows you to open the web page by proxy. I've switched over to it on all my devices except iOS Safari.
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Does this make sense? Google and Facebook still have to ask for the same app permissions any other 3rd party app does and run up against the same protections.
Is Google allowed to "track you" (whatever that means these days) through searches on your Apple stuff?
Let me put this as simply as I can because some here just aren't seeing Apple's hypocracy weather out of ignorance or willful disregard I don't know.
Apple loves to crow about how "it takes privacy seriously" and how "it believes it's a fundamental right" but when it demands kickbacks from the very same company it throws shade at over privacy issues their stance on privacy rings hollow
Well, Apple doesn't deny Google or Facebook the ability to put its services on their phones through the app market. They are subject to the same security everyone else is, so it's not like Apple is trading your security for cash. I understand what you mean in principle, but in practice it just seems similar to crying that Apple is letting users download Google apps in general off the app market. Apple charges developers part of their profit, but Google is all free so Apple has to make their money somehow. Doesn't bother me in the least because the security of Apple devices and my information hasn't changed, I still need to provide permissions that I have the responsibility to manage.
1. Tim knows he is not under oath so any consequences for lies are small consequences.
2. When Apple gets money from Google so that the default search in Safari is Google Search, it looks like Apple customers are also the product and Tim is the seller.
2. When Apple gets money from Google so that the default search in Safari is Google Search, it looks like Apple customers are also the product and Tim is the seller.
Exactly.
If you don't hold those in power accountable for what they say and do, the constitution means nothing.
No individual is above the law; no matter what they think or how they behave.
That includes ALL of our politicians.