I'm baffled at the all thee comments on this article whether they are pro Apple, Pro T-Mobile, Anti Apple, Anti T-Mobile. In it's current BETA deployment iCloud private relay only protects Safari and Mail. Two... count them 1... 2 apps. In addition these are two apps in which many have posted negative reviews about and stated they don't use and have uninstalled. It would be different if iCloud private relay worked with additional Apple Products, wasn't in BETA and provided a wholistic protection. But all this hoopla for protection for two apps? REALLY???? Just get a VPN and call it a day!
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Apple Says iOS 15.2 Included No Changes That Would Have Toggled iCloud Private Relay Off
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"Tim Cook is Nelson Mandela". Spare me this nonsense.
I have an intense dislike for programs where the developers casually lie to the users, usually along the lines of "oh, an error happened in this section, and the developer was only thinking of error X, so if any error happens, explain to the user that they did X wrong".
It's like when Windows would blue-screen, and then the following startup screen said, basically, "we're having to check the filesystem integrity because you didn't shut the system down properly, next time please shut the system down properly" - for the 200th time, your OS ****ing blue screened you idiots! Not that I'm still bitter about that or anything. I've also seen systems that say, "you haven't purchased any music / apps / whatever", showing a blank list, rather than saying, "we are currently unable to contact the server to verify what music/apps you have purchased". Developers that just assume the user is at fault infuriate me. It's a very unprofessional assumption to make unless you've really checked everything else, and it always seems to be happening when lazy developers have not, in fact, checked everything else. It makes your program look bad, and to a lesser extent, it makes all software seem less trustworthy.
Apologies for the rant (or thanks for coming to my TED Talk?). There are better ways to write software.
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Right? The guy didn’t get $98M in mostly stock options for 2021 because he spent more than Apple made to make sure we were coddled with Apple love. ?
In other words, T-Mobile got caught & tried foosting the blame on to Apple.
T-Mobile can burn
T-Mobile can burn
This sounds like someone at Apple decided a lie was easier to understand than the truth in their effort to dumb it down. At least Apple is fixing the wording to be accurate in the upcoming release. You're bound to have a few mistakes in a company the size of Apple, but I hope their technical writers are given this an example of what not to do.
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I agree. It is kinda like the awful COVID messaging by the CDC and FDA where they told "white lies" because they thought the average citizen was too dumb to understand. In the end it this just made things worse. Don't treat users like idiots.
This is bad UX.
If it's a mandatory requirement, why don't they move or duplicate the Cellular 'Limit IP Address Tracking' setting to the Private Relay activation screen?
If it's a mandatory requirement, why don't they move or duplicate the Cellular 'Limit IP Address Tracking' setting to the Private Relay activation screen?
Your technical details are about 10 years out of date.
The main point of a VPN isn't to circumvent security, it is to protect yourself from malicious actors. This could include those that want to track you for analytics you don't agree with. Major public VPNs are easy to block without DPI since they rely on DNS resolution. Preventing this blocking generally isn't a goal of a VPN service. Sure there are exceptions in VPNs designed to circumvent state censoring, but that isn't what Private Relay is for. DPI in general doesn't work well these days because certificate pinning and HSTS has become common. Technically you could trick HSTS in to thinking it has a legitimate certificate when doing DPI for machines that have an always-on VPN or never leave a corporate network, but that isn't common. It is mostly just used in highly regulated environments like within financial companies that are willing to live with the downsides. You generally can't use DPI without breaking much of the Internet. DPI used to be common on corporate networks before modern security practices, but most networks are primarily relying on technologies like OpenDNS these days. In practice, parental controls and content filtering only work on machines managed by IT (or a parent) that can install a plugin in the operating system. Nobody breaks long running connections to disrupt VPNs anymore. I recall seeing that 10-15 years ago before long polling became a common web technique. These days that would break many websites.
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Who said that? Nobody? Speaking of nonsense…
I'm going to presume you're not in China.
Could you also tell me when Apple's going to return the billions that Alphabet's been paying them to make Google the default search engine, or at least stop taking the billions and making Google the default?
Tim Cook is a hypocrite when he both takes their money and then criticizes them for what they do.
Apple's Good Intentions Often Stop at China's Borders
As pro-democracy protests continue in Hong Kong, the tech giant’s troubling relationship with an authoritarian regime has come into focus.www.wired.com
Last October, as Facebook grappled with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a speech in Brussels in which he sought to distance the iPhone maker from its peers. Cook railed against the “data industrial complex,” and chastised companies like Google and Facebook for collecting personal information from users and weaponizing it against them. “This is surveillance,” he said. “This should make us very uncomfortable. It should unsettle us.”
I think this is a fair criticism of my post. Tim and Apple need to stop the double standard with the Chinese regime.
It must be exhausting for you to fight for a big, revenue-focused company that doesn’t give two hecks about you as long as they earn money.
Did you have any actual arguments?
Is that your professional opinon, as Tim Cook's phycologist or something?
Hm, it still works for me, but of course it means that I lose all the ad blocking from PiHole, so I don't have private relay switched on when I'm at home.
Well, is Apple better or worse privacy than any other option you have in China?
Google is simply the best search engine, and the one the vast majority of people want to use. You can just change it if you don't. Just like private relay isn't on by default either.
The whole idea of making “Privacy” a commodity that you only get with Apple products is neat and everything until you figure out that it doesn’t go deeper than the pockets of the business partners that Apple has the strongest ties to, like Google and China.I'm going to presume you're not in China.
Could you also tell me when Apple's going to return the billions that Alphabet's been paying them to make Google the default search engine, or at least stop taking the billions and making Google the default?
Tim Cook is a hypocrite when he both takes their money and then criticizes them for what they do.
Apple's Good Intentions Often Stop at China's Borders
As pro-democracy protests continue in Hong Kong, the tech giant’s troubling relationship with an authoritarian regime has come into focus.
Last October, as Facebook grappled with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a speech in Brussels in which he sought to distance the iPhone maker from its peers. Cook railed against the “data industrial complex,” and chastised companies like Google and Facebook for collecting personal information from users and weaponizing it against them. “This is surveillance,” he said. “This should make us very uncomfortable. It should unsettle us.”
In short, there shouldn’t be any kind of option or circumstance where a service provider or government can disable any privacy features. The countries and companies that want to violate these features should not have other options than to boycott Apple products.
Apple is just another business.
Do you think any for profit corporation is any different? I’m fine with Apple considering other alternatives. As far as being seen as a dollar sign, my IRA loves AAPL
Apple puts up a fight on every front for our privacy? Why then didn't they refuse to make Google the default search engine, or at least demand Google make privacy/usage policy changes if they wanted to be the default? It would've been a great way for Apple to take a stand here.
What they did (and are doing) instead doesn't exactly make Apple credible in the "privacy fight" front.
Apple's Private Relay Is Being Blocked - Schneier on Security
Some European cell phone carriers, and now T-Mobile, are blocking Apple’s Private Relay anonymous browsing feature. This could be an interesting battle to watch. Slashdot thread.
www.schneier.com
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Some European carriers, including T-Mobile/Sprint in the United States, are blocking iCloud Private Relay access when connected to cellular data. As 9to5Mac reports, "This feature is designed to give users an additional layer of privacy by ensuring that no one can view the websites that they visit." From the report: Apple says that Private Relay is a feature designed to give users another layer of privacy when browsing the web. The first relay is sent through a server maintained by Apple, and the second is a third-party operator. The feature was announced at WWDC last June and initially slated for inclusion in iOS 15. Apple ultimately shipped the feature as a "public beta," meaning that it is disabled by default in the newest iOS 15 and macOS Monterey releases. You can manually enable it by going to Settings on your iPhone, tapping your name at the top, choosing iCloud, and choosing "Private Relay."
T-Mobile was among the carriers in Europe that signed an open letter expressing concern about the impact of Private Relay. The carriers wrote that the feature cuts off networks and servers from accessing "vital network data and metadata and could impact "operator's ability to efficiently manage telecommunication networks." In the UK, carriers including T-Mobile, EE, and others have already started blocking Private Relay usage when connected to cellular data. 9to5Mac has also now confirmed that T-Mobile is extending this policy to the United States. This means that T-Mobile and Sprint users in the United States can no longer use the privacy-preserving iCloud Private Relay feature when connected to cellular data. The report notes that T-Mobile appears to be "in the process of rolling it out," so some users might still be able to use the feature -- at least for now. "The situation could also could vary based on your location or plan," the report adds."
Some European carriers, including T-Mobile/Sprint in the United States, are blocking iCloud Private Relay access when connected to cellular data. As 9to5Mac reports, "This feature is designed to give users an additional layer of privacy by ensuring that no one can view the websites that they visit." From the report: Apple says that Private Relay is a feature designed to give users another layer of privacy when browsing the web. The first relay is sent through a server maintained by Apple, and the second is a third-party operator. The feature was announced at WWDC last June and initially slated for inclusion in iOS 15. Apple ultimately shipped the feature as a "public beta," meaning that it is disabled by default in the newest iOS 15 and macOS Monterey releases. You can manually enable it by going to Settings on your iPhone, tapping your name at the top, choosing iCloud, and choosing "Private Relay."
T-Mobile was among the carriers in Europe that signed an open letter expressing concern about the impact of Private Relay. The carriers wrote that the feature cuts off networks and servers from accessing "vital network data and metadata and could impact "operator's ability to efficiently manage telecommunication networks." In the UK, carriers including T-Mobile, EE, and others have already started blocking Private Relay usage when connected to cellular data. 9to5Mac has also now confirmed that T-Mobile is extending this policy to the United States. This means that T-Mobile and Sprint users in the United States can no longer use the privacy-preserving iCloud Private Relay feature when connected to cellular data. The report notes that T-Mobile appears to be "in the process of rolling it out," so some users might still be able to use the feature -- at least for now. "The situation could also could vary based on your location or plan," the report adds."
I think this is a fair criticism of Apple and of my point. Apple should do better by kicking Google search to the curb and with China.
Tim and Apple don't have a double standard, they have a prioritized list of many competing standards chief of which is follow the laws of the country they do business in. If they find Chinese law intolerable to follow because of Apple's ethical principles, their only option is to stop doing business in the country. That applies to all countries, Apple is not above the law, no matter how big they are.