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Apple's Find My Is 'Super Creepy Surveillance Tech' That Shouldn't Exist, Says Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney

Rockin Robin said:
As a Brit, I understand that thieves can fall-back on the right to silence and to not incriminate themselves in the US. However, the right to hold on to a stolen laptop does not feature in the Constitution or its amendments unless I misread…
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The 28th Amendment:

"No law--irrespective of device acquisition, hold or other possession--shall in no way otherwise find successful grievance upon any party which may find themselves in the possession of any electronic device, or that said party be required to be held accountable of said possession."

</satire>
 
Rockin Robin said:
As a Brit, I understand that thieves can fall-back on the right to silence and to not incriminate themselves in the US. However, the right to hold on to a stolen laptop does not feature in the Constitution or its amendments unless I misread…
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Correct. There is no unqualified right to privacy. There are some qualified privacy rights, such as granted by HIPAA regarding personally identifiable information, but no blanket right exists. Nor is there a reasonable expectation of privacy for someone in possession of stolen property. The right to privacy derives from unlawful intrusions and furthermore does not extend to inanimate objects such as stolen phones and laptops.

Imagine if a thief could use privacy as a shield simply by carrying around stolen goods with GPS trackers. Of course it is absurd.
 
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It’s a fair point and opinion. These location-tracking features have caused people much grief, including ending relationships. Sometimes it’s better not to know something.
 
How can people say Elon Musk is the most annoying person in tech when this guy exists?

At least Elon makes rockets. Sweeney makes… a cringe video game designed to milk as much money from little kids’s parents’s credit cards.
 
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ellpee said:
It’s a fair point and opinion. These location-tracking features have caused people much grief, including ending relationships. Sometimes it’s better not to know something.
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Location tracking ending relationships? How? Proving someone is cheating on you maybe?
 
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lotones said:
Attention whore says what?

Next up: "Emergency SOS is super creepy surveillance tech that shouldn't exist."
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“One time I fell off a cliff, snapped my neck and almost died, and my watch automatically called 911. What the hell, Apple? Why do they want to know if I’m about to die? Severely injured people have a right to privacy! 😤 “
 
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Think|Different said:
View attachment 2401399

This guy continues to be insanely delusional. Wealth has seemingly only made him more. It's almost sad, he can't see past his blind rage (for a company) and says ridiculous stuff like this.
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This is test marketing for billionaires considering a potential run for political office. Make asinine statements and gauge the reaction of the public. Based upon their reception, choose your party and then double-down on asinine as you pump and raise billions to buy your way into office. Next up, Sweeney will begin to push Apple-centric conspiracy theories to see how they play with audiences. Mark my words.
 
Jumpthesnark said:
Up next, Sweeney says it's "super creepy" to report a break-in at your home or business, because thieves have a right to privacy.
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Now I know who gave the idea to the Toronto police department to recommend Etobicoke residents to leave their car keys by their unlocked home door so car thieves enter homes to take away cars with ease, effectively achieving safety for owners and thieves while the robbery is in progress.
 
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He claims that detection and recovery of a lost or stolen device should be "mediated by due process of law" and not exposed to the device owner "in vigilante fashion.".......When Sweeney saw how Find My worked, he said he turned off the feature on all of his devices.

So, if I misplace my Apple device, by his logic I have to call the police to find it for me?

All his devices? How about his car? His probably has tracking built in. Even inexpensive Hyundai's offer it. Did he turn that off, too? (Caveat, some US cars stop tracking when entering Canada. That's about phone coverage contracts, because folks who buy in Canada can track the same model just fine.)
 
macsound1 said:
I used to work in professional theatre and there were thoughts like this - which is why theatres still have a ghost light.

If someone breaks into the theatre, falls into a dark orchestra pit, and breaks their arm - the burglar can sue the building owner for his injuries.
So the theatre has a light on stage that's always lit when the building was empty, so then the intruder can't say they didn't see the orchestra pit and it can't be argued as negligence.
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Wow, I've always wondered what that was for.
 
Disclaimer: I read only the headline and not a single comment, this is all I got to say: I won't take critique seriously from someone ultimately responsible for the trash known as the Epic Games Launcher (and store!). You don't know how bad your own service is that you're the CEO of and nobody knows how you got it in your head that one of your tech toys is spying on you but it really paints the picture.
 
Who would keep their MacBook associated with their Apple account that long without narrowing-in on its recovery or removing it? 💩
 
frogslapper said:
Sorry, but snooping the location of spouses and children, unbeknownst to them, is creepy.
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It's often not unbeknownst to them. I can track my wife and kid, they should be able to track me and each other (I know the kid can). It's useful.

That said, parents have legal and moral obligations regarding their kids; it seems unlikely minors have much moral right to slip around and have their location hidden from their parents.

Given how common adultery is, the prospect of a spouse being able to find out where you are may be creepy to some people. I don't think the problem there is the technology, though. I don't mind my wife knowing where I am.

Put another way, if people are using the technology to catch cheating spouses or find out where lying kids are slipping off to, I have no problem with that.
frogslapper said:
Tim's example could just as easily be a case where you legitimately buy a used laptop and now someone is able to track your location.
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Yes, but what's the practical significance? Let's say I buy a MacBook and the former owner, a couple years later, happens to notice his account still shows where it is. Highly unlikely to matter.

There is one scenario that comes to mind that might realistically be problematic - someone buys an Apple device, registers it, activates 'Find My' location services, and sells or gives the device to someone he/she wishes to track for some nefarious purpose, and the recipient isn't sophisticated enough to recognize the situation.

My question then becomes how often is that a problem in the real world? Is this taking place much?
 
Hmm. I suppose a billionaire doesn’t sweat too much if a $4k laptop disappears. But regular folks kinda want to find their lost/stolen devices- especially if we depend on them to work.

What a clueless a**hat.
 
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Hey Sweeney -- don't enable Find My on your Apple stuff then. Seems pretty simple. But since MacBooks don't grow legs and walk away on their own, I'd rather know where the person is that took my MacBook, iPhone, or iPad.
 
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breenmask said:
right to privacy? like the right to share my personal billing info with only one company I trust instead of being forced to go through third parties
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Exactly. No need to go through third parties when I want to download my Fortnite or subscribe to Spotify on my iPhone.
kkclstuff said:
Find My only works once the device is powered on, 'online', and logged into an apple account— which would be impossible with a password protected Mac.
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No - you could erase the hard drive, reinstall a fresh system and create a new user account.
Cappy said:
Apparently he didn't bother to use FileVault to prevent someone from getting into it and creating a new admin account to get into it.
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File Vault did not prevent booting into recovery or target disk mode, erasing a Mac's hard drive and configuring a new admin account.
 
Bizarre comments. If someone steals my laptop they give up their right to privacy regarding location. I will get the Police over to that location asap and get my laptop back. If you legitimately sell your laptop you disable iCloud and find my features and there are zero privacy concerns. I don’t get his issue with this.
 
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Tim is still just hurt that his company isn't big enough to make Apple cow to his wishes.
There is no way he is unaware of Tile and all the other trade vice tracking services out there... he just wanted to whine about Apple for something else.
There's no there there...
 
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