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EU Competition Chief Tells Apple Not to Use Privacy as a Shield Against Competition
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If Vestager actually believes that side-loaded apps aren't a serious privacy or security risk, then she has absolutely no idea what she's talking about and should not be in charge of tech regulation.
Thank you. This is the truth that is ignored for some reason. We paid good money for our devices and outsiders are attempting to devalue our investment.
A tiny amount of water is leaking through this massive dam. It clearly must be ineffective so lets just tear down the whole dam and let the whole river flow.
If User A is protected and User B is unprotected and User B's devices include shared data about User A. User A's personal data is now compromised.
Even in the simplest form: contact details, social media accounts, birthday, location, spouse, pets name etc ...but compromised nonetheless and those details could be used for malicious intent e.g. to try and gain access to services or accounts.
A politician, without a degree in cyber security has no place making statements like this.
Profits is Apple’s real reason, privacy is secondary.
So what happens if (when) Facebook decides they will only offer FB, Instagram, and WhatsApp in their own app store? Do users have actually have a choice at that point? Or will literally tens of millions of iOS users be forced to download the FB app store, likely with no idea what they're doing?
Many iOS users know absolutely nothing about how their phone works. My mother, for example, barely knows how to bring up the multitasking view. Do you think she will actually be able to make an educated choice about her security and privacy? Or will she just download an alt app store because she uses Facebook and the app tells her she has to?
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
If that was the case Apple wouldn't have that much of Cash flow. Privacy leads to making profits for Apple.
Coming straight from Tim Cook. Perhaps, Mr. Cook wrote this himself or at least provided an approval.
Apple is very seriously committed to protecting your data and we work hard to deliver the most secure hardware, software and services available. We believe our customers have a right to understand how their personal data is managed and protected.
These are the same meddling bureaucrat buffoons who enforced cookie prompts on every bloody website, completely ruining your online browsing experience.
I wish Apple, Google, Microsoft and others would all agree to stop selling and supporting everything in the EU. Then maybe they would stop this crap.
EU trying to punch above their weight. A self-important non-entity of an organisation that makes out it works on behalf of the European countries but is just in fact a parasitic head, trying to create a superstate.
Is this from experience or because Apple said so?
As someone who has years of experience in sideloading and never had any issues. I will say, the potential is there. Just like the potential for scam app to appear in the Appstore. The actual risk is entirely up the user. For some sideloading actually improved security and privacy. In my case it required rooting since non-root firewall stills shunt your data through a 3rd party server. Meh. Root firewall blocks data directly from your phone.
If iOS (and Android) has a built in firewall, I would have no reason to want to sideload.
Sideloading would be block by default. It is on Android. The user has to unlock by choice. For iOS, it should be a lot more than just toggling a switch. Bury under a ton of security so the users can't say they turn it on by mistake. "I pushed UUDDLRLRBA 2x by mistake."
The problem with the App Store regarding competition is that Apple is both a judge and a party. It determines which app can or cannot enter the App Store, while offering first-party apps that directly compete with these developers. The conflict of interests is pretty visible. I don’t want sideloading, because the major developers will all go to an app store where security and privacy requirements are inexistants. The EU is tackling the wrong battlehorse if it plans to force sideloading on iOS, and it will certainly have negative impacts on security (not dramatic ones, but there will be). EU and other countries should force Apple to make its App Store app audit process more independent, and while I despise it business model, Facebook moderation board seems like an interesting solution (not saying it’s perfect that said).
And you really think that the 100s of millions of users are educated? 98% will just click on one of those stupid ads or links and boom … yea, good choice for the people…
She’s right in theory but likely to be dangerously wrong in practice.
Privacy is the reason I’m on iOS and not Android.
Your choice is to go use Android, or a non-smartphone phone. Or something like a Tizen OS smartphone.
The customer can use a web clip as an app or use the App Store. Absolutely no one here is going to convince me that sideloading apps is something beneficial to the average end user other than to strip the iPhone of one of its competitive advantage over Android and expose customers to unlimited amounts of malware, crapware and scams.
This EU bureaucrat is more concerned with eroding Privacy to make it easier for governments to spy and track its citizens.
This is not simply about profit. No one is being forced to use an iPhone, especially with all the competing Android phones on the market.
There is no vast majority of end users asking to be able to sideload apps, just another tiny minority of loud users who keep trying to force Apple to conduct business the same way as Google and Microsoft.
What are her qualifications? Is she a software engineer? How is her opinion anything other than an uniformed, unqualified opinion?
Agree your thoughts on side loading causing App Store abandonment and less security.
But I can’t shake the feeling that the FB MB is essentially a fig leaf to give Zuck cover for whatever decision is beneficial for him at the time.
As is usual, a politician or bureaucrat doesn't get the irony owithin their statement.
Correct, customers can have what they want. If a customer feels like they want the more open app side, they have the option of the Android platform. That option is literally everywhere and offers smartphone hardware at every single level of the consumer space (low end to higher end).
Politician/bureaucrat: security good but security not good if too much security. It hurts competition is a very competitive market space that has resulted in distinct and available choices along with tech advancements that have been excellent.
I’m sure that Facebook would love to get people to sideload a version of their app that is not restricted from collecting information about users.
Apple and Google and Microsoft and Sony and Valve/Steam and Epic Games all need to be monitored to do the right thing.
Privacy is not an excuse but a certain principle that needs to be held.
When the officials of any government truly understand, they will have a smaller problem with any of this. They want their own privacy and they probably want privacy for the people they're supposed to protect. However, they're too eager to say that they know the alternative is safe.