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Everyone who thinks they're getting such a great deal buying Samsung, Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi, and other android phones just found out how those companies can afford to sell flagship phones with huge discounts or for such low prices.
 
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My guess is that yes that can happen. But it's not clear who violated your privacy. The person you were communicating with gave the data to someone else (a business), who is looking at it with their permission. The person you were talking to could just as well have taken a screenshot and posted it online, or printed your email and taped it to pole in the public square. Is the person or the business guilty?
Fair point, and it’s hard to say. They are taking money to, in effect, spy on their friends and family (if my assumptions are accurate)

Let me ask this: If Facebook or Google paid a friend to secretly record phone conversations with you and provide them with those recordings, all without your knowledge and consent, would that be okay?

More to the point, I’m not sure these side loaders realize they are compromising their contacts’ privacy in addition to their own. That TOS fine print isn’t something most people read.

I’m having trouble seeing past the idea that you don’t have to be a willing participant to have your data shared. Heck, how do you even know someone you’re in contact with has installed one of these “data collection” apps? There’s zero disclosure.
 
Lots of companies, including small businesses, exploit enterprise certificates... And why is that? Because AppStore rules are annoyingly restrictive..

Lots of sex offenders go to the third world to abuse children.
Do you know why? They find laws in the developed world annoyingly restrictive.
 
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Well, at least Google apologized. Making it voluntary does't really help the situation better neither,, its shouldn't have been done
 
Just think: these are the only ones we’ve caught so far. Wonder how many other companies out there, with names not quite so big as FB and Google, who are busily gathering our data using their “free” apps.
 
Just think: these are the only ones we’ve caught so far. Wonder how many other companies out there, with names not quite so big as FB and Google, who are busily gathering our data using their “free” apps.

Seems to those in the shadows are the freakiest.
 
Translations of Google’s statement: “We’re sorry we got caught. We’ll try harder next time not to get caught.”

And it’s not like you get a lot of stuff from Google opinion reward. I have been participating in that program in my Android phone for years, and the rewards are extremely few and far in between. Many are only a few cents here and there as Play store credit, and many don’t even give any rewards at all. And with me allowing full access to my Google account, I got nothing useful from Google Now/Assistant. Just weather and reminders of some promotions email getting expired. Truly useless.
 
Realistically, I know that it's impossible for me to do anything on the internet and not somehow interact with these companies, but the last few months (years?) have had me really questioning if I should go out of my way to avoid certain players as much as possible.

I got rid of Facebook a year ago and try not to be the "hey, I got rid of Facebook" person, but if it does come up, there's still people who seem shocked (as though I'm living without electricity or something like that). I never got locked into Gmail, but there's a few other Google services that I've been winding down over the years (the Hangouts changes have led me to move away from Google Voice and eventually think about deleting my account).

Recently, I watched Valley of the Boom on National Geographic Channel and it was a good look at a few of the '90s tech companies (really just a trip down memory lane) and it struck me that "evil" Microsoft of that era tended to be ruthless, but played much cleaner than some of companies today.

No company is perfect (certainly not Apple), but I feel like there's a point where one can opt-out of certain products/companies even if they're popular.
I am with you. I don't use FB and I minimize my use of Google as much as I can (DuckDuckGo is a great search engine alternative and there are several good VPNs out there including NordVPN). I also use "Delete Me" from Abine.com to continually purge my personal data from data aggregator websites like Intelius, Spokeo, PeopleFinder, etc. etc. Google & FB and the countless, faceless data aggregators are still going to find ways to build dossiers on all of us but we don't have to make it easy on them.
 
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Let me ask this: If Facebook or Google paid a friend to secretly record phone conversations with you and provide them with those recordings, all without your knowledge and consent, would that be okay?
It wouldn't be okay with me. I'd be mad at the friend and at the company. But I don't know if I have any legal recourse in such a case.

Even if you aren't on Facebook, Facebook may have an extensive file on you, since they can collect information about you from people who ARE on Facebook. That's essentially the same problem.
 
It’s time Apple was made to allow unsigned apps to run on iOS, only approved and signed apps on the ApoStore, users have the right to install what software they wish on there devices, on macOS one can go threw the macStore or via third part from a website

iOS needs to be just like this.

“Users have the right?” From where does this right derive? God-given? Contractual? By statute?

Ps: through and their
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Apple PR getting hammered by the Facetime bug so what do you do? You put out stories about how everyone else is bad, too!

Live by the sword (security), die by the sword. With Google they know I buy used clothes on TheRealReal.
Apple didn’t put out this story.
 
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Additionally, people who install these kinds of apps for rewards may not fully understand the extent of the data that's collected.

Even me, whose native language isnt english, can easily understand the text above. And im sure you get that notice on your own language before installing the app. If you dont understand the text, maybe you should have a guardian.

Google Also Exploiting Enterprise Certificates to Bypass iOS App Store for Data Collection

The real news should be why is it so easy to bypass those restrictions and what else can be done as easily as this?
 
Everyone who thinks they're getting such a great deal buying Samsung, Oppo, Huawei, Xiaomi, and other android phones just found out how those companies can afford to sell flagship phones with huge discounts or for such low prices.

Looks like your are reading into this. I seriously doubt Google was giving this data away especially to Chinese companies. Unless you are trying to allude that there are similar apps for each of these OEM’s?

Not seeing what you are trying to say.
Sorry.
 
Facebooks app installed a root SSL certificate giving them access to all encrypted network traffic on your device, all of it! Still don't see the problem?
No, frankly I don't. I could not care less.
Assume everything you do on the internet is there for everyone to see.
And no, they did not get access to all your encrypted traffic, just the ones with low security.
 
Difference with Facebook:
Google pays Apple so Apple uses Google Search on the iOS platform.
This will be interesting.

You don’t have to log in to Google to perform searches and you can disable cookie site tracking in Safari.

The only way to make that more private is a VPN or if your ISP deletes your browser history, but governments have requested ISPs to keep your data.

An iCloud membership should provide VPN if Apple’s servers can handle it. I don’t trust other VPN providers because I don’t know who or where or what they are.
 
This combined with deciding that corporations are to be treated as separate entities with human-like rights, and then pretending that this faceless corporate entity is responsible for any bad things that happen, and not the head of the company or the board of directors. When the board of director's primary directive is to make more money, and it's the faceless corporate entity that takes the hit for bad behavior - so no consequences for the actual humans making the decisions, the corporate entity often tends towards rather sociopathic behavior.

Indeed. I agree. And seems like the worst that happens to those bad executives is they get fired and get their huge golden parachutes.
 
I am with you. I don't use FB and I minimize my use of Google as much as I can (DuckDuckGo is a great search engine alternative and there are several good VPNs out there including NordVPN). I also use "Delete Me" from Abine.com to continually purge my personal data from data aggregator websites like Intelius, Spokeo, PeopleFinder, etc. etc. Google & FB and the countless, faceless data aggregators are still going to find ways to build dossiers on all of us but we don't have to make it easy on them.

This is another thing I have a problem with. We have to pay to have our information removed from these sites. While there is a way to get it removed for free, they do not make it easy and there are so many that it would take up so much of your time. How is this ok?
 
I am with you. I don't use FB and I minimize my use of Google as much as I can (DuckDuckGo is a great search engine alternative and there are several good VPNs out there including NordVPN). I also use "Delete Me" from Abine.com to continually purge my personal data from data aggregator websites like Intelius, Spokeo, PeopleFinder, etc. etc. Google & FB and the countless, faceless data aggregators are still going to find ways to build dossiers on all of us but we don't have to make it easy on them.

Automation still makes it easy for them.

The easiest way to stay off the grid is to:
1) use your own VPN, not a 3rd party
2) don’t use credit cards
3) don’t register to vote
4) use PO Boxes
5) get rid of all your social media
6) don’t have a LinkedIn account for job searching
7) don’t use email
8) put a mask on when you go outside
9) don’t ever buy a house or real estate
10) Live in a remote location where there are no formal roads
 
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Is that app installed voluntarily? Or is it part of any google app you would want to use? So far the apology is only about having used a certificate thats intended for a different purpose.

After all. At least now even a careless person must have understood: (user) data is a currency. And you pay everytime you are online and stay logged into some page, browse, allow cookies or press install. Therefore, neither Apple or Google are actually interested in this thing making the news.
 
Apple needs to drop the ban hammer. No more double standards. Equally apply the rules to every developer or get rid of the rules and allow anything. No more favorites. No more politics. Make it swift and automatic. A three strikes and your out policy would work well. First offense is a week ban. Second offense is a month ban. Third offense is a permaban. Do it!
 
This Google program isn't exactly the same as the Facebook issue but nevertheless they violated the terms of their certificate. It should be invalidated.

On other hand Apple should provide some way that these type of programs could run, with full user consent and disclosure. These programs could be about anything, could be some sort of medical trial monitoring, who knows.
 
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