Google Under Fire for Circumvention of Cookie Settings in Safari for iOS to Track Users

Google seem to have quite a habit of unintentionally collecting and recording data about people. Very sloppy.

Why... just the other day, I tripped and fell against a girl and accidentally recorded her name, address, phone number and credit card number. Woopsie.

 

This 'bug/exploit' that Google used was fixed 6 months ago.

http://trac.webkit.org/changeset/92142

Why the story now?

 

"like" and "trust" are two different things.

I don't trust (at least, not as much) companies I deal with which do not have a paying relationship, for all the reasons I've already outlined. Just as an example, I trust HBO more than I trust NBC. Why? Because I pay HBO, and my money is their primary source of revenue (as HBO slowly migrates into becoming a movie studio and less a content provider, this still doesn't really change - they make money by selling me DVDs of their work just as much as if I am a subscription customer).

 

The difference is, Apple left their front door open with a sign inviting people in, and decided to walk around naked, and called Google a peeping Tom.

 

Google = Apple = Microsoft = almost every big corporations controlled by stockholders. If you would like to eat the good old, home made, grandmother's cake again, you should only use stuff made by small companies (at least while they aren't owned by Apple, Google or Microsoft).

 

Completely agree.

 

You made me think about closing my Gmail account and install my own mailserver in a virtual machine provider, like Linode.

 

Google is not free, their ads also consume allotted data plan bits so in effect all mobile users are paying to receive their advertising. Further, it is not necessary for them to circumvent privacy settings to make a buck. Intentionally exploiting a users privacy settings without asking the user to opt-in? How many times does Google have to get caught messing with people's privacy before people just stop using their stuff? If a website owner were to employ "black-hat" SEO techniques to game Google search their site would be removed from the Google index, why shouldn't Google be subject to the same sort of sanctions when it violates Apple's TOS? "Do no evil" my butt, Apple should just shut out Google ads within Safari on iOS devices until Google places those ill-gotten gains in some sort fund that benefits all iOS users. Perhaps one that supports app development or hardened privacy for iOS devices.

 

Are you sure it was not because the exploit (uh - feature) was actually fixed in WebKit?

 

Why do people think it is ok to blame the victim? This is insane. Have people forgotten what is right from wrong? Just because something is technically legal in one country does not make it "right".

 

Not the same. Google does that, too. This story isn't about that.

 

They said they stopped as soon as the WSJ confronted them with it. It had nothing to do with any fixes or updates with Webkit.

 

Are you also defending Microsoft for the amazing IE6 security?

 

Funny. I think it sends exactly the message that, when someone pays attention, is crystal clear. But not that I am anti-Apple. But rather that since I own Apple, support Apple (with my purchasing decisions) and enjoy their products that I care about what they do and how they do it. Conversely - I do care "for the greater good" what other companies do. But I'm not invested in them to spend my time criticizing them as much. Not to mention - this isn't a website dedicated to things NOT Apple.

But thanks for reducing my contributions to the message board as "moaning." And you accuse another as being a "kid" with their responses?

You're free to ignore me if you don't like what I have to say if it provides you of no value though. That is, of course, up to you.

 

Apple isn't the victim. The people that trusted Apple to make software without security holes are.

 

I'm not blaming the victim, a Safari USER is the victim. I'm blaming the developers of Safari. Insanity could also be defined as "thinking differently"

 

And just as assuredly Google perpetrated this on the users as they did on Apple

 

For one we are talking about Google, a business that used to publicly spout that they believed in "do no evil". They then try to spin it into something that was a "feature" that they were taking advantage of.. instead of stating they were finding a way to work around a security system.. I would say this is borderline illegal what they were doing. They found a way to hack into everyone's system to get information that was monetarily advantageous to them. Sounds illegal to me. No system can be stated to be 100% hack proof but to try and compare this to what MS had with their blatant lack of security it absurd.

 

So Google is excused from their behavior because they were teaching Apple a lesson? It just makes it all the more wrong.

 

If you look at your response and the post you were responding to, it sure seems as if you were calling Apple the victim.

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For one, we are talking about Apple, that go around pretending they have the safest systems around...

 

Where does jpmcnown say anything like that? He was responding to a post that claimed Apple is the victim, which it certainly isn't

 

You know you don't have to use Google services on an Android phone. They're optional.
Amazon's Android Appstore isn't tied to Google in any way.

 

They all claim to have the safest systems around. So are you saying it is okay to screw their users over to prove them wrong?

Do you think Google's advertisers knew they were exploiting a hack to get their ads to show up favorably? Do you think those advertisers would like it if a news story broke that they were knowingly exploiting a security hack developed to reach iOS users? Do you think those advertisers would assume their potential customers would feel it was no big deal that they exploited a security hole to market to them?

 

I'm sick of Google I want to boycott them. It pisses me off that they bought youtube..... jerks.... now they can't be 100% avoided.

 

This is tongue-in-cheek right? Haven't you overlooked the Android OS?