Steve Jobs Interviewed on Location Tracking Issues

[hchung]

Great post. Just one thing (or maybe 2?)

I never said I didn't like what Apple has done or that the technology isn't great.

What I was stating is that Apple, along with other companies contribute to the dumbing down of society. And then put themselves in a position to speak down to you (ie today's quote by Steve Jobs) about educating the customer.

I don't pretend to have all the answers. One of my majors was in Speech Communications. There's a lot of validity to professionals using language to subjugate and/or exclude other members of society in conversation. The language doctors, lawyers, auto mechanics, you name it all have their own vocabulary which excludes the average person. This also adds "mystique" and credence to the information they state.

So when I say that Apple and other companies are contributing to the dumbing down of society - I say that without prejudice or judgment - but merely a statement of fact. And pretty incontrovertible at that.

Okay, so how would you tell the average person to check their carburetor without "excluding the average person?"

Yes, there's plenty of examples of language usage designed to add mystique. Heck, one popularly misunderstood one in tech circles is the word "free" since "free" to the average person is different than "free" to the FSF/GNU crowd.

Heck, your opinion that Apple "contributes to the dumbing down of society" is an example of talking down against what people do. I personally don't see them as "dumbing down society", since I see that society was dumb to begin with. Apple doesn't make us any dumber, because if Apple didn't make the devices easy to use, people probably wouldn't use the devices anyways. They wern't going to be "smarter" without it.

Likewise, all are welcome to see both our wordings as language manipulation.

Sometimes the language gap is unavoidable because for some given unique thing, there's just no reasonable alternative. The average person simply does not need to know what a carburetor is, does not want to know what a carburetor is, nor would even care to remember what a carburetor is if you took the time to explain it to them in clear words.

Likewise, I'm fairly sure many of you here would care all that much if I or somebody else busted out a lecture on the Tomasulo algorithm despite all of us using it every day.

I'm all for education, but I understand that sometimes people just want to use the device, not know about how it works. Giving people the tools to do what they want lets them choose what they do next, hopefully that is to learn about something they do actually care about.

 

[farmboy]

There's a lot of validity to professionals using language to subjugate and/or exclude other members of society in conversation. The language doctors, lawyers, auto mechanics, you name it all have their own vocabulary which excludes the average person. This also adds "mystique" and credence to the information they state.

Well, sometimes this is true, but that's a very academic view. More often the reason polysyllabic or technical words are used is because they are precise where precision in the communication is required, and/or conform to a set of vocabulary standards common in that profession. A motor is not an engine, a plea of guilty is not the same as nolo contendere, and Crohn's isn't the same as colitis.

[/QUOTE]So when I say that Apple and other companies are contributing to the dumbing down of society - I say that without prejudice or judgment - but merely a statement of fact. And pretty incontrovertible at that.[/QUOTE]

Sorry, I think that premise is at least overstated. If you can rebuild a car but can't make a pencil, does that make you dumb? Code but can't make your own 45nm chips? Burn a disk but not repair the laser? Use a computer but not understand multi-processing? People didn't understand Watt and his steam engine or Daimler and his auto, or Jenner and his vaccine, but they understood the benefits of trains, cars, and preventive medicine fast enough and have used them to great benefit.

I agree that a lot of people are dumber than wood. But it's not some nebulous corporate misbehavior or even unintended consequences that are making them so (plenty of other reasons, starting at home).

 

[Legion93]

It's Bill Gates! Run away!

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Who can we trust?

 

[brymaster]

Apple's attitude about this stuf has always been very positive. I'm totally willing to believe that all this stuff was an oversight since believing that matches what they've said in the past.

GNL, yeah, sure. "It was a bug."

 

[brymaster]

Wall Street and the marketplace seem to think they are doing an overall good job.

Could you be dick-riding Apple any harder?

 

[brymaster]

Ugh. This whole tracking "issue" theater is nauseating - for cripes sake stop already.

Good idea - stop giving a **** about your own privacy and make sure to never question anything. Can I vote for you?

 

[brymaster]

This tracking stuff is all the Apple haters fault. All the non-iPhone owners are the one's making a big deal about it. Can't wait to buy a white iPhone tomorrow so Apple can track 2 phones I own.

You should kill yourself.

 

[brymaster]

FACT: Apple doesn't access the database cache, emails, passwords, photos on your phone either.

Huh? That's funny - you must not have read their press release, Mr Consultant.

 

[brymaster]

why are you bugging him about this crap All Things Digital?

Because privacy is important, you ****ing idiot.

 

[brymaster]

The only thing interesting in this thread is Steve Jobs' health, god bless he is in good condition, hope you get well Steve, and I hope you will feel better in the future and not have any health issues any more.

BTW, Jobs is not interested in peoples location, the media just hypes everything up and if you want absolute privacy, go live in a bunker.

Good point - privacy absolutely isn't important. But you living in London already know that, right?

****ing idiot.

 

[brymaster]

Except, Apple says that they actually do access the location database:

Glad someone actually read the press release unlike the rest of the idiots in this thread.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Actually the recent news about the location db is a completely unrelated issue.

1. Apple does collect location data in order to improve their location services. This was long ago disclosed to regulators and users. This is NOT the target of the recent media buzz.

2. Your phone dynamically creates a local cache of known cell tower locations in order to aid in GPS triangulation (the "a" in aGPS). This is the recent hot topic and has been grossly misrepresented by the media. (Apple does not collect this data, because they sent it to you in the first place)

Oddly enough ALL cellular phones on GSM create a local cache of known cell tower locations - this is agnostic of GPS and has nothing to do with it. Long time WinMobile 6/6.1/PE and Nokia S60 2nd/3rd Edition users that have used CellLOCK or a similar apps can attest to this.

 

[oban14]

I love it. A database that contains all of your movements for months, unencrypted, is found on the phone. Apple's response? We're "uneducated" and just don't get it.

 

[caspersoong]

At least they answer us. I will believe Steve to save from worrying.

 

[NebulaClash]

Could you be dick-riding Apple any harder?

Interesting. I wrote: "Wall Street and the marketplace seem to think they are doing an overall good job." Both are factually true statements backed by objective reality.

In reply, you resort to your homoerotic thoughts and start to project them upon others. Please leave your sexual fantasy life out of the discussion.

 

[samcraig]

As "engineers" (their words, not mine) I find it incredulous (ie. B.S.) that they are surprised that 2 MB file of pure ascii text was so large and retained so much information.

Think about that for a second. 2 megs of text.

I currently have a 50 page word file (which contains a ton of formatting) that comes in about 100K.

 

[airforce1]

Its not Apple that we are worried about here....Steve. Its how others will use this info.

And who ever they are they evidently knew more about it from the inside circle.

we are supposed to believe apple did not use this to track people when they limited the iMovie for iPads to ONLY WORK if you agree it uses your locations, same with photos tagged with locations, now final cut also promoting LOCATIONS, duh, yeah right, only Apple techs online would argue this is not true, they lied to the FCC and the FCC is also chasing them now

 

[airforce1]

You should kill yourself.

lol


you know what the funny part is, congress wants to subpoena certain mac sites soon for the IPs of those supporting Apples (CLAIMS) instead of asking for the data paths, all the traffic info to show hard proof Apple is not doing this, for the very reason everyone is starting to believe Apple uses FRAUDULENT cyber propaganda armies to post this garbage on line to make them look good, just look at how many posts they have, one guy had over 7000 posts on the Apple discussions forums and it said member since 2008, how many days are in a year haha

 

[airforce1]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)



What i find hilarious about people being afraid of the gvernment statement is that if the gov wants ur info, they will take it. Apple really isnt the people to be afraid of. If the gov wanted totrack you, bitch they will. They dont need phones to do it either. They will make a new day of the week just to make you gone.

The State department, FBI, NSA, CIA etc can track your through the central phone company with out a warrant in less then a few minutes, they even have private satellite channels, i just wanted to mention this becuase some use the police BS claiming that its good to find perpetrators using a iphone, no its not, to legally prosecute someone you need a warrant from the district attorneys office or hard evidence like a video to indict them.

Even cops use police jammers and dont need iphones, also they listen in on the phone lines before they actually respond to a call, these so called APPLE TECHS posting here to back up apple as the new big brother are clearly accomplices in what might be a cooperate espionage in my opinion, the only justification i can think of for Apple to of risked facing violations more serious then Google and Facebook which are (free services), we paid for these devices which is also a huge difference. , now everyone wants to know if these apps who collected emails and political views last year where apples own developers indulging on spying.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Yeah - I'm glad Apple thinks education is the issue. After all - their education on Antennae did a world of good

it did. people stopped freaking out, and nobody's complained since... total non issue.

 

[samcraig]

it did. people stopped freaking out, and nobody's complained since... total non issue.

I think that's false. I also think that the antenna issue is brought up every time Apple news hits the press in relation to iPhone stories, stock prices, etc.

One of the first things people sought to find out when the Verizon iPhone was released was whether or not it had an antenna issue.

Damage done.

When the new iPhone is released - the issue will rear its ugly head again. If it's "solved" people will say that Apple fixed this "non issue". If it's not fixed, Consumer reports will once again not recommend the phone and there will be a slew of articles no doubt.

So I disagree.

 

[rtheb]

I think that's false. I also think that the antenna issue is brought up every time Apple news hits the press in relation to iPhone stories, stock prices, etc.

One of the first things people sought to find out when the Verizon iPhone was released was whether or not it had an antenna issue.

Damage done.

When the new iPhone is released - the issue will rear its ugly head again. If it's "solved" people will say that Apple fixed this "non issue". If it's not fixed, Consumer reports will once again not recommend the phone and there will be a slew of articles no doubt.

So I disagree.

The damage was done and people still ask if Apple fixed their antenna problem.