Apple fires warning shot at Facebook and Google on privacy, pledges fight against 'data-industrial complex' Apple has fired a warning shot at Facebook and Google by insisting it will remove their apps from its App Store if they don’t comply with Cupertino's new privacy standard. Speaking at the European Data Protection and Privacy Conference on Tuesday, Apple's senior VP of software Craig Federighi made a number of pointed comments …
Good. That tells me that for once, Apple is doing the right thing for all of us. If what Apple is doing is making Google, FB etc nervous then that is good in my book.
Mind you, I don't use FB or any other social media platform and my use of anything with a google owned domain is strictly limited. I made my own decision about their (google etc) desires to own our lives through data slurping years ago.
Besides, Zuck is not a nice human being. He has about as much empathy as the GOP candidate in the Georgia run offs, Kelly Loeffler. If ever there was a humanoid robot, she is one.
Yet, I don't feel safe when this is the side effect of one company trying to undermine its competitors.
I would prefer by far if the required laws to forbid user data gathering are in place and effectively enforced against he "data-industrial complex" - I don't want to depend on the gracious dispensation from an Internet feudal leader.
In the US at least, the government has become a pinata with various interests grabbing at the stick in the hope that if they hack it just right, all that candy will fall on them. If these interests were children & I was the adult, this might be acceptable. In fact, they are the elephants, and I am the grass...
At least when companies are engaged in competition, as opposed to rent seeking, consumers get choices.
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Is that you relinquish your privacy to Google, Faecebook et al who sell it to advertisers who then reimburse their costs by charging you for their unwanted ads when you purchase goods.
I wonder what proportion of that money the consumer parts with actually supports the internet rather than simply going into the pockets of the privacy robbers who are at liberty to sell your info again and again.
As an aside, see the article at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism re a meeting between zuck and Matt Hancock.
Very nice phrase, can't fault the criticisms of the privacy-shattering FaceGoo lot.
But what about the "closed system-industrial complex" that is Apple? They are hardly in contention for corporate sainthood themselves due to many of their most egregious practices. Privacy for people AND openness of technology are what are really required to make the IT world a better place.
for example, from my point of view having done (legal) device tracking experiments, including 2.45/5GHz and GSM/3G; Apple's "Control Centre" Wi-Fi and BT "OFF", which isn't an off, but simply disconnects from current devices, whilst continuing to allow RF tracking, is a privacy fail.
Subtle, hiding the actual RF disconnect functions; but I can see why they do it as so many things in the Apple system "closed system-industrial complex" need pervasive and continuing access to all sorts of bandwidths & frequencies. (The ultrawideband RF chip in the new mini-speaker, for example)
but is anyone actually interested/worried concerning the rare possibilities of unique device tracking & privacy abuse?
how about the no-such-agency?
https://media.defense.gov/2020/Aug/04/2002469874/-1/-1/0/CSI_LIMITING_LOCATION_DATA_EXPOSURE_FINAL.PDF (333132 bytes Cybersecurity Requirements Center National Security Agency 3-page PDF)
lots of useful stuff, including "For iOS devices: Only use the Settings app to disable Wi-Fi/BT. Settings for these features in the control center may not work as expected. U/OO/155603-20 | PP-20-0535 | Aug 2020"
Does anyone actually use Control Center for anything except the torch? I find it one of the most useless features in IOS.
Not sure you can characterise that as deception or hiding - more like 2 teams building related features not communicating.
I suspect most IOS users reach for flight mode or wifi/bluetooth off in settings anyway.
They want to create a safe environment for their customers, which means that data hogging advertisers are limited in what they can do.
If you want to live in a world where there are no restrictions on ads, Google is ready and willing to welcome you into theirs.
> ITP – the advertising industry in particular claimed it would “sabotage the economic model of the internet,” but then they adapted and all is well.
Yeah it works so well the ad industry just found ways round it. Ways so simple they expect a programmer with no ad industry experience to be able to devise such a scheme at interview (from personal experience, I refused).
Seems like as good a place as any to say this. I was using WhatsApp a couple of months back, messaging my neighbour. WhatsApp claims end to end encryption. Anyway, while typing a message, it was suddenly like someone was using remote control software typing on my screen for me. Each word as it appeared was repeated, and it was only semi grammatical. I took screenshots of the messages.
So there are only two explanations for this.
1. My iPhone has been compromised and some third party has installed software that has broken the app sandbox and did this.
2. (Much more likely in my opinion) WhatsApp are lying out their brown asterisks and the service is not end to end encrypted as they claim it is.
One of the messages read (don’t ask me, these are simply the words as they appeared on the screen like someone was typing)
“3 I I am so so sorry sorry to hear hear from from you I was thinking weqrqqeeqqeeqeqqeq”
The message meant nothing to my neighbour and bore no relation to anything we had been talking about. It seems odd only some of the words are repeated, but that is as it appeared.
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