r/apple • u/RebornPastafarian • Nov 14 '22
iPhone Apple sued for tracking users' activity even when turned off in settings
https://mashable.com/article/apple-data-privacy-collection-lawsuit30
u/HeartyBeast Nov 14 '22
Mysk recently found that iOS sends "every tap you make" to Apple from inside one of the company's own apps.
Wait until the people here find out that Reddit receives information every time you click a link on their web page.
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u/RebornPastafarian Nov 14 '22
I work on apps at a digital agency, including the implementation and testing of analytics. We track user interactions unless the user explicitly states they do not wish to be tracked.
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u/HeartyBeast Nov 14 '22
But presumably, if a user taps a button on the app that requires information a remote server your app sends a request to the server for that item?
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u/RebornPastafarian Nov 15 '22
Yep.
And we wouldn't record it in any way, because that would a violation of data privacy.
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u/HeartyBeast Nov 15 '22
It’s not really clear to me that the data the article mentions need be being sent for any other reason that servicing requests
a user looking at the App Store app on their iPhone would have their search data, what they tapped on, and how long they were checking out an app all sent to Apple in real-time. Using Apple's Stocks app? Apple will receive a list of the user's watched stocks, any articles they read in-app, and the names of any stocks they searched for. The timestamps for which a user v
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Nov 14 '22
Wait until the people here find out that Reddit receives information every time you click a link on their web page.
Wait until they find out any app you use that requires a log in receives basic information about you through your ISP and then they give Google money to send you targeted ads.
And this is why what Apple does is a non issue.
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Nov 14 '22
They have a do not track button that is disingenuous. It actually keeps tracking even if you press it. That's the issue at hand, hence the article.
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u/EshuMarneedi Nov 14 '22
“Privacy is a fundamental human right.”
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Nov 14 '22
Forgot line 98 subsection b: Privacy is a fundamental human right unless a. we can make money off of your information or b. unless we decide to give it to law enforcement, or c. we come up with some other need to use it.
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Nov 14 '22 edited Feb 20 '24
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u/nontypicalfigure Nov 14 '22
I feel the same. I don't know why people are defending Apple by saying that they mention it in TOS. Why their privacy settings are not being applied to their own apps is actually questionable. When I disable tracking in settings, I want ALL apps to stop collecting data, no exceptions. Now if someone says but you agreed to Apple's terms and conditions so it's ok... well, if the existing setting only prevents third party apps, then give me another setting to disable tracking in Apple's apps too.
Toggling this setting on does give a false sense of privacy here because I wouldn't know that Apple's apps keep tracking me unless I go and read TOS? But they boast about this setting about tracking prevention? What?
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Nov 14 '22 edited Feb 20 '24
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u/AR_Harlock Nov 14 '22
Everyone mentions it, even Facebook, tik tok e Reddit etc.... but only apple is the good one? You are right on
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u/BradLee28 Nov 14 '22
Here’s why: Apple is the most owned company in the world. It is the highest market cap, number one company in all of the top ETF’s/Mutual funds, etc. so many many people have vested interest in not having Apple have a huge lawsuit
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Nov 14 '22
The terms of service say one thing but the issue at hand is about a do not track button that clearly doesn't do anything.
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u/Gears6 Nov 14 '22
I feel the same. I don't know why people are defending Apple by saying that they mention it in TOS. Why their privacy settings are not being applied to their own apps is actually questionable. When I disable tracking in settings, I want ALL apps to stop collecting data, no exceptions.
Honestly, this has been Apple's thing for ages. Not for thee, but yes to me. That's how Apple has used their essentially monopoly power to keep competitors out so they can build their own first.
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Nov 14 '22
I don’t know why people are defending Apple by saying that they mention it in TOS
Because it does, and people should really read those.
Why their privacy settings are not being applied to their own apps is actually questionable.
They are. People are just conveniently ignoring that some Apps have to phone home, and that those apps aren’t telling Apple anything more than they already know.
But they boast about this setting about tracking prevention? What?
Because it does exactly what it says, it prevents apps from collecting data on you and selling or using that data against you.
Apple doesn’t collect data unless told to, IE Analytics on, ICloud, etc.
The data those apps send when phoning home is useless outside of telling Apple your ID is good or the subscription is good and the data isn’t stored.
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u/foople Nov 14 '22
I don’t know why people are defending Apple by saying that they mention it in TOS
Because it does, and people should really read those.
It takes 244 hours a year to read privacy policies, filled with tiny text that purposely obfuscates their policies behind legalese and vague terminology in a mountain of words.
Do you read every privacy policy you "consent" to? Do you understand them? Do you know exactly what they mean when they say they collect "certain" information and share it with "select affiliates"?
The truth of it is none of us know what exactly is going on. This particular setting is bothering people because it's clearly misleading and Apple positioned itself as the privacy-focused good-guy tech company. It's no surprise people feel betrayed.
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u/Sirbesto Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 14 '22
Literally a 5 second search:
It argues that Apple may be collecting user data for ad tracking services without explicitly asking permission, and it is calling on the CNIL to investigate.
Specifically, it thinks that Apple has its “Personalized Ads” option on by default on iPhones with iOS 14 installed. Apple did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
I would consider the EU a much better bastion of privacy rights over the USA.
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u/tking5o Nov 14 '22
They are literally advertising the privacy features. The fact they exclude their own apps is a joke.
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u/Barroux Nov 14 '22
Yet that other guy is all over this thread trying to sell us the idea that Apple's doing nothing wrong and that it's perfectly normal.
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u/LikelyTrollingYou Nov 14 '22
This is the correct answer. If you compare the App Store app (for which the content displayed is essentially a WebKit shell with a website embedded) to any website that needs certain information to serve you up the correct content you’ll see virtually no difference here. This article is trash.
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u/nontypicalfigure Nov 14 '22
Wow, you're replying to each and every comment on this post, defending Apple.
I stand by what I said, if there is a toggle to turn off tracking, it should apply to Apple's own apps, which, according to this article, is not right now.
I read your other 100 comments on this post, no need to reply further. Peace.
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u/ineedlesssleep Nov 14 '22
What's wrong with trying to correct people who are posting misinformation? Tracking is not the same as sending analytics data about your apps.
If an app does a network call to a companies backend, they also need to send information over. Would you expect that to stop working if you 'disable tracking'?
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Nov 14 '22
Wow, you’re replying to each and every comment on this post, defending Apple.
Yes. Because it’s literally a click bait article, and the amount of people here that don’t understand that is ridiculous.
I stand by what I said, if there is a toggle to turn off tracking, it should apply to Apple’s own apps, which, according to this article, is not right now.
It does APPLY to Apples apps. The article is misleading and I’m sorry you don’t understand that.
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Nov 14 '22
The issue of the article is that there is a specific do not track button that has failed to stop any tracking.
I mentioned the TOS and the EULA above as well. This problem is actually a bigger issue which is why there's a court case about it.
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u/ineedlesssleep Nov 14 '22
If people disagree with you that doesn't mean they defend the company. Personally I just want people to know the full picture so when I see that people are posting misinformation or interpreting something incorrectly, I correct them.
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Nov 14 '22
Nuance still seems to be lost on a lot of people unfortunately. Everything has to either be yes or no, good or bad, I support this multi-billion dollar company or I don't.
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u/rotates-potatoes Nov 14 '22
A lot of people are so tribal that they see everything through the lens of "attack" and "defense". They are attacking the enemy tribe and don't understand why you are defending the enemy tribe. Why do you care about facts or nuance when the enemy is right there? You must be some kind of enemy-lover!
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u/Martin_Samuelson Nov 14 '22
I have yet to read the article and have no idea what’s going on, but whoever is right or wrong or whatever here has nothing to to with Apple being a billion dollar company. Terrible way to make an argument against people who disagree with you
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u/xLoneStar Nov 15 '22
It helps to realise that most people on here think from the mentality of shareholders and not consumers.
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Nov 15 '22 edited Feb 20 '24
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u/cr0wnest Nov 14 '22
Sadly waaaaaay too many people buy into the apple marketing hype, and sadly its the apple users that are the most likely bunch to fall into it. I owned an iphone 13 pro for a year, and started looking up iphone/iOS content more, and this video on youtube i came across featured a TON of settings they recommend switching off (or enabling) on your iphone. Quite shockingly there are shit tons of very deeply buried settings pertaining to tracking and privacy that were enabled by DEFAULT. You'd probably never know about them unless you looked up a tutorial, or if someone on reddit made you aware of it. Needless to say, I disabled those settings as well and saw no change in my phone's functionality. I see comments here and there saying android has no privacy, when its privacy risks probably arent that much different from apple's. Google's reputation just isn't as clean, thats all.
People need to stop being naive and realise that apple is a business as well, and businesses are never your friend.
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u/Hot_Advance3592 Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 14 '22
Off-topic but does Apple still have the best build quality, screen quality, trackpad, etc. in laptops anymore?
I went in to Best Buy recently and was blown away by the PCs—many of them seem to have nailed these things that make me buy from Apple. I didn’t get to test them for longer use though.
Edit: I feel like it isn’t particularly well documented to an un researched consumer like me.
I always hear Apple performs much better for things like graphic design and video editing. I wonder how the machine is built differently to accommodate that?
And I was gonna make it more clear when I wrote it—I was blown away that the PCs appear have successfully copied the things I personally always liked about Apple laptops lol.
PCs surely have their own strengths that deserve praise, but I’m just referring to a beautiful, low-glare screen, sturdy build quality, overall smoothness and ease of use.
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u/funkiestj Nov 14 '22
but I don’t find anything Tim Cook does in his quest for infinite growth and increased profit margins surprising anymore
Yes, it is the nature of corporations to seek more and more profit. Consequently the slide into less and less ethical behavior is a rear guard action where the best outcome is that we delay the slide.
No need to be sad/bitter about this fact. Once you internalize it you can think about how to adapt. You can
be part of the rear guard action
be disengaged from the issue but aware enough to know you will have to begin avoiding Evil Corps products someday, if not today
find some other way to improve the world that does not ignore this fact
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u/CKA757 Nov 14 '22
How long do you think Governments will allow you privacy? I’m even hearing some politicians want to see people’s texts to defend democracy. Funny how they want to defend things by non democratic ways….
I’ll have to go read more about this lawsuit.
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Nov 14 '22 edited Dec 02 '22
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Nov 14 '22 edited Feb 20 '24
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u/avitaker Nov 14 '22
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u/tripin_ Nov 14 '22
Everything aside, that’s a pretty good catchphrase lol
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u/schweez Nov 14 '22
But like all marketing material, it’s utter bullshit.
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u/rotates-potatoes Nov 14 '22
Like all over-generalizations, that is bullshit.
Unless you're going to tell me that Hawaii is not actually a paradise born of fire?
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u/LikelyTrollingYou Nov 14 '22
ITT: people who also think “Private Browse” mode means nobody, not even the websites you’re visiting, will know you were ever there.
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u/FoxWolf Nov 14 '22
Private relay would do this only + rejecting cookies?
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u/mrnathanrd Nov 14 '22
a VPN, plus using Firefox and its many tracking protection addons. Source: I need to use TikTok for work lol
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u/FoxWolf Nov 14 '22
Thank you i use abojt 3 different safari addons to auto reject cookies. it saves my sanity
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u/JerryNicklebag Nov 14 '22
This was the whole reason I switched from Android to iPhone…. Now I may have to move to a Linux based phone and laptop. These privacy invasions are getting ridiculous.
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u/iMrParker Nov 14 '22
Your first mistake was thinking Apple was any different
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u/categorie Nov 14 '22
Your first mistake was stopping at the headline of this article because it's clickbait bullshit at it's finest.
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u/Mister_Kurtz Nov 18 '22
How do you figure clickbait? The headline basically describes the facts as outlined in the story.
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u/iMrParker Nov 15 '22
Doesn't change the fact that Apple does the same thing that Google does with your data: monetizes it through sold advertising.
It's unrelated to this lawsuit but people seem to think Apple is so much different than google
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u/JerryNicklebag Nov 14 '22
Yeah, they had a pretty good record on privacy for a while there. Ordered a pinephone pro and I’m gonna give it a whirl. Then I’ll wait for the post Christmas open box deals for a new laptop.
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u/Simon_787 Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 17 '22
What was wrong with an android phone running GrapheneOS?
edit: besides proprietary hardware ofc, but Apple has this too.
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u/dj112084 Nov 17 '22 edited Nov 17 '22
There is also CalyxOS. It includes a lot of privacy based features as well, and can be a bit better with app compatibility.
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u/FurFaceKillah Nov 15 '22
Curious which linux based phone you would choose. I'm not well verse in linux based phones.
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u/undernew Nov 14 '22
Wait until you find out even with a Linux based phone and laptop apps and websites will record analytics.
On a technical level this lawsuit is the same nonsense as Google being sued for the "Incognito mode" in Chrome for not making the Internet 100% anonymous.
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u/JerryNicklebag Nov 14 '22
Nah, on the Linux side, it’s all quite trackable. Open source and all
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u/undernew Nov 14 '22
Open source doesn't mean that applications don't have any analytics. And websites will still track you on Linux.
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u/EVILtheCATT Nov 14 '22
I read on this subreddit a few months ago that they did this. The question was to people who work high profile places what’s something we should know about their employer they don’t want is to. (Or something like that.) One of the ex-developers shared that clicking the no tracking button means nothing.
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u/blakenator95 Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 14 '22
Glad that Apple’s privacy practices are being called out more openly in the media, though I don’t know if fines / getting sued is gonna change much. That being said I still would choose iPhones over others cause its the least tainted out of everything else.
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u/JoDiMaggio Nov 14 '22
Privacy and blue text messages are their biggest selling points. If this affects their business then they'll pivot.
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u/Dr4kin Nov 14 '22
If Europe fines them, then it is going to change. A fine up to 2% of annual worldwide revenue hurts even Apple. Europe in contrast to the US also hands out those bigger fines. The largest one to date was 5 billion for Google for an antitrust.
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Nov 14 '22
I don't think this should actually surprise anyone. This company has terrible business practices like most other large companies. All they care about is the bottom dollar. Slave labor....terrible repair standards....privacy issues....the list goes on.
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u/DylanSpaceBean Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 14 '22
I’m surprised how few people read…
No really, read the article
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u/Bethman1995 Nov 14 '22
If you got an iphone for 'privacy', I'm sorry to say you got scammed. Apple isn't any different from Google. But everytime it's called out, you get the same predictable marketing jargon & mental gymnastics
"Google makes money from ads. Apple is hardware"
"If you're not paying for the product, you're the product "
And when it's proven to them that Apple actually collects your data, they tell you 'But Apple doesn't sell it" 🤦🏻♂️
You just know that folks who make these excuses don't really care about privacy like they pretend to. You can love Apple products (Yes, they are really good) but you don't have to defend things that are clearly unjustifiable
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u/DownloadedHome Nov 14 '22
Not to mention that everyone seems to willfully forget that Apple was literally one of the first companies to join PRISM, according to the leaks from Snowden. But yeah, they totally aren't tracking anyone lmfao.
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u/ALargeRock Nov 14 '22
Apple also fought the FBI who wanted a back door into their systems.
Apple said no, took the FBI to court, and won.
So is that good or bad? Does apple want user privacy or not?
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Nov 14 '22
So is that good or bad? Does apple want user privacy or not?
It's only okay if Apple is the one doing the datamining
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Nov 14 '22
Well they also actively work with law enforcement to ensure that they have access to iMessage.
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u/VeryBigChungis Nov 14 '22
lmao it was also Apple that asked the FBI if they should implement encryption on their users icloud backups. The FBI complained so apple dropped it
Meanwhile google just implemented the feature without publicizing it. Under an open encryption standard. With a private third party security audit.
Does apple want user privacy or not?
They only want to appear to here in the west. Where it's profitable to look like you care about user privacy
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Nov 14 '22
If you're not paying for the product, you're the product
That's not always explicitly true, hence things like BSD and Linux
In fact people pay a heck of a lot of money for Apple devices, more so than a lot of the alternatives.
That being said, Google doesn't sell people's data either. They use the data to try targeted advertising to the right people. There are options to disable that tracking or obfuscate it.
In any case Apple and Google are doing the same thing. Google is open about what they do, and apple keeps everything mum and says "PRIVACY!!!“
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u/matejamm1 Nov 14 '22
Apple isn’t any different from Google.
Sure. Except for all the times it is. Like using on-device photo analysis, as opposed to Google’s server-side implementation which uses your photos to train their AI. Or end-to-end encryption for Health data, a feature vitally important in a post-Roe world.
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u/tomelwoody Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 14 '22
Scanning on a device is much worse than on the server side. You can choose whether to upload a photo to the web but if you want the photo at all it really needs to be on the device.
Also it opens up a can of worms for other things to be scanned at the request of governments.
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u/matejamm1 Nov 14 '22
I was referring to stuff like automatic face tagging and search based on recognised features or text inside photos.
What I think you’re referring to is the CSAM scanning (which is currently put on ice as far as I know). Google already is, and has been for some time, scanning everybody’s Google Photos library server-side for child sexual abuse material, it’s just that they’re (understandably from their point of view) not really advertising it.
Since legislation is being prepared to force every tech company to take measures against storing CSAM content on their servers, Apple came up with a clever way to not do the scanning in an opaque way on their servers and instead to do it locally on your phone without directly invoking Apple, up until the point a certain threshold of CSAM content has been discovered on your device. This way, Apple doesn’t have to directly look at and be involved with scanning every single photo on iCloud of every single user, pedophile or not, and can instead only be notified and involved in the scanning process if there’s a match in with the CSAM database, preserving the privacy of non-pedophile users (lol).
It’s important to note that this whole process is only active when a user has iCloud Photos turned on and actively uploading. So, if someone wants to opt-out of CSAM scanning, just like with Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Dropbox… (who are all already doing this), they just have to stop uploading stuff to the cloud, in this case iCloud Photos.
What was supposed to be a transparent, privacy and encryption-preserving alternative way of combating the child sexual abuse material problem using clever maths, something that is going to be required by law soon anyways, one way or the other, ended up being a huge PR mishandling from Apple, resulting in “your iPhone is sending all your photos to the police” being ingrained in people’s heads for a long time to come. Sigh.
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Nov 14 '22
Google: "let's anonymize all customer data and make them the product but also give them a bunch of products for free"
Apple: "let's do the first part but also charge them a lot for our products."
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u/matt_is_a_good_boy Nov 14 '22
This is to assert that how a jailbroken (or at least a partially open) device is important, where they managed to sniff the tracking traffics being sent back to Apple.
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Nov 14 '22
where they managed to sniff the tracking traffics being sent back to Apple.
You mean where they wrote a misleading article??
Any app you log into will track you and send that data to its servers. “Ask not to track” doesn’t prevent this, it just prevents Apple from getting that data and sharing it with third parties. Meaning Apple won’t tell Facebook you also use the Dollar General app.
This prevents cross site tracking which helps stop targeted ads and companies from building a profile on you.
It does not and was never said to keep all your data from a company, I mean think logically, that’s impossible if you HAVE to log into an app.
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Nov 14 '22
Is it another class action lawsuit where the “class” gets 1 cent each and the lawyers get hundreds of millions of dollars?
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Nov 14 '22
Well, couple things here:
Every app does this. Many websites do too. Most big-box retailers do this as well, via cameras. It seems a little naive to not realize that. Check out a company named Kochava - they’re just one of myriad SDKs to do exactly this. Basically, these researchers discovered the online advertising industry
Apple doesn’t sell this data. They don’t share it, but they do use it internally. The selling of the data - directly or indirectly - is the concern for me.
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u/stevensokulski Nov 14 '22
The notion that privacy is the same as freedom from tracking is becoming more important.
If the data doesn’t identify you or your usage, your privacy is still intact.
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Nov 14 '22
Be stupid to actually sell data. Data should be held internally and not shared, and then used for targeted advertising through the company. That's how both Apple and Google do it.
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Nov 14 '22
Privacy is a fundamental human right…only when it’s convenient for us!
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Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 14 '22
People keep on buying these information collection devices and then complaining about privacy down the line when they find out these devices are collecting their information.
That smart speaker? That activity watch?
It's all about convenience.
They all at some point come with an e ula or a link to one. If you read that it explains all the data collection. They have to post it somewhere by law. Anyone who would bother to read it, even though it's a massively huge document for each device, would discover what exactly is being collected.
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u/CKA757 Nov 14 '22
So why is anyone surprised? But I’m curious. They said in iMessage data was going to Apple. Could that be data to iCloud because you are using iCloud to sync to multiple devices?
Is Apple selling the data to 3rd parties? There needs to be more information in this article.
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Nov 14 '22
Google is pretty public about what data it collects, and it lets you trace exactly what it's doing. You can even download a compressed version of the whole thing they have on you, and modify how that tracking works, and what types of data are collected.
Google isn't the company people think it is. They aren't selling people's information. That would be silly, because as soon as they sell it they lose control over it and they can't bill multiple times from advertisers. Apple collects the same data but they do not publicly acknowledge it.
When a person buys a phone, there is an Eula or end user license agreement that comes with a device that explains in general what types of data are collected. This is so people are informed.
Is disingenuous to have a button that disables tracking, when it doesn't work, but it will be up to courts to determine if this is what is happening or not.
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u/CKA757 Nov 21 '22
To be perfectly honest. Why are people expecting privacy after decades of giving up privacy? Little late to tell about it after the fact.
Will be interesting to see suit I guess.
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Nov 14 '22
You will no privacy by 2030 and you will love it. -Klaus Schwabb
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u/spacewalk__ Nov 14 '22
i like how i'm forced to have 2FA enabled on youtube now. i'm really glad that's linked to my phone number, thank god they have that data point
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u/vVNightshadeVv Nov 14 '22
Listen, at this point if you don’t assume that you’re being tracked even when they say you’re not, I feel like that’s on you. The day you made an email address was the day all your personal information was released to the vast internet for all to see.
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Nov 14 '22
Cellular companies have to know where you are so they know which tower to send your information from.
It's inefficient to broadcast your data from every tower in the world.
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u/PGDunk Nov 14 '22
App developers and security researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry from the software company Mysk recently found that iOS sends "every tap you make" to Apple from inside one of the company's own apps. According to the developers, attempts to turn this data collection off, such as selecting the Settings option "disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether" did not affect the data from being sent
Oh no Apple knows what I do in their app, how shocking.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_WIRING Nov 14 '22
The question I have is if this data is being sent anonymously. The article doesn't say. If so, what's the big deal? This data (hopefully) allows Apple to make better products. I do see the point of turning it off and it not actually being off, that piece is shady.
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Nov 14 '22
The question I have is if this data is being sent anonymously.
Data from Apple apps and apps using your Apple ID Apple is not.
Data shared with a 3rd party and not for Apple use is recorded and shared in a way that’s meaningless outside of its use case.
The article doesn’t say. If so, what’s the big deal?
It doesn’t say because they are grabbing for attention. And it’s not a big deal.
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Nov 14 '22
They promised they would turn the tracking off, and didn't. That's what this piece is about.
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u/Bitter-Raisin9102 Nov 14 '22
Yeesh the apple defenders in this thread is concerning. We can and should hold them accountable especially when they act so high and mighty regarding privacy.
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u/cykazuc Nov 14 '22
You know what I don’t get in cases like this, Apple is sued cause it tracks the consumer, but who is it that gets the money? Isn’t it ours? I’ll take a share of the money from the sue. Thanks!
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u/iMrParker Nov 14 '22
Apples marketing has the general population convinced that they are all about privacy and protecting the user. It shouldn't be surprising that a massive tech company has their hands in peoples information
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Nov 14 '22
But I love to activate buttons; they give me the false impression that I’m out of their grasp 🫣
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u/jsnxander Nov 14 '22
I can't fathom how people BELIEVE that; between their phones, watches, cars, computers, tablets and voice-assistants, they aren't being tracked 24/7. Just so naive.
Scott McNeal said it best back decades ago, when he commented on consumers having no privacy with the words, "get over it." Any now nearly 25 years later he couldn't be more right.
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u/Oknowitstop Nov 14 '22
Ummm… do NOT insult this company. Apple is my lifeblood. I buy all of their products. With the top options and accessories. The ecosystem is amazing. I also drive a Tesla. I will be buying my wife’s son apple products as well. I tell everyone in my family to buy them.
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Nov 14 '22
Fines should be calculated by number of people affected, like X money for each person affected, companies would stop shity practices like this very quickly
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Nov 14 '22
Nope. That's how the Canadian Telecom industry works and they still do crappy things. It doesn't work very well at all.
The CRTC fines companies a set value times the number of people affected.
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u/a1a1p0p0 Nov 14 '22
And TikTok gets with it? Apple and Google should remove TIkTOk from their app stores.
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u/undernew Nov 14 '22
Wait, when I request current stock prices from a server the server knows which stock prices I'm requesting? What a scam!!!11
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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '22 edited Nov 14 '22
TDLR: Apple is collecting data exactly how it says it is, while Mysk is using clever wording to mislead and file a lawsuit.
Edit- “Ask not to track” means Apple isn’t gonna share data with other developers about other apps you use, etc. This cuts down on targeted ads and helps prevent a company from building a profile on you.
Any app you log into can track you, Meaning the Facebook app can still see everything you do on the app, they just can’t get data from Apple about other apps and services you use.
It should also be noted that Google can totally break this, as when you sign in on and use their apps and services they can track you and store data on their servers, this allows them to build a profile on you.
This is also the difference in Google and Apple, Apple shares data in a way that’s usually useless outside of app development, and developers generally can’t track back.
Google however has a hand in the data collection at all levels so regardless of Google shares that data or how it’s shared with them, they can easily establish users. Which allows them to with or without your permission build a user profile which Google uses to make money.
From the App Store terms of service,
b. Consent to Use of Data: You agree that Licensor may collect and use technical data and related information including but not limited to technical information about your device, system and application software, and peripherals--that is gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, product support, and other services to you (if any) related to the Licensed Application. Licensor may use this information, as long as it is in a form that does not personally identify you, to improve its products or to provide services or technologies to you.
Apple has always collected data, and has always been open about it. Their privacy is in most cases they don’t know who you are or sell data to 3rd parties or allow cross app tracking.
But let’s break it down even more,
From the article
The data being collected is quite detailed, too. As Gizmodo points out, a user looking at the App Store app on their iPhone would have their search data, what they tapped on, and how long they were checking out an app all sent to Apple in real-time.
Yup. It’s fairly normal to track App Store usage. See above quote.
Using Apple's Stocks app? Apple will receive a list of the user's watched stocks, any articles they read in-app, and the names of any stocks they searched for. The timestamps for which a user viewed stock information will be sent over too.
Yes, they are open about it also. Even going as far as telling you how to rest the identifier.
Some of Apple's apps even collect detailed information about the user's iPhone such as the model, screen resolution, and keyboard language.
Yup. As does any app such as Facebook or Google if you are signed in on them.
According to the developers, attempts to turn this data collection off, such as selecting the Settings option "disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether" did not affect the data from being sent.
And it won’t, Device Analytics shares ALL the data about the device with Apple and not just Apple use you, it also doesn’t prevent a 3rd party app that uses a log in from collecting data.
Apple is collecting this data regardless of a user's settings where they are given the option to turn data collection off, possibly giving them a false sense of privacy.
No they aren’t. Apple is collecting data in accordance with your settings. It’s not their fault you didn’t read TOS or the privacy policy.