4 ms·

>> chop off the beginning and end (so you can't identify the addresses), and upload those using a unique anonymous identifier (i.e. UUID) and no device-specific

by petra 11y ago

>> chop off the beginning and end (so you can't identify the addresses), and upload those using a unique anonymous identifier (i.e. UUID) and no device-specific info, Actually since they know your IP address ,it's not anonymous - it's easy to connect to your identity. Also , in general the way they gather location(from another post) [1] , is they gather list of cellular and wifi hotspots around you(and i wonder about whether they gather signal strength).And since for example , wifi signals are heavily blocked by walls, they are very space limited in many situations. So maybe(IDK, the field of anonymization is tricky) combining this data with the data sent when asking for a route is enough get pretty close location ? altough sure, some data is definetly is lost in this process and that's a good thing. [1]http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/04/27/finally-apple-speaks-out-about-iphone-location-data/ http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/04/27/finally-apple-speaks-...

danudey 11y ago
But on most (probably all?) mobile carriers, you're NATted anyway, so your IP address doesn't really tell you much about who specifically you are compared to, say, your home address.
- petra 11y ago
  even while being NATted , don't your port remain stable at least for some time ? and that coupled with Apple's other services which do identify and use that port , gives enough info ?
eridius 11y ago
> Actually since they know your IP address ,it's not anonymous - it's easy to connect to your identity. Only if they record that information. When a company is going to lengths to deliberately throw away identifying information, it seems kind of ludicrous to suggest that they're still going to try and track you by using a mechanism that is significantly worse than the information they already had access to and chose not to use.
- petra 11y ago
  Apple aims to maneuver between two goals - between selling privacy , but creating great services(who often depend on data). My suggestion could be one mechanism to optimize both. Or maybe not. we don't know.
  - eridius 11y ago
    How does tracking users by IP address optimize for anything? Apple has shown repeatedly that they believe privacy is very important (Tim Cook has even gone on record as saying he believes privacy is a fundamental right), and they exert a fair amount of effort in trying to preserve that privacy (e.g. all of the data they refuse to collect, and all of the anonymizing they do on the data they do collect, which still requires the user to opt-in before that anonymized data is sent to Apple). The only way in which your argument makes sense is if you think Apple doesn't actually care about privacy, but only cares about the appearance of caring about privacy, and therefore would anonymize data it collects while still leaving loopholes for it to try and recover some of that data anyway. But that contradicts all of the evidence.

by petra 11y ago

danudey 11y ago

But on most (probably all?) mobile carriers, you're NATted anyway, so your IP address doesn't really tell you much about who specifically you are compared to, say, your home address.

petra 11y ago
even while being NATted , don't your port remain stable at least for some time ? and that coupled with Apple's other services which do identify and use that port , gives enough info ?

eridius 11y ago

> Actually since they know your IP address ,it's not anonymous - it's easy to connect to your identity. Only if they record that information. When a company is going to lengths to deliberately throw away identifying information, it seems kind of ludicrous to suggest that they're still going to try and track you by using a mechanism that is significantly worse than the information they already had access to and chose not to use.

petra 11y ago
Apple aims to maneuver between two goals - between selling privacy , but creating great services(who often depend on data). My suggestion could be one mechanism to optimize both. Or maybe not. we don't know.
- eridius 11y ago
  How does tracking users by IP address optimize for anything? Apple has shown repeatedly that they believe privacy is very important (Tim Cook has even gone on record as saying he believes privacy is a fundamental right), and they exert a fair amount of effort in trying to preserve that privacy (e.g. all of the data they refuse to collect, and all of the anonymizing they do on the data they do collect, which still requires the user to opt-in before that anonymized data is sent to Apple). The only way in which your argument makes sense is if you think Apple doesn't actually care about privacy, but only cares about the appearance of caring about privacy, and therefore would anonymize data it collects while still leaving loopholes for it to try and recover some of that data anyway. But that contradicts all of the evidence.