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The OP seems concerned about privacy. Apple certainly has a lot of PR activity promoting privacy of their products. But at the same time it seems so many websi

The OP seems concerned about privacy. Apple certainly has a lot of PR activity promoting privacy of their products. But at the same time it seems so many websites, apps, companies, ISPs, etc. are hoping to track their users much more than before. Perhaps even sell profiles on their users to advertisers or other tech companies. Apple also seems to be a fairly secretive company. Their products have historically felt more "closed" than Android. Isn't Apple violating user privacy in iOS just like Android? And if they aren't, shouldn't they be, from a business perspective?

sigjuice 9y ago
Apple takes your money up front so they don't need to violate user privacy for business reasons.
- ariwilson 9y ago
  Apple also sucks at using user data to make better products compared to Google, so it's perfect for them to claim concern for privacy as a business strategy.
  - H4CK3RM4N 9y ago
    Refusing to do something isn't the same as being bad at doing something.
    - ariwilson 9y ago
      Counterpoint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd
linkregister 9y ago
The OP can upgrade from iOS whenever the appropriately Free/Libre mobile operating system is viable. iOS, despite being a very closed ecosystem, is much more privacy-conscious. In addition to being much more resistant to law enforcement and criminal adversaries, it submits far less information about the user to Apple by default. To be fair to the Android team, almost all of the user tracking and advertisement targeting can be disabled in the system and account preferences. Sure, Google could disregard the user preferences, but that might open up liability for fraud.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
DonaldPShimoda 9y ago
> Isn't Apple violating user privacy in iOS just like Android? Doesn't seem that way. Consider the flak Apple took for standing up for users' rights with the whole Bernardino incident. And here's a specific example I read about a while ago. When you're using Google Maps, your device is directly identifiable in Google's servers all the time by a unique identification token. When using Apple Maps, your iPhone generates a new token every ~15 minutes and uses that to report position. There is no connection between any two tokens other than location proximity, making it much more difficult to track users directly from Apple's end. (I'd give a source but I'm on mobile, but I think I read about it on Apple's website around a year ago.) > And if they aren't, shouldn't they be, from a business perspective? Well, if their business was selling customer data then yeah. But their business is selling cool devices with cool software. Yes, collecting all that data would make some things a lot easier — ever wonder why Siri doesn't work as well as Google Assistant for a lot of people? — but Apple appears to care about privacy and security enough that they don't engage in these tactics. And... they seem to be doing okay despite it, so I don't think they mind the hit to their piggy banks.
- kyle-rb 9y ago
  >ever wonder why Siri doesn't work as well as Google Assistant for a lot of people? You have some valid points on your post, but praising the inferiority of software based on perceived limitations of increased security focus seems like Apple cult-of-personality type stuff.
  - DonaldPShimoda 9y ago
    I'm not sure I exactly follow, but anyway it's easy to find comments online from people who've worked at Apple recently who talk about how this is actually a logistical problem. Apple can't just throw data at their issues until things work like e.g. Google can, specifically because they do not collect as much data in the first place.
    - vacri 9y ago
      > as much Ah, so they're the privacy option because they only collect a lot of data, not gobs and gobs of data?
ksk 9y ago
Thats not what they claim. >We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. https://www.apple.com/privacy/ https://www.apple.com/privacy/

sigjuice 9y ago

Apple takes your money up front so they don't need to violate user privacy for business reasons.

ariwilson 9y ago
Apple also sucks at using user data to make better products compared to Google, so it's perfect for them to claim concern for privacy as a business strategy.
- H4CK3RM4N 9y ago
  Refusing to do something isn't the same as being bad at doing something.
  - ariwilson 9y ago
    Counterpoint: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd

linkregister 9y ago

The OP can upgrade from iOS whenever the appropriately Free/Libre mobile operating system is viable. iOS, despite being a very closed ecosystem, is much more privacy-conscious. In addition to being much more resistant to law enforcement and criminal adversaries, it submits far less information about the user to Apple by default. To be fair to the Android team, almost all of the user tracking and advertisement targeting can be disabled in the system and account preferences. Sure, Google could disregard the user preferences, but that might open up liability for fraud.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]

DonaldPShimoda 9y ago

> Isn't Apple violating user privacy in iOS just like Android? Doesn't seem that way. Consider the flak Apple took for standing up for users' rights with the whole Bernardino incident. And here's a specific example I read about a while ago. When you're using Google Maps, your device is directly identifiable in Google's servers all the time by a unique identification token. When using Apple Maps, your iPhone generates a new token every ~15 minutes and uses that to report position. There is no connection between any two tokens other than location proximity, making it much more difficult to track users directly from Apple's end. (I'd give a source but I'm on mobile, but I think I read about it on Apple's website around a year ago.) > And if they aren't, shouldn't they be, from a business perspective? Well, if their business was selling customer data then yeah. But their business is selling cool devices with cool software. Yes, collecting all that data would make some things a lot easier — ever wonder why Siri doesn't work as well as Google Assistant for a lot of people? — but Apple appears to care about privacy and security enough that they don't engage in these tactics. And... they seem to be doing okay despite it, so I don't think they mind the hit to their piggy banks.

kyle-rb 9y ago
>ever wonder why Siri doesn't work as well as Google Assistant for a lot of people? You have some valid points on your post, but praising the inferiority of software based on perceived limitations of increased security focus seems like Apple cult-of-personality type stuff.
- DonaldPShimoda 9y ago
  I'm not sure I exactly follow, but anyway it's easy to find comments online from people who've worked at Apple recently who talk about how this is actually a logistical problem. Apple can't just throw data at their issues until things work like e.g. Google can, specifically because they do not collect as much data in the first place.
  - vacri 9y ago
    > as much Ah, so they're the privacy option because they only collect a lot of data, not gobs and gobs of data?

ksk 9y ago

Thats not what they claim. >We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. https://www.apple.com/privacy/ https://www.apple.com/privacy/