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I never understood the argument that Apple was a privacy-focused company, specifically because they enable so many companies that are the complete opposite. For

I never understood the argument that Apple was a privacy-focused company, specifically because they enable so many companies that are the complete opposite. For example, I could use Facebook on a desktop browser which won't out-of-the-box have location services, bluetooth information, and contact lists available. By virtue of using an iOS device, you are more likely to provide far more information to companies like Facebook than you would be on a browser. Apple willingly provides APIs to apps to pull this information. This enablement this leads me to reasonably believe they don't actually care about privacy.

kitsunesoba 7y ago
Browsers have had location access APIs across all operating systems for a while now. Chrome at least can surface Bluetooth and USB information to sites (not sure about Firefox, but I think it can too). The only thing that’s missing on desktop browsers is contacts access APIs. Putting that all aside, there exist legitimate uses for those APIs, and just because Facebook abused them doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t exist. Lack of those APIs wouldn’t be seen as privacy friendliness, it’d be seen as a feature deficiency and would push people to other platforms. It just means that the platform in question has to put reasonable limits on access (“Allow access only while app is open”, “require permission again after X days”, etc) and users need to be more discriminative as to which apps/sites they approve access for.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
  I think if you consider the amount of damage Facebook has done to society, it's clear we shouldn't be prioritizing the legitimate use cases for things like contact list access when weighing the negative externalities. Oil, for example, is generally useful for automobiles and transportation. Should we completely ignore the climate consequences of using fuel since it makes getting around convenient? The pros have to be weighed with the cons. The marginal value of saving a couple minutes via functionality like contact list imports, or reading bluetooth data, is not worth the downsides that come with it.

kitsunesoba 7y ago

Browsers have had location access APIs across all operating systems for a while now. Chrome at least can surface Bluetooth and USB information to sites (not sure about Firefox, but I think it can too). The only thing that’s missing on desktop browsers is contacts access APIs. Putting that all aside, there exist legitimate uses for those APIs, and just because Facebook abused them doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t exist. Lack of those APIs wouldn’t be seen as privacy friendliness, it’d be seen as a feature deficiency and would push people to other platforms. It just means that the platform in question has to put reasonable limits on access (“Allow access only while app is open”, “require permission again after X days”, etc) and users need to be more discriminative as to which apps/sites they approve access for.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
I think if you consider the amount of damage Facebook has done to society, it's clear we shouldn't be prioritizing the legitimate use cases for things like contact list access when weighing the negative externalities. Oil, for example, is generally useful for automobiles and transportation. Should we completely ignore the climate consequences of using fuel since it makes getting around convenient? The pros have to be weighed with the cons. The marginal value of saving a couple minutes via functionality like contact list imports, or reading bluetooth data, is not worth the downsides that come with it.