4 ms·

They do a ton to prevent this. I’ve not heard of issues with botnets on IPhones or Macs

willis936 6y ago
They don’t. The spying is by design. https://www.wsj.com/articles/once-pariahs-location-tracking-firms-pitch-themselves-as-covid-sleuths-11592236894 https://www.wsj.com/articles/once-pariahs-location-tracking-...
- ben_w 6y ago
  I absolutely agree that ad networks are spying on users, and violating their privacy to an unacceptable degree — hence my point 1, because I prefer the EU approach. However, that is not a botnet. Those systems cannot, at least not to my knowledge, turn on the microphone in the background and listen for useful blackmail-worthy phrases without alerting the user (like Siri et al are presumably capable of); They cannot subvert the WiFi chip to be a wall-penetrating radar capable of pose detection, heart rate monitoring, etc [0]; They cannot snap random photos, finding out who has anything worth stealing, nor also revealing the shape of their keys for 3D printed replication (ditto audio, at least for the keys) [1][2]; They cannot read your email and SMS messages and take over your bank accounts [3]. [0] https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/household-radar-can-see-through-walls-and-knows-how-youre-feeling https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/household-radar-c... [1] https://kottke.org/20/08/researchers-can-duplicate-keys-from-the-sounds-they-make-in-locks https://kottke.org/20/08/researchers-can-duplicate-keys-from... [2] https://www.wired.com/2015/08/this-app-lets-anyone-3-d-print-do-not-duplicate-keys/ https://www.wired.com/2015/08/this-app-lets-anyone-3-d-print... (not state of the art, but ICBA to go through all the irrelevant links) [3] https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-malware-can-steal-google-authenticator-2fa-codes/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-malware-can-steal-goog... (old Android example, but even Google stamped down on this kind of thing because it is a threat to the value proposition of a smartphone)
abc-xyz 6y ago
You don’t have botnets on iOS, but you do have the problem on OSX (can find many instances by googling it). The reason OSX have this problem is because they allow third-party app stores/installations. If Apple was forced to open up iOS then iPhones would also end up having all the same malware problems you see on Windows, OSX and Android.

They don’t. The spying is by design. https://www.wsj.com/articles/once-pariahs-location-tracking-firms-pitch-themselves-as-covid-sleuths-11592236894 https://www.wsj.com/articles/once-pariahs-location-tracking-...

ben_w 6y ago
I absolutely agree that ad networks are spying on users, and violating their privacy to an unacceptable degree — hence my point 1, because I prefer the EU approach. However, that is not a botnet. Those systems cannot, at least not to my knowledge, turn on the microphone in the background and listen for useful blackmail-worthy phrases without alerting the user (like Siri et al are presumably capable of); They cannot subvert the WiFi chip to be a wall-penetrating radar capable of pose detection, heart rate monitoring, etc [0]; They cannot snap random photos, finding out who has anything worth stealing, nor also revealing the shape of their keys for 3D printed replication (ditto audio, at least for the keys) [1][2]; They cannot read your email and SMS messages and take over your bank accounts [3]. [0] https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/household-radar-can-see-through-walls-and-knows-how-youre-feeling https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/household-radar-c... [1] https://kottke.org/20/08/researchers-can-duplicate-keys-from-the-sounds-they-make-in-locks https://kottke.org/20/08/researchers-can-duplicate-keys-from... [2] https://www.wired.com/2015/08/this-app-lets-anyone-3-d-print-do-not-duplicate-keys/ https://www.wired.com/2015/08/this-app-lets-anyone-3-d-print... (not state of the art, but ICBA to go through all the irrelevant links) [3] https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-malware-can-steal-google-authenticator-2fa-codes/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-malware-can-steal-goog... (old Android example, but even Google stamped down on this kind of thing because it is a threat to the value proposition of a smartphone)

abc-xyz 6y ago

You don’t have botnets on iOS, but you do have the problem on OSX (can find many instances by googling it). The reason OSX have this problem is because they allow third-party app stores/installations. If Apple was forced to open up iOS then iPhones would also end up having all the same malware problems you see on Windows, OSX and Android.