4 ms·

Thats a good thing. Can Apple guarantee that they themselves are not tracking their users' app preferences/behaviour either?

scarface74 6y ago
Of course they can’t guarantee it. The best they could do is give users the ability to block all internet access in an app. Currently you can only block an app from using cellular data.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  Interestingly in China you can block all network access…
  - scarface74 6y ago
    There is an option in settings on iOS to block all network access per app?
    - saagarjha 6y ago
      Yeah, on Chinese phones. I believe Wi-Fi is renamed “WLAN” but there is a setting to control what connections an app can make.
      - scarface74 6y ago
        It is just a China thing. I learned something new today. https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/aib10i/in_china_ios_allows_you_to_turn_off_mobile_data/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=comments_view_all https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/aib10i/in_china_ios_al...
Nextgrid 6y ago
Nope they can't. In fact to use an iOS device you pretty much need an Apple account (if you want to be able to install any apps) and that comes with a privacy policy and some extra "features" you might not know about like every sender e-mail on iOS Mail being synced to their cloud. However, at least we can find comfort in the fact that their business model so far has been against the surveillance/advertising economy and their entire marketing strategy has been based on that for the past few years, so at least they currently do not have any incentive to misuse that data even if they do collect it (and if they do eventually think about misusing it, we can hope that there would be some actual enforcement of laws such as the GDPR that would discourage them from doing so).
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
NovemberWhiskey 6y ago
There's a fairly simple cui bono aspect to this. Apple makes money by selling products to their users or taking a cut of the users' purchases in their marketplace. Facebook and Google, on the other hand, make most of their money by selling micro-segmented access to their user base to third parties. Which of these two kinds of companies stands to benefit from harvesting more data about their users whenever possible?
- cblconfederate 6y ago
  Apple profits from knowing their users' app/music/news/books/siri etc preferences and making purchase suggestions, don't they?
  - reaperducer 6y ago
    Sort of. Apple's recommendations are handled on-device. It's great for security, but the downside is that Apple News on my iPhone and Apple News on my computer don't have the same list of publications I dislike.
    - hu3 6y ago
      That's genius! Apple avoided developing synchronization of user data and got good PR for doing that. I'm gonna try that with my clients. "Sir, I wont aggregate your store's point of sale data because it's more secure if the data never leaves the store. Now pay me a premium for the added security, thanks."
      - saagarjha 6y ago
        Try it, it might do some good.
  - sbuk 6y ago
    That's not quite the same as selling that information to political 'think tanks' to buy influence in an election.

scarface74 6y ago

Of course they can’t guarantee it. The best they could do is give users the ability to block all internet access in an app. Currently you can only block an app from using cellular data.

saagarjha 6y ago
Interestingly in China you can block all network access…
- scarface74 6y ago
  There is an option in settings on iOS to block all network access per app?
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    Yeah, on Chinese phones. I believe Wi-Fi is renamed “WLAN” but there is a setting to control what connections an app can make.
    - scarface74 6y ago
      It is just a China thing. I learned something new today. https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/aib10i/in_china_ios_allows_you_to_turn_off_mobile_data/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=comments_view_all https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/aib10i/in_china_ios_al...

Nextgrid 6y ago

Nope they can't. In fact to use an iOS device you pretty much need an Apple account (if you want to be able to install any apps) and that comes with a privacy policy and some extra "features" you might not know about like every sender e-mail on iOS Mail being synced to their cloud. However, at least we can find comfort in the fact that their business model so far has been against the surveillance/advertising economy and their entire marketing strategy has been based on that for the past few years, so at least they currently do not have any incentive to misuse that data even if they do collect it (and if they do eventually think about misusing it, we can hope that there would be some actual enforcement of laws such as the GDPR that would discourage them from doing so).

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

NovemberWhiskey 6y ago

There's a fairly simple cui bono aspect to this. Apple makes money by selling products to their users or taking a cut of the users' purchases in their marketplace. Facebook and Google, on the other hand, make most of their money by selling micro-segmented access to their user base to third parties. Which of these two kinds of companies stands to benefit from harvesting more data about their users whenever possible?

cblconfederate 6y ago
Apple profits from knowing their users' app/music/news/books/siri etc preferences and making purchase suggestions, don't they?
- reaperducer 6y ago
  Sort of. Apple's recommendations are handled on-device. It's great for security, but the downside is that Apple News on my iPhone and Apple News on my computer don't have the same list of publications I dislike.
  - hu3 6y ago
    That's genius! Apple avoided developing synchronization of user data and got good PR for doing that. I'm gonna try that with my clients. "Sir, I wont aggregate your store's point of sale data because it's more secure if the data never leaves the store. Now pay me a premium for the added security, thanks."
    - saagarjha 6y ago
      Try it, it might do some good.
- sbuk 6y ago
  That's not quite the same as selling that information to political 'think tanks' to buy influence in an election.