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I was asking in previous threads if we could look at some info directly from Apple before declaring the end of the world, and I was downvoted to hell for seekin

I was asking in previous threads if we could look at some info directly from Apple before declaring the end of the world, and I was downvoted to hell for seeking more clarification amidst the outrage. Sometimes, waiting to hear a response isn't unreasonable, don't you think? Maybe rethink the plan to abandon Mac for the rest of your life based on the story of the minute?

tsimionescu 6y ago
Why would you not only believe, but actively look for the PR spin on an obvious violation of trust? The technical facts are not interpretable: Apple chose to build the new MacOS in such a way that they leaked information about every app you chose to run on your system, in plaintext, over the internet, sending it to a third party. Whether they did this out of malice or bungling, the only conclusion is that you should not trust the new MacOS with caring about your privacy. Whatever PR spin Apple would choose to put on this is mostly irrelevant. That they chose to simply pinky swear that they wouldn't log IPs as the main defense is even worse.
totalZero 6y ago
The reason for outrage is that this problem is so glaringly obvious that we can't dismiss it as an oversight, especially with a company as advanced as Apple claims to be. They boast about the T2 chip and all of their security measures. So for them to leave the gate unlocked on something like this is problematic. It means they made the choice to expose and log users' activity, to some degree or another, on purpose. To further protect privacy, we have stopped logging IP addresses associated with Developer ID certificate checks, and we will ensure that any collected IP addresses are removed from logs. Why would they ever have logged IP addresses, if the goal is simply to verify the user-side authenticity of an app?
- evercast 6y ago
  It may be worth noting that we do not really know what do they mean by "logs". These can be either database records or simply text logs generated by a web server sitting in front of the OCSP backend and logging the requests, regardless of what those requests are referring to. In other words, it does not have to be a conscious decision to "harvest IP addresses" but could easily be a side-effect of what the infrastructure does. Still, it is no excuse for them as one would expect clear and thorough security/privacy audits before rolling out such features. Especially from companies like Apple.

tsimionescu 6y ago

Why would you not only believe, but actively look for the PR spin on an obvious violation of trust? The technical facts are not interpretable: Apple chose to build the new MacOS in such a way that they leaked information about every app you chose to run on your system, in plaintext, over the internet, sending it to a third party. Whether they did this out of malice or bungling, the only conclusion is that you should not trust the new MacOS with caring about your privacy. Whatever PR spin Apple would choose to put on this is mostly irrelevant. That they chose to simply pinky swear that they wouldn't log IPs as the main defense is even worse.

totalZero 6y ago

The reason for outrage is that this problem is so glaringly obvious that we can't dismiss it as an oversight, especially with a company as advanced as Apple claims to be. They boast about the T2 chip and all of their security measures. So for them to leave the gate unlocked on something like this is problematic. It means they made the choice to expose and log users' activity, to some degree or another, on purpose. To further protect privacy, we have stopped logging IP addresses associated with Developer ID certificate checks, and we will ensure that any collected IP addresses are removed from logs. Why would they ever have logged IP addresses, if the goal is simply to verify the user-side authenticity of an app?

evercast 6y ago
It may be worth noting that we do not really know what do they mean by "logs". These can be either database records or simply text logs generated by a web server sitting in front of the OCSP backend and logging the requests, regardless of what those requests are referring to. In other words, it does not have to be a conscious decision to "harvest IP addresses" but could easily be a side-effect of what the infrastructure does. Still, it is no excuse for them as one would expect clear and thorough security/privacy audits before rolling out such features. Especially from companies like Apple.