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https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44169115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44169115 They found sneaky ways on Android. There is no way they aren't tryi

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44169115 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44169115 They found sneaky ways on Android. There is no way they aren't trying to do so on iOS. One must always assume malice with anything Meta.

metalliqaz 1y ago
I find it is useful to do so for all corporations.
- kstrauser 1y ago
  Sure, but most aren’t able to execute on their evil so effectively.
- amelius 1y ago
  Apple included?
  - metalliqaz 1y ago
    Yes. Apple is a huge corporation and I feel confident that such an entity would happily harm any person or group of persons in the pursuit of profit.
    - amelius 1y ago
      Are there any examples?
      - antiframe 1y ago
        I get the impression that Apple would rather have lower hardware manufacturing costs than ensure fair working conditions, as an example of harming people in the pursuit of profit. [1] Perhaps that's not "bad enough" but I think the general sentiment that corporations value profits over harms to people (especially since they often try to distance themselves by offshoring, etc) applies to Apple as well. [1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30532463 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30532463
      - fsflover 1y ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25607386 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25607386 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43852145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43852145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26644216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26644216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42014588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42014588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41712728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41712728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34299433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34299433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44529061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44529061
      - thenthenthen 1y ago
        The host the data for Chinese customers in a mainland datacenter. Chinese iPhones can not use eSims. Foxconn has nets…
  - stronglikedan 1y ago
    Absolutely, if in nothing else but their pricing!
- AdamN 1y ago
  Not really. Meta is kind of the most corrupt towards users of the big tech companies imho. All companies want to make a profit but Meta has very few scruples.
- spease 1y ago
  Whose interests corporations act in is not arbitrary, it’s tied to how they make money. Meta and Google make their money primarily from advertisers, Apple makes money from consumers buying iPhones. One of the upsides to paying for something is that the company is incentivized to keep you paying or get you to pay more. Something I remind people who buy cheaper Android phones and then complain about ads - the OS development is being subsidized by those ads. From Google’s perspective, securing their revenue stream is the justification for Chrome and Android’s existence. It’s not a purely altruistic move to fund their open source development. Charts of the revenue stream for some major tech companies: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-does-meta-make-money/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-does-meta-make-... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/alphabets-revenue-breakdown-in-2024/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/alphabets-revenue-breakdown... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-apple-makes-its-391b-in-revenue/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-apple-makes-its... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-amazon-makes-its-billions/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-amazon-makes-its-billio... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-microsoft-makes-its-billions/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-microsoft-makes-its-bil... Older aggregate chart: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-big-tech-makes-their-billions-2022/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-big-tech-makes-their-bi...
dietr1ch 1y ago
It always freaked me out that WhatsApp found the SMS code sent to verify the phone number without requiring any action from me. Also, WhatsApp refuses to be usable without giving it Contacts access. I had to use the app, login to the web client, and then I was finally able to type a phone number to start a new chat. I ended up uninstalling it, but there's plenty of people AND business that nowadays mainly or even only use WhatsApp that it's painful to be on the privacy-first side.
- homebrewer 1y ago
  If you're on Android, it's an Android API feature, it has nothing to do with WhatsApp and is used by lots of other applications. https://developers.google.com/identity/sms-retriever/overview https://developers.google.com/identity/sms-retriever/overvie...
  - dietr1ch 1y ago
    That's nice for the careless user, but without any system request or notification it's impossible for the user to tell whether the app used a workaround or the system just cooperated.
- pavel_lishin 1y ago
  I share your woes regarding WhatsApp; my family overseas uses it, so I have to use it when visiting them, and I also had to do the weird workaround of creating a Whatsapp URL with the destination phone number, and then opening it in the browser, and then having it redirect me to the app.
  - dietr1ch 1y ago
    Oh, I forgot about this, yeah, you can use the links that webpages post to workaround it. Quite annoying though, I think I only used it once. Here's an example link, https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=5551112233 https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=5551112233
- ornornor 1y ago

metalliqaz 1y ago

I find it is useful to do so for all corporations.

kstrauser 1y ago
Sure, but most aren’t able to execute on their evil so effectively.
amelius 1y ago
Apple included?
- metalliqaz 1y ago
  Yes. Apple is a huge corporation and I feel confident that such an entity would happily harm any person or group of persons in the pursuit of profit.
  - amelius 1y ago
    Are there any examples?
    - antiframe 1y ago
      I get the impression that Apple would rather have lower hardware manufacturing costs than ensure fair working conditions, as an example of harming people in the pursuit of profit. [1] Perhaps that's not "bad enough" but I think the general sentiment that corporations value profits over harms to people (especially since they often try to distance themselves by offshoring, etc) applies to Apple as well. [1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30532463 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30532463
    - fsflover 1y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25607386 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25607386 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43852145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43852145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26644216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26644216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42014588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42014588 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41712728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41712728 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34299433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34299433 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44529061 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44529061
    - thenthenthen 1y ago
      The host the data for Chinese customers in a mainland datacenter. Chinese iPhones can not use eSims. Foxconn has nets…
- stronglikedan 1y ago
  Absolutely, if in nothing else but their pricing!
AdamN 1y ago
Not really. Meta is kind of the most corrupt towards users of the big tech companies imho. All companies want to make a profit but Meta has very few scruples.
spease 1y ago
Whose interests corporations act in is not arbitrary, it’s tied to how they make money. Meta and Google make their money primarily from advertisers, Apple makes money from consumers buying iPhones. One of the upsides to paying for something is that the company is incentivized to keep you paying or get you to pay more. Something I remind people who buy cheaper Android phones and then complain about ads - the OS development is being subsidized by those ads. From Google’s perspective, securing their revenue stream is the justification for Chrome and Android’s existence. It’s not a purely altruistic move to fund their open source development. Charts of the revenue stream for some major tech companies: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-does-meta-make-money/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-does-meta-make-... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/alphabets-revenue-breakdown-in-2024/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/alphabets-revenue-breakdown... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-apple-makes-its-391b-in-revenue/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/charted-how-apple-makes-its... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-amazon-makes-its-billions/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-amazon-makes-its-billio... https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-microsoft-makes-its-billions/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-microsoft-makes-its-bil... Older aggregate chart: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-big-tech-makes-their-billions-2022/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-big-tech-makes-their-bi...

dietr1ch 1y ago

It always freaked me out that WhatsApp found the SMS code sent to verify the phone number without requiring any action from me. Also, WhatsApp refuses to be usable without giving it Contacts access. I had to use the app, login to the web client, and then I was finally able to type a phone number to start a new chat. I ended up uninstalling it, but there's plenty of people AND business that nowadays mainly or even only use WhatsApp that it's painful to be on the privacy-first side.

homebrewer 1y ago
If you're on Android, it's an Android API feature, it has nothing to do with WhatsApp and is used by lots of other applications. https://developers.google.com/identity/sms-retriever/overview https://developers.google.com/identity/sms-retriever/overvie...
- dietr1ch 1y ago
  That's nice for the careless user, but without any system request or notification it's impossible for the user to tell whether the app used a workaround or the system just cooperated.
pavel_lishin 1y ago
I share your woes regarding WhatsApp; my family overseas uses it, so I have to use it when visiting them, and I also had to do the weird workaround of creating a Whatsapp URL with the destination phone number, and then opening it in the browser, and then having it redirect me to the app.
- dietr1ch 1y ago
  Oh, I forgot about this, yeah, you can use the links that webpages post to workaround it. Quite annoying though, I think I only used it once. Here's an example link, https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=5551112233 https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=5551112233
ornornor 1y ago