3 ms·

Same thing happens if I sell something in a real or internet shop. Why is this so surprising?

Samuel_Michon 14y ago
When you buy a TV at Best Buy or online at Amazon, the shop doesn't send your personal information to the TV's manufacturer. One of the reasons I prefer to buy my software through the Mac App Store instead of at some random developer's website is because I want to limit the number of businesses that have my personal information. Large companies are bad at keeping customer information safe, but I don't even want to think about how individual developers store it.
- fpgeek 14y ago
  If you buy a TV via Amazon Marketplace, the seller of the TV certainly gets similar personal information (otherwise they can't ship it).
  - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
    That's a valid point. The Mac App Store doesn't keep inventory. They don't first buy the apps wholesale and then resell them. They just list the apps, just like Amazon does for physical products in the Amazon Marketplace. I do have to say I don't like to buy from the Amazon Marketpkace, I prefer to buy fromm Amazon directly (and that was the scenario I was referring to.)
ajross 14y ago
Exactly. Twenty years ago, the idea that someone from whom you purchased a product might (gasp) know who you are would have been obvious. Even once the web arrived we all dutifully typed our credit card and contact info into every online purchase, and no one cared. Now all of a sudden it's "revealed" that Android app vendors have the same info (broadly -- they don't get credit card numbers) and it's a "privacy" concern? That said... maybe there's something to this. Apple has shown that a different model can work, that isolates the buyer from the seller. Is that a good or bad thing? I think there's an interesting discussion to be had here, but this "privacy" nonsense has to stop.
- amartya916 14y ago
  I am surprised to hear you refer to this as "privacy nonsense"; things like a name and address are obviously identity related information. As such, any identity related information has to have privacy concerns. In some ways, I see this as a breach of trust; I can trust Google with some of my data but I dont think every app developer is worthy of even a certain percentage of that trust.
  - ajross 14y ago
    This doesn't seem responsive to what I said. Every other financial transaction you engage in carries some kind of disclosure of identity. Your credit card has your name on it and discloses it when it's swiped. You can't order anything at all online without giving them a shipping address. You can't even buy a coffee for cash without your picture being taken by security cameras. Holding this particular kind of transaction up as (no joke: your words) a "breach of trust" is just ridiculous on its face. So much so that frankly I suspect this is just yet another "Apple vs. Google" flame war in clever disguise. Again, I agree there's an interesting discussion to be had about this stuff. But only if you give up the absurd absolutist flaming.
    - amartya916 14y ago
      Let me assure you that there was no insinuation of any Apple vs Google flame war in my comment. While breach of trust might see over the top to you, the interpretation was supposed to be quite simple, let me explain: Most financial transactions do involve exchange of identifiable information; that remains true for online as as well as real world transactions; you are absolutely right about that. However, in all those transaction, you 'choose' to share some amount of information. One of the reasons services like Paypal became popular was the implicit lack of trust in an online transaction; people were more willing to trust an intermediary to keep their credit card information secure, than using it with any and all online merchants. Similarly, I trust Google as a company more than most other companies with my data and that's a 'choice' I made; however, them sharing certain parts of my identity with a multitude of app developers does seem to be something I didn't 'choose' to do. That seems to be a decision that Google took on my behalf and therein lies the "breach of trust" that you seem to have taken an exception to. There is no flaming involved; I just think Google can do better.

When you buy a TV at Best Buy or online at Amazon, the shop doesn't send your personal information to the TV's manufacturer. One of the reasons I prefer to buy my software through the Mac App Store instead of at some random developer's website is because I want to limit the number of businesses that have my personal information. Large companies are bad at keeping customer information safe, but I don't even want to think about how individual developers store it.

fpgeek 14y ago
If you buy a TV via Amazon Marketplace, the seller of the TV certainly gets similar personal information (otherwise they can't ship it).
- Samuel_Michon 14y ago
  That's a valid point. The Mac App Store doesn't keep inventory. They don't first buy the apps wholesale and then resell them. They just list the apps, just like Amazon does for physical products in the Amazon Marketplace. I do have to say I don't like to buy from the Amazon Marketpkace, I prefer to buy fromm Amazon directly (and that was the scenario I was referring to.)

ajross 14y ago

Exactly. Twenty years ago, the idea that someone from whom you purchased a product might (gasp) know who you are would have been obvious. Even once the web arrived we all dutifully typed our credit card and contact info into every online purchase, and no one cared. Now all of a sudden it's "revealed" that Android app vendors have the same info (broadly -- they don't get credit card numbers) and it's a "privacy" concern? That said... maybe there's something to this. Apple has shown that a different model can work, that isolates the buyer from the seller. Is that a good or bad thing? I think there's an interesting discussion to be had here, but this "privacy" nonsense has to stop.

amartya916 14y ago
I am surprised to hear you refer to this as "privacy nonsense"; things like a name and address are obviously identity related information. As such, any identity related information has to have privacy concerns. In some ways, I see this as a breach of trust; I can trust Google with some of my data but I dont think every app developer is worthy of even a certain percentage of that trust.
- ajross 14y ago
  This doesn't seem responsive to what I said. Every other financial transaction you engage in carries some kind of disclosure of identity. Your credit card has your name on it and discloses it when it's swiped. You can't order anything at all online without giving them a shipping address. You can't even buy a coffee for cash without your picture being taken by security cameras. Holding this particular kind of transaction up as (no joke: your words) a "breach of trust" is just ridiculous on its face. So much so that frankly I suspect this is just yet another "Apple vs. Google" flame war in clever disguise. Again, I agree there's an interesting discussion to be had about this stuff. But only if you give up the absurd absolutist flaming.
  - amartya916 14y ago
    Let me assure you that there was no insinuation of any Apple vs Google flame war in my comment. While breach of trust might see over the top to you, the interpretation was supposed to be quite simple, let me explain: Most financial transactions do involve exchange of identifiable information; that remains true for online as as well as real world transactions; you are absolutely right about that. However, in all those transaction, you 'choose' to share some amount of information. One of the reasons services like Paypal became popular was the implicit lack of trust in an online transaction; people were more willing to trust an intermediary to keep their credit card information secure, than using it with any and all online merchants. Similarly, I trust Google as a company more than most other companies with my data and that's a 'choice' I made; however, them sharing certain parts of my identity with a multitude of app developers does seem to be something I didn't 'choose' to do. That seems to be a decision that Google took on my behalf and therein lies the "breach of trust" that you seem to have taken an exception to. There is no flaming involved; I just think Google can do better.