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Apple is supposedly getting into the search engine business. It'd be great if they and Mozilla got together, both companies believe in user privacy and could co
by aroch 11y ago
Apple is supposedly getting into the search engine business. It'd be great if they and Mozilla got together, both companies believe in user privacy and could complement each other in getting things down
- bsder 11y agoApple believes in user privacy. Your naïveté is touching.
- matthewmacleod 11y agoAnd your condescension is irritating. Apple seems pretty solid on the protection of users' privacy. Devices are encrypted by default, for example, and there are robust protections from rogue applications in place. Is there are specific practice that Apple engage in that makes you think they are particularly reckless regarding users' privacy?
- lern_too_spel 11y agoHe's comparing Apple to Google. In that respect, Apple comes out looking pretty bad. Google's devices are also encrypted by default and have much more robust protections against rogue applications in place (both static and dynamic automated analysis of apps for malware, vs. just a human eyeballing it).
- IBM 11y agoAndroid devices aren't encrypted by default, Google backtracked on that. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/google-quietly-backs-away-from-encrypting-new-lollipop-devices-by-default/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/google-quietly-backs-...
- mike_hearn 11y agoNew ones are, I think. The Nexus 6 is. Older devices don't necessarily get upgraded. It's a hardware/software issue, not a philosophical issue.
- lern_too_spel 11y agoGoogle devices are, as I said. Mentioning that other Android devices aren't is like saying other Linux distros don't use RPM in response to a statement that Redhat does.
- x0054 11y agoSo are iOS devices that have a passcode and are running iOS 8, and with fingerprint scanning a lot more people have password locked devices. Good article on the subject is here: http://www.darthnull.org/2014/10/06/ios-encryption http://www.darthnull.org/2014/10/06/ios-encryption
- x0054 11y agoAnd yet, with all that wonderful "automated" malware checking Google is also now manually reviewing App. http://blog.lifars.com/2015/03/18/google-now-manually-reviews-apps-in-its-android-play-store/ http://blog.lifars.com/2015/03/18/google-now-manually-review...
- lern_too_spel 11y agoHow does the addition of manual checks against the distribution policies change the fact that Google's malware checking is better than Apple's?
- x0054 11y agoI don't understand what makes you say that Google's malware checking system is superior to Apple's. Do you have a source for that? Do you have a source to the way Apple in general does their app vetting, or Google for that matter. At this point you are basically saying: "Google is better because I said so." Do you have evidence that Apple does NOT run an automated virus and malware scan, resource analysis, or any other automated malware detection on their apps before adding them to the queue to also be manually checked. Just because Apples does manual checking it does NOT mean that they completely forego automatic checking. Just like the fact that Google did automatic checking did not prevent them to also implement a manual checking system. Nowadays both companies do a pretty good job vetting App submissions, though Apple also filters on quality (sometimes) where as Google does not, but that's within each companies respective philosophies, and can be considered a strength or a weakness, depending on your own philosophy.
- lern_too_spel 11y agoDo you have evidence that Apple does? They have made no claims that they do, instead continuously pointing to human vetting as their filter on malware, which is laughable. We all know that unskilled contractors stepping through some policy checklist aren't a legitimate protection against malware, but it's enough to fool people like Gruber, many bloggers, and you 14 hours ago before I pointed out your mistake.
- bhayden 11y agoInstead of condescension, please provide some sources and state your beliefs in a productive way.
- jacquesm 11y agoI think that was more or less the point of the GP minus the condescension bit. Making unqualified statements about what you believe about a large corporation is roughly on par with contesting that particular belief.
- ddebernardy 11y agoThen again Apple has a track record and APIs to put forward. Just about every API in iOS puts privacy first. If you want e.g. location data, the API asks the user's permission -- including with Apple's own apps.
- Menge 11y agoHow do I install any API from apple without providing Apple (and whoever else) with my credit card? The OsX machine at my office is mystifying, am I supposed to provide my personal credit card to apple to get security updates? That is more secure and insures more of my privacy than not entering my credit card into a system I don't trust? I view Apple as insulting my intelligence with promises of "convenience" that amount to being able to give them money on impulse.
- acdha 11y agoApple accounts are free. You can't use iTunes with a free account or get the premium developer offerings (i.e. iOS developer certs) but you don't need to pay to use the OS or get updates.
- pdkl95 11y agoYou seem to be under the impression that you can create one of those "free accounts" without apple tracking those activities. Privacy is not having anybody be able to log your activity, not "everybody but one company I like". Apple's walled garden approach to everything makes apple one of the worst offenders with regards to not just privacy, but freedom as well.
- solarexplorer 11y agoWell, Apple makes most money with hardware. Unlike Google who makes most money with ads. So at least in theory Apple can more easily invest in privacy. EDIT: Check their last quarter's results, Apple makes only 6% of their revenue with online services: https://www.apple.com/pr/pdf/q1fy15datasum.pdf https://www.apple.com/pr/pdf/q1fy15datasum.pdf
- angersock 11y agoI think they actually get most of their revenue from the App store and iTunes--and in neither of those cases is privacy good for business.
- ama729 11y ago> Huberty said that Apple's online services are underappreciated by investors because they accounted for less than 6 percent of the company's revenue over the last 12 months. http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/05/28/apples-app-store-revenue-set-to-overtake-itunes-store-by-the-end-of-this-year http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/05/28/apples-app-store-r...
- digitalzombie 11y agoThere was a reddit post where OP works for a third party company that Apple send Siri voice to. People complained that users didn't read the EULA or whatever. Anyway OP said it was very specific too and crazy. So it doesn't sound like Apple being the champion of privacy.
- gurkendoktor 11y agoWell then be cynical, and let's say that Apple is greedy but believes user privacy is a selling point for its hardware products, just like its accessibility efforts. The result is the same. My iPhone randomises its MAC address when scanning for Wi-Fi, Apple's APIs to ask for user permissions are improving with every release, and iMessage is as secure as a closed-source IM platform can be.
- click170 11y agoIMO DuckDuckGo is the obvious choice of who to partner with. DDG already focuses on privacy as a defining feature, its why I use then as my primary search engine. Seems like a win win for both Mozilla and DDG.