4 ms·

This is why i think Tim Cook is genius for marketing Apple as the anti "We sell all your data and spy on you" companies.

• cptskippy 11y ago
  Apple just spies on you, they're vertically integrated so there's no need to sell the data.
  • arrrg 11y ago
    What’s their motive? What’s their pay-off? Where is their benefit in that?
    • cptskippy 11y ago
      All of these companies capture the data to improve their recognition, heuristics, and machine learning algorithms. The pay off is that their services are vastly improved. Ever wonder how Google was able to catch up and perhaps surpass Microsoft, IBM, and everyone else in the Voice Recognition field so quickly? It wasn't because they came up with some revolutionary algorithm overnight. It was because they very quickly amassed an archive of transcribed audio samples. How did they do that? Very cleverly with Google 411. If you ever used Google 411 you might have noticed it worked slightly differently from regular 411. You spoke your query, the voice recognition software spoke back what it thought you said and asked if that was correct. If you said no, or it couldn't understand your reply, it connected you to an operator who first listened to what you'd said and then repeated the confirmation process with you again whilst inputting what you actually said into the system. This created a transcribed audio sample that Google could use as a test case for their voice recognition software. This allowed them to iterate much faster than other companies.
  • blkhp19 11y ago
    How do they spy on you? There's no suspicious network traffic leaving my Mac. They might collect info about Siri queries or downloaded apps, but they're certainly not logging keystrokes from OS X or iOS.
    • cptskippy 11y ago
      I think you're assuming they're doing something they're not. Microsoft is capturing text input and handwriting from touch input interfaces the same way Google's Android keyboard , Swype, or Swift Key do to improve predictive input, spelling correction/suggestions, personal dictionaries etc. Remember Windows 10 is touch enabled operating system like iOS or Android. I'm not as familiar with the Apple Keyboard but I would be surprised if it didn't do that too in some form. Their Quick Type feature states it performs heuristics locally but it doesn't mention other aspects. Their policy states they don't collect personal information or conversation history but that doesn't mean they aren't capturing corrections or things they deem to be non-personal but sound pretty personal to me (e.g. occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier). Remember how researchers were able to identify Netflix users based on lesser anonymized meta-data? That non-personal information sounds pretty damn personal in comparison. I hope you're not using a 3rd party keyboard on iOS with Full Access enable because if so then you agree to the same thing Microsoft is asking for. I'm surprised you're ok with Apple recording Siri Queries and sharing them with Walk N’Talk Technologies who has humans listening to them but you're opposed to Microsoft doing anything similar in Cortona. How do you feel about Google Now? Did you ever use Google 411 because that was just a quick way to get a massive archive of audio samples.
      • urda 11y ago
        I think you're reading way too much into all of that, attempting to make a mountain out of a molehill just to prove an imaginary point.
        • cptskippy 11y ago
          What imaginary point are you referring to?
          • urda 11y ago
            > Their policy states they don't collect personal information or conversation history but that doesn't mean they aren't capturing corrections or things they deem to be non-personal but sound pretty personal to me > Their policy states ... but that doesn't mean they aren't capturing corrections or things they deem to be non-personal but sound pretty personal to me > sound pretty personal to me It's pretty clear actually. What you may think about situation may have zero factual grounding. You'll need to provide some citations and references instead of just saying what you think or feel the situation may be.
• talmand 11y ago
  Well, to be fair, they spy on you but just don't sell the data. Yet.
  • howeyc 11y ago
    That we know of. Seriously, it's not like every contract they have is public information (nor am I saying it should).
  • fuzzywalrus 11y ago
    Define spying? Most of Apple's services are opt-in as opposed to opt-out. iTunes and Siri are where most the data collection happens. In OS you also have device location services, map data collection but most points are easily controlled.
    • talmand 11y ago
      Well, the innocent definition is to keep watch over and the sinister definition requires hostile intent. Either way, it can be considered spying. The problem is that the innocent spying today can easily turn into hostile spying tomorrow, with little or no notice.
• kllrnohj 11y ago
  That's just a FUD compaign. I guess you can be a genious for coming up with clever ways to FUD but I'd rather not encourage that.