3 ms·

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 certain

by 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.
      - cptskippy 11y ago
        You're wrong though about it having zero factual grounding. They collect data, like everyone else, this is a fact. They state that openly in their privacy policy, they even go so far as to define what they consider personal vs non-personal information. We also know that that Siri collects and transmits a bunch of this "non-personal" information to a 3rd party for analysis. On their QuickType page they say "your conversation data is kept only on your device, so it’s always private." That's a lie because iMessage and your keyboard Dictionary are synced to iCloud which isn't your device. That doesn't mean that it's in Apples hands or they can access it but it's not a factually true statement either. They're also careful to say "conversation data" and not something more general like "anything you input into your keyboard". I'm not suggesting Apple does anything more invasive than anyone, I'm just suggesting they don't do anything less based on what's observed.
        tdkl 11y ago
        > That's a lie because iMessage and your keyboard Dictionary are synced to iCloud which isn't your device. Is it opt-in or opt-out ? Because I use iCloud for Safari bookmark sync only and it never bugged me for syncing anything. Local iTunes encrypted backup is fine.

by blkhp19 11y ago

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.
    - cptskippy 11y ago
      You're wrong though about it having zero factual grounding. They collect data, like everyone else, this is a fact. They state that openly in their privacy policy, they even go so far as to define what they consider personal vs non-personal information. We also know that that Siri collects and transmits a bunch of this "non-personal" information to a 3rd party for analysis. On their QuickType page they say "your conversation data is kept only on your device, so it’s always private." That's a lie because iMessage and your keyboard Dictionary are synced to iCloud which isn't your device. That doesn't mean that it's in Apples hands or they can access it but it's not a factually true statement either. They're also careful to say "conversation data" and not something more general like "anything you input into your keyboard". I'm not suggesting Apple does anything more invasive than anyone, I'm just suggesting they don't do anything less based on what's observed.
      - tdkl 11y ago
        > That's a lie because iMessage and your keyboard Dictionary are synced to iCloud which isn't your device. Is it opt-in or opt-out ? Because I use iCloud for Safari bookmark sync only and it never bugged me for syncing anything. Local iTunes encrypted backup is fine.