What Does Apple Value? Money or Privacy
January 18, 2023
Ten Ways Apple Breaks its Privacy Promise to hear Apple tell it, the company makes protecting users’ privacy a top priority. While it does a better job than Google or Meta, that is not saying much. Gizmodo describes “10 Apple Privacy Problems that Might Surprise You.” Surprise? Nope, not us. Reporter Thomas Germain writes:
“Apple wants you to know that it cares about your privacy. For years, the company has emblazoned billboards with catchy slogans about its robust data protection practices, criticized tech rivals for their misuse of users’ personal information, and made big pronouncements about how it shields users. There’s no question that Apple handles your data with more care and respect than a lot of other tech companies. Unlike Google and Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Apple’s business doesn’t depend on mining and monetizing your data. But that doesn’t mean owning an iPhone spells perfect privacy. Apple harvest lots of personal information, often in ways that you might not expect if you buy into the company’s promise that ‘what happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone.’ It uses that information for advertising, developing new products, and more. Apple didn’t comment on the record for this story.”
Of course it didn’t. Germain describes each of the 10 privacy problems, complete with links to further reading on each one. Here are his headings: Apple appears to track you even with its own privacy settings turned off; Apple collects details about every single thing you do in the app store; A hidden map of everywhere you go; You ask your apps not to track you, but sometimes Apple lets them do it anyway; Apple collects enough data from your phone to track the people you hang out with; Apple makes iMessage less private on purpose; Targeted ads; Think your VPN hides all your data? think again; How private are your conversations with Siri?; and finally, Harvesting your music, movie and stocks data—and a whole lot more. Though none of these points actually surprise us, it is a bit startling to see them all laid out together. Navigate to the article for the details on each, including ways to lock down iDevices to the limited extent possible.
Cynthia Murrell, January 18, 2023
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