[robin_reala]

Out of interest, is there any evidence that Apple are collating data and making it available to 3rd parties in the same way as Facebook? They like to position themselves as more caring of the user’s privacy than the rest, but I’d definitely like to know more about any problems.

[rockinghigh]

Unlike Google and Facebook, Apple does not make money by selling user profiles for marketers to target.

[FireBeyond]

Only because iAd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd) was a horrific failure.

In early 2011, the minimum buy price on the platform was $500K. By midyear, $300K. By early 2012, $100K. Early 2013? $50 (no K missing, just fifty bucks).

[yjftsjthsd-h]

I believe you that it was a failure, but that doesn't follow from the minimum price dropping. Perhaps as they gained confidence in the system, they allowed smaller buys with smaller prices (but still just as profitable).

[davidgordon]

Are you sure?

Specifically it isn't necessarily about advertisers it regards surveillance.

Advertising revenue can be completely offset by Governmental tracking.

As I said in the other post we can't prove the positive but it certainly is a feasible option.

I know I could do it given the charter.

[nemothekid]

Advertising revenue can be completely offset by the government? That seems unlikely given how much these companies make off of advertising. It would be amazing that the Apple and the USG could hide that kind of massive money transfer off their books.

[tunesmith]

Isn't facebook embedded in iOS to some degree?

[ascagnel_]

It used to be one of the only share targets (Twitter was the other). iOS 10 & 11 removed it; to log in with FB or share to FB through the OS, you must install the app to do so.

[davidgordon]

Lack of evidence is conspicuous in of itself, although that right now is tin foil hat territory. I'll tell you in a few years.

On the other hand I'd refer you to Bletchley Park.

Turing et al knew the decrypted Enigma messages but the Government were unable to act.

For good reason.

Secrecy is a thing

[CaptSpify]

Apple likes to loudly proclaim that they care about protecting their user's data, but they also refuse to put their money where their mouth is. That to me is telling enough.

I do think it's important to note that I have not seen direct evidence of them abusing that data, but we've seen plenty of companies/governments/organizations doing bad things for years without direct evidence.

[robin_reala]

What are you referring to with “refuse to put their money where their mouth is”?

[CaptSpify]

They refuse to open-source their products, and they also refuse to put in zero-knowledge encryption systems.

[robin_reala]

I guess you can argue that WebKit, CUPS, Darwin, LLVM etc were open-source before Apple started using/sponsoring them (or based new software on them) and so had to continue, but Swift was a from-scratch project that was open sourced.

As for zero-knowlege encryption, iCloud Keychain is although the rest isn’t, you’re right there. Hopefully they’ll move in that direction.

[CaptSpify]

I'm not saying that Apple is staunchly against FOSS or anything, and they absolutely do release a lot of FOSS stuff (which is awesome!), but their platform is absolutely not FOSS. I still can't compile my own iOS or MacOS.

[sakuronto]

If Apple open-sourced their OS you'd have a CentOS in half a day. Apple definitely doesn't want clones, it means less customers and less cohesive branding, so is there any reason this wouldn't be a very damaging move?