[smoldesu]

It's equally funny to see the collective sigh-of-relief expressed through this post's upvotes. OCSP is real and can hurt you, warrantless iCloud access still goes un-mitigated, but thank God! The QR code IP leak turned out to be a fake. Who knew MacOS was a nice and private operating system all along?

[derbOac]

So... I think replication was needed and have a MacBook myself. However, the claim in question was tricky to verify because it was supposedly occuring over the course of days.

I also think it says a lot about collective anxieties over not using an open OS. The scanning wasn't happening but it was plausible and there wasn't really much to do about it other than try to verify it.

I think the episode says less about collective unwarranted paranoia and more about collective vulnerabilities.

I still am scratching my head about the new tweet though. It doesn't say the scanning isn't happening, just that it's not MacOS.

[zimpenfish]

> The scanning wasn't happening but it was plausible

I didn't think it is plausible which is why I set up a whole bunch of replication scenarios to verify the extraordinary claim.

> It doesn't say the scanning isn't happening, just that it's not MacOS.

I think it's clear that the scanning isn't happening and that it was just Firefox refetching something?

"I now believe the canary token was triggered [...] by Firefox’s “recent” shortcuts on the home screen"

[natch]

Unfortunately he doesn’t go the full distance and tell us unambiguously whether or not he clicked on said shortcut. Which would say nothing about the already settled macOS question but would say something about Firefox.

[Tijdreiziger]

OK, now how do we solve it?

I’ve been thinking about this problem a lot. It seems to me you either go full send on the privacy front -> use FLOSS operating systems and self-host Nextcloud, or you want the comforts of modern apps and services -> buy into Apple’s or Google’s ecosystem.

There exists no option where you get to keep your privacy and enjoy modern technology.

[chaxor]

How is using good Linux based OSes and self hosted FOSS not "enjoying modern technology".

The systems are very nice honestly, because they give you much more control (e.g. windows vs Linux).

[Tijdreiziger]

Well, because using any popular service or app is right out?

Just looking at my own phone, payments, banking, planning transit rides, ordering cabs, keeping in touch with (online and offline) friends, streaming videos and music, gaming, ordering groceries, ordering takeout, translating documents, getting breaking news, taking (good) photos, and reporting vandalism to the city are all proprietary apps.

I don’t see a straightforward way to replace any of these with FOSS, and getting rid of them all would necessitate some serious concessions in my lifestyle.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

> Well, because using any popular service or app is right out?

> Just looking at my own phone, payments, banking, planning transit rides, ordering cabs, keeping in touch with (online and offline) friends, streaming videos and music, gaming, ordering groceries, ordering takeout, translating documents, getting breaking news, taking (good) photos, and reporting vandalism to the city are all proprietary apps.

Most if not all of those are websites that work fine in a perfectly normal browser on whatever operating system I care to use, in my experience.

[Tijdreiziger]

I know for certain that the services I depend on in at least half of those categories either don’t work in the browser, do work but don’t have full functionality, or are just the desktop version.

[Liquid_Fire]

Maybe it's different where you live, but for me from of the things you listed, the only one that would absolutely depend on a proprietary OS is keeping in touch with friends - because many use services such as WhatsApp that depend on having a phone with Google Play Services. And games where you usually have no choice.

Of the others, many depend on proprietary services, but pretty much all are accessible via their respective websites and I rarely see missing functionality.

payments - just use your card. You could even stick it in your phone case so you always have it if you have your phone

banking - there are some "app-only" banks where I live, but for every one there are 5 normal ones with websites

planning transit rides - all the ones I've used work in the browser

ordering cabs - around here they all have websites... or even phone numbers. Even Uber works via the website.

streaming videos and music - Spotify, YouTube, Twitch etc all work fine in a browser (in fact, on mobile they work better in a browser as you can block the ads!). If you want to host your own, there is Plex and similar.

gaming - most games won't work, but there are web-based and OSS games; Steam Deck could be an alternative

ordering groceries - around here they all have websites

ordering takeout - as above

translating documents - this one is weaker but there are several services that let you do this via the website

getting breaking news - if you really need to see them ASAP, use a site that has an RSS feed - they still exist! Might not work for local news though

taking (good) photos - plenty of OSS camera apps; using an actual camera could be an alternative

reporting vandalism to the city - must be specific to where you live; here everything is via web forms, and if there is an app it just wraps the website

[merely-unlikely]

I'd love Apple to build iCloud hosting via your home mac or a new version of the server they used to sell. That way all data sits on and is processed by a machine you control. Admittedly wishful thinking but I can dream.

[selectodude]

I wish I was smart enough to reverse engineer iCloud so I could self-host. This would, of course, also be a massive security flaw.