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What Apple Does and Doesn't Know About You
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Tucked inside Apple's first-ever transparency report, published yesterday, was a not-so-subtle dig at the tech giant's competitors. 'Our business does not depend on collecting personal data,' Apple wrote. 'We have no interest in amassing personal information about our customers.' It's no secret that for social web companies like Google or Facebook, collecting, storing, and analyzing data about every aspect of your life translates into cold, hard cash—the more sensitive and personal, the better. But in the emerging post-NSA new world order, the unwritten privacy-for-cool services agreement that drives the internet ecosystem is making netizens increasingly uneasy."
Put the cash on the table for an iPhone or iPad: your deal is done. Get "free" Facebook, Google, etc. and your private information is how they make their money.
I'm happier paying up front and leaving the store with no parasites attached to me.
Trolling is a art,
...in the emerging post-NSA new world order, the unwritten privacy-for-cool services agreement that drives the internet ecosystem is making netizens increasingly uneasy...
"emerging"
"post-"
"NSA"
"new world order"
"unwritten agreement"
"services"
"privacy"
"meaningless-hyphenation"
"drive"
"internet ecosystem"
"netizens"
http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/153/apple-phones-home-too
https://www.apple.com/privacy/
When you share your content with family and friends using Apple products, send gift certificates and products, or invite others to join you on Apple forums, Apple may collect the information you provide about those people such as name, mailing address, email address, and phone number.
When you create an Apple ID, register your products, apply for commercial credit, purchase a product, download a software update, register for a class at an Apple Retail Store, or participate in an online survey, we may collect a variety of information, including your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, contact preferences, and credit card information.
Good people go to bed earlier.
On an iOS device go to Settings->Privacy->Advertising and there is a setting labelled "Limit Ad Tracking" which you can enable or disable.
I don't think Facebook or Google offer that.
Trolling is a art,
Actually, Google does have that with their accounts. FaceBook, no, I don't think so.
Where is the '-1, Factually Incorrect' mod when you need it?
1) Yes, all Apple devices now prompt for an AppleID when you first turn them on. There is a 'Skip' button that you apparently completely missed, though. It is not a hidden button.
2) Apparently you were unable to do a simple Google search to figure out how to create an iTunes Store account without a credit card. Apple has posted directions.
Or does reality not fit with the bad image you want to have of Apple?
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
You could not find the "Skip" button on this screen?
http://cdn.tutsplus.com/mac.tutsplus.com/authors/john-winter/appleID-Mac.jpg
Where is the '-1, Factually Incorrect' mod when you need it?
1) Yes, all Apple devices now prompt for an AppleID when you first turn them on. There is a 'Skip' button that you apparently completely missed, though. It is not a hidden button.
When you hit "skip", it gives you a warning that you won't be able to use the App store. So you have to enter your information even to get free apps, even though they have "no interest in amassing personal information about [their] customers"
2) Apparently you were unable to do a simple Google search to figure out how to create an iTunes Store account without a credit card. Apple has posted directions.
True.
Notably, the first step in those directions is signing up for the App store. So you have to enter your information, even though they have "no interest in amassing personal information about [their] customers"
Having a workaround posted online somewhere seems less intuitive than having a simple "Would you like to link your credit card to this account? YES/NO" prompt during setup. It's almost as if they actually do want the private data they have "no interest in".
Or does reality not fit with the bad image you want to have of Apple?
They have "no interest" in the data. Their business doesn't "depend on" the data.
Why do they collect it anyway?
Seems to me they've given the other companies a decent excuse, while saying they themselves -don't- have an excuse.
People are refuting the facts you posted. Fact is, I have never created an Apple account before. Never. Following your link, I found that the directions contained in the link are in fact somewhat outdated. But - using that link, I found the information necessary to create a new account, using fictitious information, and NO CREDIT CARD NUMBER had to be submitted. As a result of testing the validity of your post, I now have an account with which I might download "stuff", without ever paying for anything. Hell - I'm gonna go poke around, and see if they have anything that I'm even interested in. Do they have free music? Guess I'll find out . . . .
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Yeah, like Apple would forgo an opportunity to earn money, simply because they also earn money elsewhere.
They've done exactly that, many times. Not all profitable activities are profitable enough to be worth Apple's time and attention. That's why they gave up making the Xserve and Xserve RAID products, for example.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
True, but that's only part of the equation. If privacy is valuable to their customers, Apple will gain customers (and money) by not harvesting their data.
Besides, Google is far more experienced at data mining than Apple is likely to ever be, so rather than try to beat Google at their own game, it's probably wiser for Apple to play counterpoint here.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Apple may collect that information, but as Apple said, their business does not depend on the sale of that info. Selling access to you is not core to their business, like FB and Google.
They'd be stupid if they didn't collect that information. You're a 5 digit ID - can't you tell the difference between "we don't care about selling your data" and "your data is what we sell?"
collecting user data doesn't take any "time and attention", it's basically just pure "profit".
You have no idea what you're talking about. Don't ever attempt to run a business.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Yeah, like Apple would forgo an opportunity to earn money, simply because they also earn money elsewhere. They may not be desperate to make money from the data they collect, but they would be stupid (in the "maximum shareholder value" frame of reference) not to benefit from it as much as possible.
They would be stupid. Abusing your data is not part of their business. It would be very hard to turn this into profit, and Google is probably better at it :-) On the other hand, the price they would have to pay in lost hardware sales because of damaged reputation would outweigh any of those profits.