If You're Connected, Apple Collects Your Data

fyngyrz (762201) writes It would seem that no matter how you configure Yosemite, Apple is listening. Keeping in mind that this is only what's been discovered so far, and given what's known to be going on, it's not unthinkable that more is as well. Should users just sit back and accept this as the new normal? It will be interesting to see if these discoveries result in an outcry, or not. Is it worse than the data collection recently reported in a test version of Windows?

Comments

Yay :D

[jimmetry]

2015 will the the year of Desktop Linux!

Re:Yay :D

[Rosyna]

TFA specifically notes that the behavior described was observed with all visible 'privacy' settings adjusted. Presumably the story is even cheerier if those aren't switched off.

He only disabled Spotlight Suggestions in the Spotlight preferences, he did not disable it for Safari, which is in the Safari preferences, right next to the search engine preference.

  (Because you may not want Spotlight sending strings to Apple when searching for files on the computer, but you may not care if you are only searching the internets via safari).

Re:Doesn't look like much

[anagama]

I think I understand -- you are saying the software operates as designed, so no problems here.

I think what you aren't getting is that the way the software is designed is what ticks off people who care about their privacy.

Seriously, why should mail.app inform apple that I set up an account randomMailHost.com? That the software does leads you to write [closed: behaves correctly]. This is not at all "correct" from many users' points of view -- you should use a phrase that is more factual and uses words with less judgment involved, for example: [closed: behaves as _designed_ (and if you don't like the design, suck it)].

That's absurd, aim your hate cannon elsewhere.

[Brannon]

Apple has an excellent track record on privacy issues. Not because they are super nice people, but because that's not their business model.

They don't make money by selling user information to third parties or by selling ads, they make money by selling actual physical objects to end-consumers. I'm not sure what you mean by "it's to be expected from Apple", but I'm pretty sure you just made that up because you don't like Apple's customers (probably because you met somebody who likes Apple products who has a more expensive haircut than you).

Re:That's absurd, aim your hate cannon elsewhere.

[Rosyna]

They don't make money by selling user information to third parties or by selling ads,

Funny, Apple has this thing called iAd where you pay Apple to place targeted ads, and it's currently being sued for selling user info to 3rd parties. Are these activities Apple's primary revenue model? No, but they are part of the revenue stream nevertheless.

iAd is only for iOS Devices (not Yosemite) and your second link is extremely misleading. They're being sued for asking customers that purchase high priced items for their zip code as an additional form of data to verify with the credit card processor to prevent fraudulent transactions. Maybe merchants that have a high amount of fraud do this type of verification.

Re:It is opt-out in OSX.

[chihowa]

From the article:

The following occur with all privacy options enabled -- including disabling analytics (i.e., Diagnostics and Usage Data).

So even though it is presented as opt-out, it apparently isn't actually opt out.

I've noticed the same thing. With all of the "privacy" related options enabled, there is still a great deal of chatting with Apple servers. I'm seeing this with Little Snitch.

Re:If you want results from the web

[Rosyna]

They specifically said they turned off Spotlight suggestions.

No, he said he turned off Spotlight suggestions in Spotlight. Not Spotlight suggestions in Safari. (Because you may not want Spotlight sending strings to Apple when searching for files on the computer, but you may not care if you are only searching the internets via safari).

Even if that were not so, changing search engine should never mean you have to find another configuration option to turn off the old search engine. That's just wrong.

It's in the same window!