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Tim Cook Says Apple's Customers Are Not Its Product, Unlike Facebook (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with MSNBC and Recode on Wednesday that Silicon Valley, and notably Facebook, should be far more careful with its customers' data in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica disclosures. "I think the best regulation is no regulation, is self-regulation," he said, according to Recode. "However, I think we're beyond that here." Cook reiterated points that he and former CEO Steve Jobs made previously, that Apple's business model -- unlike Google, Facebook, and many other tech companies -- is predicated on selling physical products rather than capturing data about customers. "We've never believed that these detailed profiles of people that have incredibly deep personal information that is patched together from several sources should exist," he said, according to The Wall Street Journal. "The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer -- if our customer was our product," he added. "We've elected not to do that."
People deride Apple for having high margins. But that is exactly how a company removes temptation to misuse data.
Tim Cook was asked what he would do in this position, and he said "well I wouldn't put myself in this position". In a lot of ways Tim Cook feels the same about the cross tracking ads and things that most of the people on Slashdot does - he doesn't like them, doesn't participate in things like that, and furthermore has had Apple altering browsers to help block cross site tracking...
Apple has a clear path to making money, when a company doesn't you can be sure there is SOME path to making money from you even if you are not paying directly.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Strange.
In recent compliance audits for GDPR regulations in the EU, we've been unable to get any kind of statement out of Apple about where they store iCloud and other data, and whether it's held compliant to either the GDPR or Data Protection Act.
http://www.applegazette.com/ic...
Their policy flat-out contains a line that is illegal under EU data protection rules and prevents almost any company that processes any kind of personal data (even "this is your name and email for your iTunes account) from using them::
https://www.apple.com/uk/legal...
"All the information you provide may be transferred or accessed by entities around the world as described in this Privacy Policy."
Which is the same "no answer" answer I've had out of them when I've asked over the last ten years. They pay lip-service, but I ain't going to court to explain why my user's EU-protected ended up in Outer Mongolia.
The reason, of course, is obvious. iCloud is actually just Amazon, Microsoft and Google storage depending on whatever they bought this month:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/...
Maybe they give a shit in the US, but in the EU they have absolutely no interest and, hence, lose a lot of custom. Ironically, they claim to have focus "on education" now with new educational-models of iPad. Hilarious seeing as we can't legally store children's data on them.
Yep, if your child's school is using iCloud or even iTunes in any fashion, ask to see the data protection guarantee.
Do yourself a favour if you work in IT in the UK/EU and are checking for GDPR compliance - take all your Apple gear and bin it now.
"All the information you provide may be transferred or accessed by entities around the world as described in this Privacy Policy."
Which is the same "no answer" answer I've had out of them when I've asked over the last ten years.
It's actually a very clear answer; you just are not listening.
I'm not sure you've not been able to figure out this giant mystery when everyone else knows how iCloud works. They take your data into pieces, encrypt and store that data usually around the region you are in, but possibly in other regions as well (it could be spread around) and then all metadata related to the data is held on Apple servers in your region.
There's pretty much nothing anyone can do with the actual iCloud data being stored apart from the user with that iCloud account and access to the information needed to re-assemble it all.
Do yourself a favour if you work in IT in the UK/EU and are checking for GDPR compliance - take all your Apple gear and bin it now.
And use what exactly... the same servers Apple is using, only with unencrypted data?
Instead of puking all over a solution because Apple, you should be treasuring a company that actually values security and takes the effort to make it all fairly secure.
Sad that an IT worker would seek to weaken protection around other people's data just 'cause he's mad.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
By locking their customers in a walled garden and charging outside companies 30% to sell things to those customers, they have little need to sell the information about their customers outside of their walled garden.
The other ecosystems don't charge 30% to outside companies and instead get them to pay them money for information about their customers...
Basically, Apple is making money taxing exchanges in eco-system where other eco-systems are relying on value-add sales...
... for now.
As an Apple user, I'm honestly surprised by this and don't expect it to continue for much longer.
To be fair, Apple sells actual products and provides services for those products. Facebook just provides a service "for free". Apple doesn't need money from your data while Facebook depends on it. The value of Apple depends on the value their products provide to you. The value of Facebook and their service depends on the value of your data - to you and others.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
This is slashdot we don’t need to be fair.
We want everything for free, with no consequences just like when we were under 10 years of age.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I think that this is just marketing. If you read Apple's privacy policy it is actually pretty bad. It's basically the extreme case of "all your data are belong to us" and we'll use it however we want.
You are aware that Apple runs an Ad network, right?
https://developer.apple.com/ne...
https://developer.apple.com/ne...
Apple's ad platform allows advertisers to purchase ads based on previous purchases according to news articles. I've never personally placed an ad, but I think the above statement is intentionally misleading. Maybe they don't use the data from Apple Pay specifically, but they allow advertisers to target based on past purchases in the App Store and iTunes at least.
Non-personal information according to Apple:
occupation
language
zip code
area code
unique device identifier
referrer URL
location
time zone
customer activities on our website, iCloud services, our iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, App Store for Apple TV and iBooks Stores and from our other products and services
We may collect and store details of how you use our services, including search queries.
"We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."
"At times Apple may make certain personal information available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services, or that help Apple market to customers."
"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device."
Source:
https://www.apple.com/legal/pr...
Apple also uses differential privacy which according to these articles isn't as non-personal as they claim:
https://www.wired.com/story/ap...
http://appleinsider.com/articl...
I'm sorry if I'm disappointing you, but Apple is making money off your personal information just like every other major tech company. Apple doesn't document how much they make from ads. This article claims they probably make about $1 billion a year off search ads, but that doesn't include Apple News adds, iTunes ads, App Store ads, and in-app ads. The total mobile ad market is estimated at $20.86 billion, but I don't know how much of that is Apple's share. Based on Apple's earning's report, their share isn't more than $8.5 billion (total for Apple "services"), but I don't know where in the $1 to 8.5 billion range the total is.
https://mobiledevmemo.com/appl...
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I am a "Steve Jobs hater" and readily admit Apple under his leadership applied for many radical and abusive patents. Anyone that has read slashdot has been part of discussions on many nasty patents Apple was granted. I recall posters here indicating that Jobs might have applied for these patents to ensure no one else would do it.
Many years of evidence showing most of those nasty patents not being implemented, including OS-level embedded advertisements, has proven those slashdot posters possibly correct.
Just because Apple owns patents for customer abusive features does not necessarily mean that the company is customer abusive...beyond massive overpricing and living off of a reality distortion field instead of technical merit ;)