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'I Asked Apple for All My Data. Here's What Was Sent Back' (zdnet.com)
"I asked Apple to give me all the data it's collected on me since I first became a customer in 2010," writes the security editor for ZDNet, "with the purchase of my first iPhone."
That was nearly a decade ago. As most tech companies have grown in size, they began collecting more and more data on users and customers -- even on non-users and non-customers... Apple took a little over a week to send me all the data it's collected on me, amounting to almost two dozen Excel spreadsheets at just 5MB in total -- roughly the equivalent of a high-quality photo snapped on my iPhone. Facebook, Google, and Twitter all took a few minutes to an hour to send me all the data they store on me -- ranging from a few hundred megabytes to a couple of gigabytes in size...
The zip file contained mostly Excel spreadsheets, packed with information that Apple stores about me. None of the files contained content information -- like text messages and photos -- but they do contain metadata, like when and who I messaged or called on FaceTime. Apple says that any data information it collects on you is yours to have if you want it, but as of yet, it doesn't turn over your content which is largely stored on your slew of Apple devices. That's set to change later this year... And, of the data it collects to power Siri, Maps, and News, it does so anonymously -- Apple can't attribute that data to the device owner... One spreadsheet -- handily -- contained explanations for all the data fields, which we've uploaded here...
[T]here's really not much to it. As insightful as it was, Apple's treasure trove of my personal data is a drop in the ocean to what social networks or search giants have on me, because Apple is primarily a hardware maker and not ad-driven, like Facebook and Google, which use your data to pitch you ads.
CNET explains how to request your own data from Apple.
The zip file contained mostly Excel spreadsheets, packed with information that Apple stores about me. None of the files contained content information -- like text messages and photos -- but they do contain metadata, like when and who I messaged or called on FaceTime. Apple says that any data information it collects on you is yours to have if you want it, but as of yet, it doesn't turn over your content which is largely stored on your slew of Apple devices. That's set to change later this year... And, of the data it collects to power Siri, Maps, and News, it does so anonymously -- Apple can't attribute that data to the device owner... One spreadsheet -- handily -- contained explanations for all the data fields, which we've uploaded here...
[T]here's really not much to it. As insightful as it was, Apple's treasure trove of my personal data is a drop in the ocean to what social networks or search giants have on me, because Apple is primarily a hardware maker and not ad-driven, like Facebook and Google, which use your data to pitch you ads.
CNET explains how to request your own data from Apple.
[T]here's really not much to it. As insightful as it was, Apple's treasure trove of my personal data is a drop in the ocean to what social networks or search giants have on me, because Apple is primarily a hardware maker and not ad-driven, like Facebook and Google, which use your data to pitch you ads.
You can thank the fact that iAds failed miserably (because Facebook and Google already locked-down the ad sector) or they'd have even more information on you, given the lock-in/walled-garden approach they have.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
.. of the scene in Das Leben der Anderen where Dreyman goes to the Stasi headquarters to view all the files they had on him. They bring out hand trucks with boxes full of paper files.
Isn't technology wonderful? Now they can just hand you a thumb drive.
Have gnu, will travel.
So Apple doesn't send a Numbers spreadsheet? It sends Excel?
Numbers can export Excel document nimrod, they sent out what they thought would be most compatible...
Only someone as stupid as an Apple Hater can take a positive action by Apple (sending out the most portable document format) and pretend it's a negative.
I can tell why you post as AC, to hide your shame (which is substantial). But you know in private, we all know you cry yourself to sleep at night...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Makes you wonder if they can really make sure that it is not the wrong person requesting all that data.
The problem isn't data collection per se. It's retention. If you want to put your entire life history on Facebook, it's not a problem as long as Facebook will delete it all if you change your mind and decide you no longer wish to share it with them. Facebook refuses to do that, and will hang on to your old data (apparently forever), which makes them by far the worst transgressor. (They used to also make it near-impossible to get a copy of all your data, in case you wanted to leave but didn't want to lose everything. But apparently they've addressed that recently.)
Google at least makes it easy for you to get a copy of your data should you wish to leave or change services, and to delete data they've collected on you from their servers.
I read TFA a few days ago when it first came out. What's notably lacking is that this isn't a way to delete your data from Apple's servers. Just a way for you to request a copy.