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Apple CEO Tim Cook Says Giving Up Your Data For Better Services is 'a Bunch of Bunk' (washingtonpost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the taking-a-stand dept.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook urged consumers not to believe the dominant tech industry narrative that the data collected about them will lead to better services. From a report: In an interview with "Vice News Tonight" that aired Tuesday, Cook highlighted his company's commitment to user privacy, positioning Apple's business as one that stands apart from tech giants that compile massive amounts of personal data and sell the ability to target users through advertising [The link may be paywalled; alternative source]. "The narrative that some companies will try to get you to believe is: I've got to take all of our data to make my service better," he said. "Well, don't believe them. Whoever's telling you that, it's a bunch of bunk." [...] Cook said in the interview that he is "exceedingly optimistic" that the topic of data privacy has reached an elevated level of public debate. "When the free market doesn't produce a result that's great for society you have to ask yourself what do we need to do. And I think some level of government regulation is important to come out on that."

59 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Better bet on... by joestar · · Score: 1

    /e/
    https://e.foundation/

    1. Re:Better bet on... by HatofPig · · Score: 1

      First time I've heard of this. Had to dig deep to find out it's a distant fork of CyanogenMod. Are they really making their logo an upside-down Google G? Worth following, since being Android it'll be useful for people who need their apps. But Puri.sm is more like what I'm looking for.

      --
      Silicon & Charybdis McLuhan Kildall Papert Kay
  2. Buy into our business model. by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The key difference between Google/Facebook business model vs Apple is how they make money.
    Apple you buy expensive hardware, for more money, but your data and privacy is managed much better.
    Vs.
    Google/Facebook where you may get the same hardware for cheaper, but your data is sold to compensate for it.

    It is akin paying for a vacation, vs. getting a cheaper vacation but have to sit threw a time share presentation.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    1. Re:Buy into our business model. by thegarbz · · Score: 2, Interesting

      but your data is sold to compensate for it.

      No it's not. Google has never sold anyone's data, much like Coke doesn't sell recipes for fizzy drinks and Apple doesn't sell engineering drawings.

      Google sells access. Access to your eyeballs and access to aggregated statistics.

    2. Re: Buy into our business model. by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      Google has never sold anyone's data

      Pretty impressive word-twisting, there; you should be in marketing or politics. However, you're likely quite wrong not only in spirit; the odds that Google hasn't sold raw metadata to various governments is less than nill.

    3. Re: Buy into our business model. by mattyj · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The cheaper Samsung feature phones are edging up toward 700-800 bucks, so I'm wondering what people buying them think they're getting.

      Google/Android has always been an advertising platform. The tradeoff _used_ to be inexpensive phones, but that's starting to fade.

      Premium Android phones can copy the iPhone all they want, but as long as they're Android phones, you're carrying around a spy device in your pocket at all times, one with a poorly regulated app store.

    4. Re:Buy into our business model. by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      To be honest, I recently got a new phone and switched from Android to iPhone. A major factor is that the iPhone was actually cheaper!
      (I don't go with latest models so the older iPhones were still on sale whereas the only the latest Android models were available)

      Someone paying $500-$1000 for a phone and then being asked to share all their data to help defray costs is being conned.

    5. Re:Buy into our business model. by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Then Google must give it away for free, because the information is leaking out.

    6. Re: Buy into our business model. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Premium Android phones can copy the iPhone all they want, but as long as they're Android phones, you're carrying around a spy device in your pocket at all times, one with a poorly regulated app store.

      Ah of course because your iPhone can't be tracked by GPS and cell towers, your traffic can't be intercepted by your carrier. If you think you're not being tracked and spied on when you're using an iPhone you're an ignorant moron. Of course perpetuating that serves the Apple agenda so we can all see why Apple apologists would do it but it's pretty clear you're either a shill or an idiot.

      FWIW I use an iPhone but it would be irresponsible of me to pretend like it's some bastion of privacy and security because anybody with an ounce of technical knowledge about how this all works knows that is simply not true and I have no vested interest in pretending it is true.

    7. Re: Buy into our business model. by exomondo · · Score: 1

      That language actually does a lot more harm than good. I know it makes these corporations sound very evil to say that they "sell your data" but the problem with doing that is it normalizes that idea and so people think that is what they are doing now and see the consequences of it.

      We now have anonymized data being collected, aggregated and then used in an advertising service and the consequences of that should absolutely not be attributed to the much worse idea of them "selling your data".

      I mean if these companies turned around and said "now we're going to sell your data" you don't want the general populace saying "oh ok, no problem we were under the impression you've been doing that all along".

    8. Re: Buy into our business model. by KixWooder · · Score: 2

      If I decide I no longer want to be a part of this, can I ask google to completely wipe any and every bit of info they have ever collected about me, public or private? No I cannot.

      --
      I hate fat people.
    9. Re: Buy into our business model. by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Who gives a fuck, who they sell it to, they collect and trade in your privacy, not for your benefit but to psychologically manipulate you into buying shit products and services against your interest. So they contract out the manipulation so that they can continue to generate revenue, rather than selling raw data, yeah for Google evil is as evil does.

      Quite simply Apple is selling privacy as a premium product in order to charge more. Ohh look, people are willing to pay big bucks for privacy contrary to the lies told by Google, Facebook and M$.

      Do you know what is even more interesting, that privacy paid for with higher profit margins, steals away the best customers for manipulative advertising. Yes, Google, Facebook and M$ will have the poor customers who can not afford to buy anything and Apple will have the more wealthy customers who can afford to buy stuff.

      Apple selling 'YOU' privacy, not selling 'YOUR' privacy. I got no qualms about using Apple to beat M$ to death, none.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    10. Re: Buy into our business model. by dromgodis · · Score: 1

      Problem is, if you pay premium price for a privacy-enabled device but then use it for Facebook, Google or just about anything on the web, or just about any casual app, you get the worst of both worlds: High price and blown privacy.

    11. Re: Buy into our business model. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Pretty impressive word-twisting

      Not at all. It's a very important distinction. The kind of distinction that makes a person want to use a VPN when on the Verizon network so their data isn't "sold", but has not problem having locations services enabled on Android.

      Selling data and aggregating it to sell access have two incredibly different privacy implications. It's why I have different levels of trust for the siphon of Google vs the telemetry of Microsoft.

      However, you're likely quite wrong not only in spirit; the odds that Google hasn't sold raw metadata to various governments is less than nill.

      Who cares, the FBI is watching you masturbate through your webcam right now. And I'm providing just as much evidence to this statement as you are.

    12. Re:Buy into our business model. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Then Google must give it away for free, because the information is leaking out.

      [Citation required]

    13. Re: Buy into our business model. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      No I cannot.

      You cannot. I can. Google has a lovely form you can fill out to remove your presence under the EU laws.

    14. Re: Buy into our business model. by iampiti · · Score: 1

      No, it's not fading. You can get very nice Android phones for 300€, decent ones for 200€. In fact you're now getting more bang for your buck than ever if you stick to sub 400€ phones.
      Yes, the high end has been getting more expensive both in Apple and Android land. But you don't need to buy a Galaxy Note 9 to have a good phone.
      Does Google gather a ton of data about you if you use Android phones? Yes they do. I wish they didn't and they could just charge for Android to the OEMs and not gather any data if they wanted. If that were the case the phones that now cost 300€ might be maybe 50€ more expensive but that's it.

    15. Re:Buy into our business model. by Daralantan · · Score: 1

      It is akin paying for a vacation, vs. getting a cheaper vacation but have to sit threw a time share presentation.

      I used to not mind the time share stuff. Usually it was a really cheap to stay at a really nice place, and then not pay attention to a guy I eventually say no to. Or when I was a kid.... play free video games while my parents dealt with that.

      But then came the point where my dad died. Literally 12 hours after his death I get a call asking for him. Tell the guy that he was my father, and he just died a few hours before. Guy's response: "Oh I'm sorry to hear that. I'm calling to see if you are interested in-" and that's where I told him to piss off and hung up.

    16. Re:Buy into our business model. by jellomizer · · Score: 1

      You data is sold, to advertisers, it is just not given to them.

      Coke wants to advertise to a particular group of people. They purchase a service from Google who uses your data to display the add Coke said show them this. It is akin to Money Laundering of User Data.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    17. Re:Buy into our business model. by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      but your data is sold to compensate for it.

      No it's not. Google has never sold anyone's data,

      Well, no - they just give it away for free inadvertently while selling targeted ads that use your data, and more.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    18. Re:Buy into our business model. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Errr no. You fundamentally failed to understand how Google's advertising model works.

    19. Re:Buy into our business model. by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      You data is sold, to advertisers, it is just not given to them.

      If that were even remotely true then maybe Google's customers should sue for not getting what they were sold.

      Instead data isn't sold. A targeted advertising service is sold. I'm not sure why you would even try and write the sentence you did, though Slashdot being an international site it's possible English isn't your first language.

    20. Re:Buy into our business model. by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      Errr no. You fundamentally failed to understand how Google's advertising model works.

      You fundamentally fail to understand how information works. The advertisers have ways to uniquely identify you - and using Google's services, they can then find out things that Google knows about you. Google doesn't sell them that information - but when they ask to serve ads to group X, and you get the ad, they know you are member of group X. It is as simple as that.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
  3. eeehhhhhhh by emorphien · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Privacy is good, but I also remember the first time I saw how Google was using that information it gathers to benefit me when I loaded up the Google Assistant app thingy a few years back and it just barfed out all kinds of convenient details about what I had going on. Travel times, package delivery statuses, etc. Obviously there's plenty of bad things that could happen with that information but IF it's anonymized well enough and I get a cheaper product and/or more intelligent service, it's worth it.

    Every time I compare Siri and what Apple offers via our iPad to what Google offers through Android, I'm struck by how much more accurate, useful, or contextually insightful Google's responses are. That takes data, and by not collecting and using more of that data, Apple can't keep up.

    Are those benefits worth the potential risks? That's up to each individual to decide, but it's not like they're really offering the same services.

    --


    Presently here, but not there.
    1. Re:eeehhhhhhh by spire3661 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The issue is Google doesn't ask, they take. I used to participate in data collection in the early days because i believed as you do, until I wanted to modulate what i shared and Google showed its true face. They dont take no for an answer. The user is a data point, not a person. That is an unacceptable philosophy.

      --
      Good-bye
    2. Re: eeehhhhhhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Anonymizing data sounds good in theory, but all of the new ways of generating fingerprints to track users online even when you delete cookies blows a hole in that arguement.

      Lots of data tracking is going to be a requirement for many services, but laws about how that data is used need to be written. Taking Âanonymous data and analyzing it to identify a person is when needs strict regulation.

    3. Re:eeehhhhhhh by Junta · · Score: 1

      it just barfed out all kinds of convenient details about what I had going on.

      The question being whether this really *requires* to be done in Google's datacenter versus an application framework on the endpoints doing the analysis there. Each user experiences all the data that is collected and thus it has the access and the horsepower to do this sort of stuff, but that's not how it does it. I remember for example being shocked going from an early 2000s cell phone that did serviceable voice recognition phonebook dialing to a modern platform that won't even *think* about speech recognition without sending the audio data to the cloud, despite having probably 20x more computational power.

      For device mobility, an opaque backup of state done through the endpoint analysis would suffice.

      It is a specific facet of the broader problem of these big companies deciding to not even think about delivering the value at the edge, because data mining in the cloud is so much more profitable.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
    4. Re:eeehhhhhhh by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      This is just it. Google provide services using a wealth of collected and monitored data. Apple can sit on it's high horse while offering you features gained from this data provided by third parties all while claiming that you don't need to give up your privacy.

      Or maybe people believe that Apple Maps just knows traffic due to Inference Engine 2.0 or some shit like that.

    5. Re:eeehhhhhhh by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I'm glad to be a datapoint. Being a person opens me up to being singled out and sold directly. Being a datapoint in some large set is quite irrelevant to me on a personal level.

    6. Re:eeehhhhhhh by mattyj · · Score: 1

      You're not a data point in a large set and being singled out and sold to directly, at the same time. It's 100% the latter.

      If you're fine being advertised to, are you also fine having non-advertisers, anyone that wants to rent/buy/borrow/steal that data seeing it? This sounds like the classic 'if I haven't done anything wrong' defense about surveillance.

      You might not care about what you do now, but let's say weed is outlawed in your state and the guvmunt suddenly has use for all that location data you've been sending them for the past few years. By putting 100% of your personal data online for the taking, you are pre-selling out your civil liberties. So have fun with that.

    7. Re: eeehhhhhhh by mattyj · · Score: 2

      The difference was put in an eloquent way by Cooke recently. Paraphrasing: "Your device should know everything about you, but Apple shouldn't."

      It wasn't so long ago that an Android flashlight app was collecting your location data without your knowledge and sending it to servers in China. That this kind of thing can physically even happen on your Android phone should tell you about the purpose of that platform.

    8. Re:eeehhhhhhh by Darinbob · · Score: 2

      First thing I did when the assistant showed up was to disable it. The benefits are far too small to justify giving up privacy. I can figure out this stuff on my own.

      Are things being anonymized? I don't think so. The advertising becomes too targeted to the point that it's creepy. Everytime you visit a new web site they always seem to know everything about you already.

    9. Re:eeehhhhhhh by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Google won't stop asking. Maybe it's only in the EU or something, but every time you use Google services for the first time it asks you for permission to use data. Every time you turn on some option that needs data, it asks you.

      I recently set up a new phone for my wife, and lost count of the number of times I had to allow/deny some bit of data collection or even just a new use of some data they already had.

      You can accuse Google of a lot of things, but not being absolutely clear or obtaining opt-in permission for all data use aren't examples.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    10. Re:eeehhhhhhh by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      You're not a data point in a large set and being singled out and sold to directly, at the same time. It's 100% the latter.

      Not at all. I'm being sold out as a collective group. There's so far been no evidence anywhere that advertising services the likes of Google provide access to a single user. There is however plenty of examples of this practice from the likes of Facebook and other companies that sell data directly rather than just access to aggregated eyeballs in a dataset.

      If you're fine being advertised to

      I will always be advertised to. The collection of data only changes how targetted that advertisement is, and again that happens on aggregated datasets.

      are you also fine having non-advertisers, anyone that wants to rent/buy/borrow/steal that data seeing it?

      Define "it". Companies which collect information in a database and sell the database I'm not fine with. That is selling the person, and NOT being a datapoint in some set. It is the difference between Facebook saying "here's the user profile for thegarbz", and Google saying "send me the advert I'll show it on your behalf to all people who were in Paris over Christmas"

      You might not care about what you do now, but let's say weed is outlawed in your state and the guvmunt suddenly has use for all that location data you've been sending them for the past few years. By putting 100% of your personal data online for the taking, you are pre-selling out your civil liberties. So have fun with that.

      If I lived in a 3rd world shithole that retrospectively applied laws and then persecuted people in a witchhunt then I have far bigger problems than Google knowing I visted some dude on a street corner.

      Also why is it all or nothing with you people. Even the dumbest of idiots don't put 100% of their data online.

  4. Meanwhile Apple gets $9B/year from Google by JoeyRox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Tim Cook rails against Google's privacy invading/trading business model yet earns a reported $9B/year to make Google the default search engine for Safari and various Apple services like Siri. In other words, Apple wont abuse user privacy themselves for profit - they get paid to enable Google to do it on their behalf.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-09-28/apple-looks-down-on-ads-but-takes-billions-from-google

    1. Re:Meanwhile Apple gets $9B/year from Google by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      That's not out of the ordinary. Apple maps gets its traffic data source from third parties too which among other things collect it by crowd sourcing location information.

      In other news, my hands are clean. I only paid to have that person killed. I didn't do it myself.

    2. Re:Meanwhile Apple gets $9B/year from Google by mattyj · · Score: 1

      If I were dumb/desperate enough to use Google on an iPhone, it doesn't require me to log in or otherwise send my personal data/location back to Google.

      Also, if I'm Apple and I don't have my own search engine, and Google comes knocking at my door with $9B free dollars, I'd have to be insane not to take that from them.

    3. Re:Meanwhile Apple gets $9B/year from Google by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      I keep hearing this claim that Google sells or trades your personal data. Seems utterly bizarre, it's the secret sauce that makes their products valuable and giving it to anyone else would destroy their business model. So I usually ask for some evidence, and then get modded down by google haters...

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Meanwhile Apple gets $9B/year from Google by yuvcifjt · · Score: 1

      The "secret sauce" to Google's products is their engineers, algorithms, and more recently, AI - and of course, their vast and unparalleled collection of user data put-together helps. Not to mention collective user analysis to better predict users, their buying habits, and to ultimately influence them (e.g. filter bubble).

      It wouldn't be strange if they sold portions of user data to any entity, as long as it doesn't give the complete picture about that person. e.g. they can sell all they know about your health issues to insurance companies, without exposing your risky behaviour or things you get up to in your time, such as your drinking/drug use, and looking for prostitutes every 2 days after midnight in x-radius area, etc.

      Just as we know they likely sell a small subset of our data related to products we might be interested in, in the recent past, and other related data which shows your wealth and how affluent you are, to big buyers such as retailers so they can charge a different price to each individual.

      We also know from Snowdon's revelations that Google is basically an arm of NSA, they work closely together, and in part, Google gives away vast sums and even user data to the government in exchange for relaxed laws that benefit themselves - i.e. Google is one of the biggest US Gov lobbyist (briber).

  5. It is easy for Apple to say that ... by Alain+Williams · · Score: 4, Insightful

    because they generate most of their income by: a) selling real physical goods ('phones, etc); or b) taking a slice of others who sell into the Apple eco-system via the app store. It is much harder for the likes of facebook & google who do not charge people for their product and thus have to generate income by helping others put adverts in front of their users' eyes. This is not a criticism of Apple - but just explaining that they have a very different business model.

    Having said all of that I agree with a lot of what Tim Cook says.

    1. Re:It is easy for Apple to say that ... by mattyj · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Slight correction. You refer to Google and Facebook being a product. The reality is that _you_ are the product. Your personal data is the commodity that is being sold.

    2. Re: It is easy for Apple to say that ... by jay+age · · Score: 1

      Iâ(TM)m not sure what are you trying to argue here - that Facebook and Google are in the lines of business where there is no other option just to abuse user privacy to make a profit? The fact that no one came up yet with another financing model for say search engines and social networks doesnâ(TM)t make it so. When enough people get will suffer downsides of this model, say companies digging up info in Facebook profile that they donâ(TM)t like and turning them down for a job, it may yet change. I hope it will.

  6. Re:I guess he means "other companies"... by spire3661 · · Score: 1

    Everyone does this now. IF im a US based customer, and i have no data points showing i often travel to other countries, most companies are going to straight up ignore attempts to use my credentials outside the US without secondary verification. This is nothing new at all, and is required security in a world that still relies on alphanumeric passwords.

    --
    Good-bye
  7. Re:Excuses for being last. by sexconker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Haha, says the guy with the bottom wrung voice assistant.

    Are we talking about Bixby or Cortana?

  8. It's not about better by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    It's about free. Google gets my info. In exchange I get YouTube, Maps, Android and their search engine for free. It's no different than getting free TV for adverts only everyone's a Nielsen family.

    Also, and I keep saying this, but I have bigger things to worry about. Like the trade war going on, or paying for the $16k in tuition to my kid's in State college. Or the endless wars. Or bridge collapse. Or medical care. Or retirement. Or...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:It's not about better by mattyj · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm an Apple fanboy, and I use YouTube on the regular with out logging in or giving up any personal info. Occasionally Maps, too.

      Thing is that most people don't realize how much data they collect. If your kid is a contact in your phone, Google, Facebook et al has tons of info on him/her, even if they don't have a Google or Facebook account.

      Conservatively, Twitter has 1000 employees (likely more like 2500-3000.) What do you think all those people are doing? Even with the millions of users' data they have, it would take like three people to run that place if all they had was your basic info. It can't possible take more than seven people to develop their apps.

  9. Yeah, instead.... by Sebby · · Score: 1

    Just have everything done through Apple - pay with ApplePay, subscribe to all the apps you use through the App Store, perpetually pay for iCloud storage.... what could possibly go wrong?

    --

    AC comments get piped to /dev/null
    1. Re:Yeah, instead.... by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      Just have everything done through Apple - pay with ApplePay, subscribe to all the apps you use through the App Store, perpetually pay for iCloud storage....

      Yup, don't give up your personal data... just give up your freedom to use other services.
      It's warm and sunny in the Garden, there's nothing for you out there. Trust us.

  10. Re:So that must be why... by mattyj · · Score: 1

    Blatant, flat-out lie. You don't know what you're talking about. Or actually you do, because you're clearly an Androidite spreading FUD with purpose.

    You can opt-in to send anonymized app data to Apple and developers but in no way does Apple require you to sell your soul to use an iPhone.

  11. Re:Excuses for being last. by mattyj · · Score: 1

    I can't wait for a few more years to go by and have everyone realize that voice assistants are dumb and inefficient for those of us that still have use of our arms.

  12. Re:DDG? Hahaha you stupid bastard. by mattyj · · Score: 1

    You just made that up 100% out of thin air. DDG is and always has been an American company.

  13. Re:Tim Crook by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's not BS. Giving your data to corporations because they tell you it's good for you is stupid. Do not trust corporations! (including Apple) Keep your data to yourself, even if some company whines that this hurts their profits.

  14. Re:Yeah, sure by mattyj · · Score: 3, Informative

    You mom has a fundamental lack of knowledge regarding how to share music between iDevices. And I'm guessing family tech support (you) does, also. In no way does sharing your own music library between iDevices require a credit card. And there are ways of doing it without logging in.

  15. Re:Right by mattyj · · Score: 1

    My personal privacy is definitely worth a few benjamins to me. Without a doubt.

  16. Re:Depends on how you make money by mattyj · · Score: 2

    This isn't a recent thing from Apple, it's been baked into their products and marketing since forever. It's just more on the forefront as late because of the abusive practices of the other guys coming to light.

  17. Re:Put up or shut up Tim by mattyj · · Score: 2

    Does Google need all your personal info at Google HQ to tell you there's traffic? Your phone itself already knows that. Your phone also knows when your flight leaves. Why does Google need that info on their servers? They need it because Google is an advertising platform.

    I dunno, I personally don't use Siri that often, but my iPhone itself knows when it's going to take me 20 extra minutes to get to the airport or work and prods me to leave early. All without selling my location and favorite Spice Girl (it's Sporty Spice) to anyone that wants to buy it.

  18. Has Tim Cook read Apple's own EULA? by brunes69 · · Score: 1

    "The narrative that some companies will try to get you to believe is: I've got to take all of our data to make my service better," he said. "Well, don't believe them"

    Tim... you need to talk to your legal and product departments. Your EULA has the same provisions in it. It's also how Apple Maps gathers all of it's data, and how Siri (which does it's processing on Apple cloud servers like everyone else, NOT locally on the phone) knows anything at all about you.

  19. Re:Put up or shut up Tim by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

    Ha HA! You gave away your favourite Spice Girl data for FREE. You fool! I'm gonna monetize the hell out of this somehow!

  20. busines model virtue signalling by epine · · Score: 1

    Says a man whose hardware business model is bloated and slow security updates (if you can get them at all) rendering devices barely out of their puppy years far slower than the day you bought them (even for simply things), soldering RAM onto the system board at 400% markup over street upgrades, and torpedoing the right to repair.