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Apple Launches Portal For US Users To Download Their Data (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the data-rich dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Apple on Wednesday began allowing users in the U.S. to download a copy of all of the data that they have stored with the company from a single online portal. U.S. users will be able to download data such as all of their address book contacts, calendar appointments, music streaming preferences and details about past Apple product repairs. Previously, customers could get their data by contacting Apple directly. In May, when Apple first launched the online privacy portal, it only allowed U.S. users to either correct their data or delete their Apple accounts.

35 comments

  1. sigh by Presence+Eternal · · Score: 1

    Damn it, I just told a customer she couldn't bulk download iCloud photos from a web interface.

    1. Re:sigh by viperidaenz · · Score: 2

      Doesn't say you can do that.
      The article implies you can download all your data, but only mentions a small subset.

    2. Re:sigh by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      Doesn't say you can do that.
      The article implies you can download all your data, but only mentions a small subset.

      It's all the data Apple has on you that you don't already have access to. So all the hidden data Apple keeps.

      iCloud data is easily accessible through the web, your phone or your Windows or Mac PC (using iCloud sync).

      If you have someone wanting to download photos, iCloud control panel will do just that.

    3. Re:sigh by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      So you can download all the recordings they stored when you said "Hey Siri...."
      Oh wait... no you can't.

      It's a PR move.

    4. Re:sigh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Hey Siri" is stored on the device. It'll work without any internet connectivity at all. Any commands after that, however, are sent on to be processed.

    5. Re:sigh by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Yes, of course it is a Public Relations move, a good one. What you can download, is the data Apple has on you, you know a fraction of the information other companies like M$ or Google have, and allow you to review it, correct it or delete it. All your private details, not your content, your digital identity. Obviously way to subtle for you to pick up on and equally obviously something neither M$ nor Google can offer because the user response would be, WHAT THE FUCK, why did you record and keep all that data, WHAT THE FUCK, business of yours is it and people would not be correcting, they would be deleting.

      Thoroughly good bit of PR and not PR=B$ of the M$ variety.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    6. Re:sigh by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Ah, that's unfortunate. Other services, e.g. Google, allow you to download absolutely everything in one handy .zip archive. That makes it really easy to do a full backup/export and migrate to another service.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. no link? by Hugh+Jorgen · · Score: 2

    lol, well that's a very useful article.

    1. Re:no link? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yes, like.. they didn't launch anything until there's a link...

    2. Re:no link? by Hugh+Jorgen · · Score: 1

      Should cite their source, it's the Internet, not a print article from 1980. Though a print article by a journalist would've included an address and phone number.

  3. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1, Insightful

    So what this tells us is that if you know somebody's Apple ID and password, you can download every other piece of information that Apple has on record about them.

    What could possibly go wrong with that??

    1. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      No, if you know their Apple ID, their password, you are in possession of one of their devices to approve the two factor auth, if you can prevent them from receiving the email notification to every single email address they have registered with Apple, and if you can wait a week to access the data. And honestly, if you have that much control over their digital life, you have access to pretty much everything, not just Apple, but their banking and every other online account they have.

    2. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      You should definitely enable two factor on your account.

      Google has had this for many years, nice to see Apple get on board. Question is what format is the data in? Being Apple it will probably be supported by other platforms, but it would be nice if they used open standards and formats.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      it's an image (can't be cut and pasted) of 6 digits to apple only devices, not open

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
    4. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So what this tells us is that if you know somebody's Apple ID and password, you can download every other piece of information that Apple has on record about them.

      What could possibly go wrong with that??

      You should read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    5. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL Being apple it will probably be a proprietary format.

    6. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're an idiot. If you have the ID and password you ALREADY have access to all of that data, and more that the summary doesn't provide. Might I suggest CNN or BBC as your news source.

    7. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      I am not an idiot. A portal that allows one-step comprehensive capture of everything gathered about them in a profile should simply not be available.

      If all you have is the ID and password, in seconds you can have everything else. Certainly faster than some people will be able to change their ID/Password if they even realize it's compromised.

      But go around calling people idiots. It really helps build your case in the discussion.

    8. Re:What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple has "been onboard" since 2013.

  4. I'll try it by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    Email: Kanye@memememe.com
    Password: 000000

    Nice!

  5. OK by DarkRookie2 · · Score: 1

    And?
    What else? Doesn't really do anything for anyone. You should already have your stuff backed up.

    --
    http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
    1. Re:OK by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 0

      And?

      What else? Doesn't really do anything for anyone. You should already have your stuff backed up.

      It's primarily to satisfy an EU(?) requirement that any data collected by a manufacturer be retrievable by the User.

  6. hackers figure out the code to login... by ole_timer · · Score: 1

    ...and download all your secrets...

    --
    nothing to see here - move along
  7. Can't Wait by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 0

    I can't wait till some hacker figures out how weak it actually is, and exploits the shit out of it to download celebrity porn.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    1. Re:Can't Wait by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 0

      I can't wait till some hacker figures out how weak it actually is, and exploits the shit out of it to download celebrity porn.

      Not likely to be weak.

    2. Re:Can't Wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, so strong it won't be hacked! Ever!

      16-Year-Old Teen Hacked Apple Servers, Stole 90GB of Secure Files
      https://thehackernews.com/2018/08/apple-hack-servers.html

    3. Re:Can't Wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ya cause apples crappy security has never been hacked.

  8. What could possibly go wrong by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    Now if there was a way to sync this data to something else you used, and deleted it from Apple, it would possibly be less of a potential disaster, well a little less...

  9. More useful than scary though, or less scary by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    What could possibly go wrong with that??

    Yes someone, if they get around your account password, can upload whatever data you've stored with Apple.

    However is it not also scary that before there was no way to get all that if you needed it? The few times security may be breached seems rather more offset by the usefulness of such a service to millions of everyday valid users...

    As others have said, it's not like this does not also exist for Google or Facebook, and I'll bet lots more people have weaker security and more embarrassing stuff on Facebook...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  10. up to 7 days to produce the data... by ole_timer · · Score: 1

    not holding my breath...

    --
    nothing to see here - move along
    1. Re:up to 7 days to produce the data... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, considering the Iron Mountain tape backup monkeys have to ride bikes through the vaults to pick up the tapes for Amazon Glacier but generally generally retrieve in a day, that suggests Apple cheaped out and used a Mormon deep vault where they are forbidden from using bikes in the vault, so they have to walk to the tapes, and they chose the back vaults because they were cheaper (so a farther walk). Plus a tape strategy that split the data poorly so multiple tapes from different vaults are needed, so an even farther walk.

  11. Great, that should make it easier by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    for them to switch to Android, and provide a single point of effort for hackers/governments who want the data.

  12. Portal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So what about Portal2 because I find that superior to the original game!

  13. Link by fulldecent · · Score: 1

    Authoritative link from Apple, where is it?

    --

    -- I was raised on the command line, bitch