Apple Took Out a CES Ad To Troll Its Competitors Over Privacy (engadget.com)

An anonymous reader shared a report: Historically, Apple hasn't had an official presence at CES. It's not surprising given the company's success at hosting and hyping its own product launch events -- long before the iPod and iPhone brought Apple to the top of the technology mountain, Steve Jobs keynotes were can't miss events. The company is also very deliberate about its marketing campaigns; when I see Apple billboard ads, they focus on new product close-ups with minimal messaging. This is why the giant ad banner I saw when I arrived in Las Vegas yesterday for CES 2019 caught my eye. Positioned not far from the convention center where CES takes place, the sign is a cheeky riff on the old "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" slogan -- and with just a few words, it casts an Apple-shaped shadow over the convention.

Comments

Free pass over privacy

[sinij]

I don't understand why Google, Facebook, Twitter and a lot of other companies get a pass over privacy. It used to be that Apple, was a bad player in this area by unnecessary collecting data. While Apple didn't change, everyone else rushed into most outrageous abuses. So, sadly, now Apple is one of the better players in this area.

Re:Free pass over privacy

[fluffernutter]

It's because people don't really care. I have to admit, I use an Android phone so I guess I am encouraging privacy violations. But the alternative is to lock myself into Apple's walled garden, inability to simply copy files to my phone, and instead have to use a format iTunes will be happy with or use a flaky in app transfer; I pick sacrificing my privacy.

Re:Free pass over privacy

[b0s0z0ku]

Well said -- Apple practically invented the walled garden and computing as a prison. Prison is also a very private place (from the public, just not from the guards).

Re:Free pass over privacy

[b0s0z0ku]

What if you don't want said files on Apple's servers? If it can't be copied cloudfree, it's worthless for privacy.

Re:Free pass over privacy

[Kohath]

You should make your own phone then. It will be exactly what you want.

Re:Free pass over privacy

[Kohath]

It's a very easy workaround. But there's also Dropbox, etc.

Regular people who don't have hangups about WTF-ever can use one of the dozen simple ways to get files onto their iPhone. Only people like you have trouble.

Re: Free pass over privacy

[Anonymous Coward]

I kind of wonder if this is Apple's strategy to deflect shareholder's from paying attention to the fact that Apple's volume has been decreasing for years now, only sustaining their revenue numbers by raising the price. In effect, he's spent the last few years building a house of cards.

Tim Cook keeps blaming it on repairs, and in the case of China, tariffs, but that doesn't at all reflect what third party research data is showing: In nearly all cases, people say they're too expensive and don't deliver enough value to justify that. Apple products, no matter how good or terrible, get rave reviews in magazines and such because Apple retaliates against any that don't give going reviews, even for the shitty homepod (that Apple claimed was a breakthrough, despite being 4th to market, leaving stains on wood tables, and having no interoperability even by Apple's own shit standards in that department.) House of cards indeed, or perhaps a house of bent iPad pros that reflect Apple's high quality standards.

Re:Free pass over privacy

[Kohath]

Normal people transfer files the way they are given, because they don't know any better.

Also because it works. Then they go on with their lives instead of worrying about ethereal threats.

Normal people are also subject to identity theft, targeting marketing, and all the other risks that come with sharing potentially sensitive data with third parties unnecessarily.

That's a good reason to use iCloud.

It is baffling to me that you seem to equate the common behaviour with good behaviour. Why on earth would anyone do that?

Because it was about transferring files to an iPhone, not about passing a purity test on forensic data handling.

Re:Free pass over privacy

[gnasher719]

It used to be that Apple, was a bad player in this area by unnecessary collecting data.

Could you give some examples of that? Google is a company whose sole purpose is to collect data about you and hire it out to advertisers. Apple's purpose is to make devices and sell them to end users.

Google was the company who quite accidentally added code to their ads when running on a Microsoft browser that went around the user's privacy settings, and quite accidentally added different code when running on Safari that went around the Safari user's privacy settings.

Re: Free pass over privacy

[gnasher719]

Celebrities should use 2-factor.

Now seriously, while I need a password that cannot be cracked when it turns up in a 10 million password collection that hackers have "liberated", any celebrity trying to protect things that they _really_ don't want to be seen needs a password that cannot be cracked by someone who investigates their lives, finds all the schools they have been to, the names of all pets they owned, and so on and so on.

I have passwords that resist random or dictionary attacks, but that could be cracked if someone investigated my life very thoroughly. That's fine because no hacker does that. Not if I was a celebrity.

Re:Free pass over privacy

[Kohath]

That you consider yourself a "non-crank" after the above, and everything else you've ever whined/lied about here, lol.

I'm not the least bit cranky.

What's wrong with anything posted in this discussion? These guys are trying to say it's a big problem copying data to an iPhone when it's actually very easy. Kids and old people can do it, but these Slashdot readers (of all people) have trouble.

And they're trying to claim that's because everyone else is doing it wrong...? That's hard to relate to. You'd think some self-awareness would eventually be realized. Doesn't seem to be happening though.

PRISM

[deadaluspark]

They're still a PRISM partner with the US Government which means they are completely compromised and your data isn't safe at all. Why does anyone even buy these fucking advertisements? Did everyone already forget about the Ed Snowden leaks? Are my fellow countrymen really that insipid, thick, and forgetful?

Re:PRISM

[Registered Coward v2]

They're still a PRISM partner with the US Government which means they are completely compromised and your data isn't safe at all. Why does anyone even buy these fucking advertisements?

Because they want to believe.

Did everyone already forget about the Ed Snowden leaks?

Who?

Are my fellow countrymen really that insipid, thick, and forgetful?

Yes

Re:PRISM

[AmiMoJo]

To be fair there is no evidence that PRISM was voluntary, and in fact the leaked documents show that it worked by attacking those company's networks. Google took very public actions to cut off access after the leak. I'm sure Apple did something too, but didn't say what exactly.

For example, there was that infamous slide showing otherwise protected Gmail data flowing between data centres. A few months later Google had it fully encrypted.

Re:I hate Apple but....

[Sebby]

The wording of the title is meant to trigger the Apple fanboys.

I just switched back to iPhone for this reason

[Btrot69]

I bought an iPhone on the first day in '07, cause it was obviously a great thing.

In about 2012, I switched to Android, mostly cause I run linux everywhere else and like it.
I thought I'd have more privacy, then slowly realized how stupid that was.
Looked into Cyanogenmod and LineageOS over and over, but ran out of time to ever actually do it.

Finally gave up, bit down, and went back to iPhone (it was a hand-me-down 6S)
I really liked Android. Still lots that can't do on the iPhone.

I really wish there was a better choice, but for now, I'm depending on Apple to keep the worst data harvesters at bay.

With Google, you don't get that option, got burned too many times.