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Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

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181–190 of 546 posts

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#181

I like Tim Cook, I think his heart is in the right place and as much as a corporation can, Apple generally does the right thing. I was having lunch with several lawyers at my company a few weeks ago. One of them was talking strongly about quality devices and Apple’s strong privacy stance. He literally said that we as a society should be grateful for having Apple.

Apple sells a walled garden that controls what software you can use, forces upgrades by forbidding repairs and slowing down old phones with software updates, and sells more dongles by eliminating features and changing ports in every generation of their products.

I admit they are better than Google on the privacy issue, but should we be grateful for having an alternative that abuses us in different ways?

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#182
I don't get Tim Cook and especially the PR style love of him and apple here.

1. Tim Cook accepts billions to make google the default search on apple products.

2. Tim Cook works with/colludes with the chinese government to sell apple products ( god knows what info they are sharing with the chinese government )

3. Tim Cook loves exploiting near-slave chinese labor ( some who commit suicide ).

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-30532463

4. Apple intentionally avoids taxes via offshoring loopholes and tax shelters.

5. Apple itself is one of the largest "data industrial complex". Just because apple doesn't sell data at the moment, doesn't mean they don't collect it.

In the pantheon of evil corporate enterprises, Apple is right up there with everyone else. If Tim Cook is serious about what he says rather than just playing the PR game, then fix Apple.

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

• location data toggle in control center

This is my most desired feature in iPhone. Disabling location service, when you don't need it, helps with both battery consumption and privacy. I don't understand why Apple doesn't want to implement an easy switch option, unless they want to track your location for some reason.

I would wager they think it's confusing and possibly dangerous.

How many people would leave it on as they drive away from home, and then struggle with their phones as they're driving?

Apple doesn't generally expose more options than it thinks a substantial number of people need. That's a UX decision, not a "Apple wants to track you forever" evil business decision.

I'll admit I wouldn't mind an option like this, but I'm fine with three levels of location service controls for apps.

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#185
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> data is collected to give us better services Literally every company that steals your data and sells it, has this sentence in their data privacy terms.

Prove it. https://www.apple.com/uk/legal/privacy/en-ww/

Ehm. I never said that Apple sells your data. No idea what your point is.

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be fine with Apple doing the repairs themselves. But the fact is, right now, they're not repairing anything. They're swapping out parts without search for cause and charge you a massive amount for the hardware they've swapped. If Apple started doing "Certified Repairs" and actually repair or fix the issue instead of swapping parts every time (there are a lot of problems that can be fixed by cleaning out gunk,…

The time cost for diagnosing the cause of an issue can be quite high, especially with these tightly integrated devices that have to be laboriously disassembled for repair and reassembled for test. That's a high cost of high-skilled human labor, when there's a much lower cost in just getting you a new part. It also means they don't need as many employees to execute repairs, nor do they need as much detailed training o…

Apparently that's not the case, since a lot of skilled third party repair shops can charge you less by disassembling and fixing the issue instead of swapping out parts.

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#187

I like Tim Cook, I think his heart is in the right place and as much as a corporation can, Apple generally does the right thing. I was having lunch with several lawyers at my company a few weeks ago. One of them was talking strongly about quality devices and Apple’s strong privacy stance. He literally said that we as a society should be grateful for having Apple.

Apple sells a walled garden that controls what software you can use, forces upgrades by forbidding repairs and slowing down old phones with software updates, and sells more dongles by eliminating features and changing ports in every generation of their products. I admit they are better than Google on the privacy issue, but should we be grateful for having an alternative that abuses us in different ways?

Each of your complaints is because of a well-designed compromise (app quality/safety; preventing abrupt phone shutdown; removing a common failure point). You may disagree with the compromises, sure.

PS: I own zero Apple devices (partly because of the reasons you have, not for the way you are misrepresenting those reasons).

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He literally said that we as a society should be grateful for having Apple. Which is utterly cringeworthy. iPhone user thinks iPhone is best thing since sliced bread. News at 11.

I'm not usually one for fanboyism (and I say this as a full time Linux desktop and Android user) but Apple really do seem to be trying to do right by their customers in most cases. Certainly more than the competition. I've been considering switching for a while, but it seems the quality of their hardware and to some extent their software has slowly been going downhill post-Jobs.

> Apple really do seem to be trying to do right by their customers in most cases

Another possibility is that they don't have to take advantage of their users' data because their business is largely a hardware business, with the software a loss-leader.

It might seem like a distinction without a difference but one has to consider intent when scoring individuals and companies' moral high ground.

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#189
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google sets a pretty good standard over at https://myactivity.google.com/ IMO. But yeah the whole passive data collection e.g Wifi networks done the Street View cars, as one example, bears scrutiny. Likewise Android

How do you know that that's actually all data Google holds on you? Facebook has a shadow profile for every one of its users, one whose contents you cannot access. There's no technical reason Google can't build one, and they have been deceptive in how they collect your information in the past https://apnews.com/ef95c6a91eeb4d8e9dda9cad887bf211

I don't disagree with you, that was deceptive, but man, I could so see myself making that blunder; the developer meant they won't be stored by the Location History tool, whereas the users reasonably read it as meaning by Google.

Re: Tim Cook makes blistering attack on the “data industrial complex”

#190
post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I want to purchase a device, I'm going to take more into consideration than just the privacy policy of the company.. One of the important factors is, what happens with my device, when it's broken?

It is either fully repaired/remanufactured and resold/used in a swap out, stripped for parts for repair/remanufacturing or totally recycled by Apple. The "It's broke, here is a new one" IMHO is convenient for the consumer having their mobile device repaired. They're not having to wait around for hours/days while the repair is done. IME, Apple only really swap for total hardware failure or screen replacement on the X…

If the "It's broke here is a new one" is accompanied by a bill for another $1500 I'm not so sure, I as a customer will be happy...
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