Apple has pushed a silent Mac update to remove hidden Zoom web server

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 6:54 AM UTC

sudhirj wrote: post #299

scarface74 wrote: post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neither statement is true. There is still the same control-click to open non signed software and there is still no aggressive permission model outside of the App Store.

There is, but even the control click will only allow you to open signed software. Unless you build the software yourself (I'm not sure how homebrew still works) you cannot run it if it's not been notarized by Apple. Firefox was broken on Catalina for a while, even though the main app was notarized. Some internal binary wasn't notarized, and no amount of control clicking would get Firefox to work until Mozilla notariz…

Post by michaelmrose » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 6:58 AM UTC

sudhirj wrote: post #311

scarface74 wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For users who know what they are doing: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/unsigned-apps-catalyst-... sudo spctl --master-disable

The users who really know what they're doing are going to refuse to disable system integrity protection. I paid a shitload of money for the T2 chip, secure signed boots, a virus-free environment and complete peace of mind from malware. No way I'm turning that off on a work machine. I have a Raspberry Pi for hacking, I'm happy to root the hobby computers, not the work ones.

Post by julvo » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 7:08 AM UTC

pjmlp wrote: post #328

rleigh wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MacBook is a general purpose computing platform. The iPhone and iPad are not. Locking down the Mac will make it unusable for many, many people. It will indeed be the death of the platform, as most devs abandon it entirely.

The large majority of devs that buy Macs aren't UNIX FOSS devs, rather devs that care about Apple platform.

Post by _ikke_ » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 7:15 AM UTC

simion314 wrote: post #329

mceachen wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue that linux distros have this power, too, and they haven't either (unless you use a snap, which has compatibility and performance issues). If you uninstall a .deb or .rpm or AppImage, the files you wrote into XDG_CONFIG_HOME (defaults to ~/.config) won't magically get cleaned up. I'd love to be wrong here, BTW! I've had several PhotoStructure users try to reset their configuration by uninstall/reinstall, but…

>~/.config) won't magically get cleaned up. >I'd love to be wrong here, Isn't this what apt purge appname does ? or is something missing Form the apt-get docs: purge - purge is identical to remove except that packages are removed and purged (any configuration files are deleted too).

Post by jakobegger » Thu, Jul 11, 2019, 7:32 AM UTC

Digital-Citizen wrote: post #321

rawrmaan wrote: post #35

That's pretty epic. Apple continues to make big, brave moral gestures (like when they yanked Facebook and Google's enterprise certs earlier this year, or killed long-term tracking cookies in Safari overnight). Makes me happy to be a customer. Hope they keep enforcing their own rules and protecting their users' privacy and security in this fearless manner.

According to the article, "Apple said the update does not require any user interaction and is deployed automatically.". There's nothing moral about using "silent updates" (updates the user has no opportunity to decide whether to adopt). Apple certainly wasn't looking out for their users' privacy and security when they let an iTunes bug go unfixed for 3 years (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/8912714/Ap…