21–30 of 125 posts
Tell your non-it friends to uninstall the facebook app and use the web browser interface instead if they want to stay on facebook. Preferably they also block all 3rd party cookies, use an ad-blocker and occasionally delete all cookies and reset their Ad-Id.
Is there an alternative to the Messenger app? I've been unable to convince some friends to move off of this.
This article sold me in switching to iPhone. It's like everything about Facebook dating seems like a eugenic program to favour people with a naive and submissive tendency toward power and authorities. As a technology change, online dating has become a "radical monopoly (Illich)," in the sense that whether you use it or not, you are subject to it, the way a cyclist is subject to the car, and any algorithmic bias or si…
I switched mostly for privacy reasons as as well. The original idea of why I liked Android: open source / Linux based, I developed apps for it, are not as important as giving too much control and my data to Google at this point.
Been pretty happy with it as a new user. At first it was hard getting used to not having a back button where I expected it but after a few days got used to it.
I like that there is an Apple store I can go to.
The interface is slick and nice, however, I'd have have to say in recent years Android mostly caught up in that regard.
But most of all, I like that Apple's primary business is not selling my info so I am happy to pay a premium to have a bit more privacy.
Since installing the iOS 13 beta I've noticed a bunch of apps asking for bluetooth access. I haven't kept track of every one but I do remember YouTube and Netflix asking for it on their first launch. Thankfully, I haven't witnessed any app failing to work by denying the request though.
The Bird (scooter) iPhone app asked me for Bluetooth. It said something about "nearby scooters" which I think is a flat out lie because you unlock them via QR code? Probably also tracking...
There is the completely valid use case of a scooter that isn’t able to send it’s location to the app yet is close by to you. So it can be found with Bluetooth.
That isn’t to say that the app is isn’t tracking where you go, it doesn’t need the Bluetooth connection to its scooters because you need to turn GPS on to find the scooters.
Why do applications have access to Bluetooth or WiFi ID's in the first place? Seems too low-level for an app to have access to. Aren't these details better left handled by the operating system?
This is useful if an app needs to know whether the phone is currently using a local network or a cellular modem to connect to the Internet, or to connect to local devices. Unfortunately Apple does not provide a basic API that provides this information without the SSID. (Although in early iOS 13 betas, there was a WiFi framework that might have provided such information. It was removed from later betas, however).
For Bluetooth, apps do not have access to BSSID nor peripheral MAC addresses from advertisements and connections. CoreBluetooth provisions a separate identifier (that is rotated) to prevent apps from gleaning much tracking info outside of the user's consent.
I've been using the iOS 13 developer beta for a couple months, and I can confirm that within the first week, several apps from the big 4 requested permissions for things that should be absolutely unnecessary. iOS 13 has several great privacy-focused changes: - WiFi SSID is protected behind location permissions (ie, an app must request and be granted location permissions to be able to access the current SSID) - Blueto…
Where Android/Google itself is a bigger problem perhaps than the 3rd party apps.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there an alternative to the Messenger app? I've been unable to convince some friends to move off of this.
You can chat and browse on https://mbasic.facebook.com . It's html-only.
Tell your non-it friends to uninstall the facebook app and use the web browser interface instead if they want to stay on facebook. Preferably they also block all 3rd party cookies, use an ad-blocker and occasionally delete all cookies and reset their Ad-Id.
Use facebook over tor.
Also check out Richard Stallman's recommendation on using facebook for organizations:
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Bird (scooter) iPhone app asked me for Bluetooth. It said something about "nearby scooters" which I think is a flat out lie because you unlock them via QR code? Probably also tracking...
Well let’s be realistic, it said nearby scooters. Not “unlock scooters.” There is the completely valid use case of a scooter that isn’t able to send it’s location to the app yet is close by to you. So it can be found with Bluetooth. That isn’t to say that the app is isn’t tracking where you go, it doesn’t need the Bluetooth connection to its scooters because you need to turn GPS on to find the scooters.
I've been using the iOS 13 developer beta for a couple months, and I can confirm that within the first week, several apps from the big 4 requested permissions for things that should be absolutely unnecessary. iOS 13 has several great privacy-focused changes: - WiFi SSID is protected behind location permissions (ie, an app must request and be granted location permissions to be able to access the current SSID) - Blueto…