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Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

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Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#391

Post by nrp »

rkangel wrote: post #88
yashasolutions wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this one looks terrific! I saw the review made by Linus : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rkTgPt3M4k - totally got me convinced. I left Apple to System76 2 years ago, but that'd likely be my choice if I'd be doing this today...

I was waiting to read a trustworthy review, so just watched the video. Glad to hear that it's pretty good. Build quality was what I was worried about but it sounds generally good. My only other question is Linux driver support. There was a brief mention about fingerprint scanner in Linux, but I really appreciate that Thinkpads under something like Fedora just work out of the box. Hopefully Framework will have similar…

The latest Fedora 34 respins (and soon Fedora 35) work out of the box with everything including the fingerprint reader. Ubuntu 21.04 supports everything but the fingerprint reader, which needs libfprint 1.92.0. There is a pretty active community of Framework Laptop users now providing tips on how to set up different distros: https://community.frame.work/c/diy-edition/linux/91

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#392

Post by marcus_holmes »

nicce wrote: post #293
marcus_holmes wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think part of it is that Apple has always said "what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone". People expect Microsoft to be evil, and (post "don't be evil") Google to be evil. Apple was supposed to be the good guys in this. So it's more surprising and feels more like a betrayal when Apple decides to be evil. Also, it's actually pretty easy to mess with Android and get it un-googled. Google don't make most Andr…

> "what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone" Well, technically this is still true. Files you are putting to iCloud by yourself voluntarily are not staying in your iPhone in the first hand. Everything which is against this, is only speculation currently.

Except that this is all about analysing files that are not on iCloud, but on the device. So what is on your phone is now being reported to people who might decide to trash your life. Hardly "staying on your iPhone".

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#393

Post by anonuser123456 »

novok wrote: post #341
anonuser123456 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I can't accept this. It's a step too far. So turn off iCloud photos?

For now. We see the direction apple is moving.

The direction of not letting people store child porn on their servers? That's pretty much what everyone in the cloud space is doing already.

This service exists so Apple can E2EE your data while still placating DOJ.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#394

Post by anonuser123456 »

AbjectFailure wrote: post #353
anonuser123456 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But I can't accept this. It's a step too far. So turn off iCloud photos?

Why should Apple let pedophiles store CSAM on iPhones just because they’re not uploading it to iCloud Photo Library? It’s morally reprehensible to not disable that flag when it’s such a simple thing they can do to catch so many more criminals!

You own your iPhone. Apple owns iCloud servers.

It's very simple. You want to upload images to iCloud? Then let your phone scan it and upload it. You don't want your images scanned? Don't upload them to iCloud.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#395

Post by greyhair »

jon-wood wrote: post #342
system16 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's less about privacy and more about what the invading actor will/can actually do. People are less concerned about the Chinese government's reach vs. the NSA or other three letter agencies in the US. I suppose if you are important enough to the Chinese government whatever they have on you could be used as blackmail, but most 'regular' people don't fall into that category.

If one of the US TLAs has decided to target you you’re fucked. No amount of switching phones and OS is going to help you, short of completely disconnecting from the internet and not using any sort of financial infrastructure.

Likewise, if the criminal underworld has decided to target you, you are equally fucked.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#396

Post by nicce »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #392
nicce wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "what happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone" Well, technically this is still true. Files you are putting to iCloud by yourself voluntarily are not staying in your iPhone in the first hand. Everything which is against this, is only speculation currently.

Except that this is all about analysing files that are not on iCloud, but on the device. So what is on your phone is now being reported to people who might decide to trash your life. Hardly "staying on your iPhone".

That is not true if you read the technical details. Scan applies for files (and only for those) which are prepared to be uploaded into the cloud.

If you don't trust that, that is another story. System is full black box.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#397

Post by therealmarv »

Retric wrote: post #310
therealmarv wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I think is funny: There are more privacy for consumer laws for Chinese tech companies in China than for US tech companies in USA! It's wild west essentially in USA in this regard. I'm sure what Apple is doing is also against the European Union's GDPR privacy laws. US is missing out here...

GDPR specifically excludes law enforcement so it doesn’t apply here. The sad thing is Apple was legally required to allow law enforcement to search iCloud backups before they implemented this system, so nothing fundamentally changed. However, after this backlash you can bet other manufacturers will continue to hide what their actually doing.

As you've written... why there has to change something when it works already for law enforcement.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#398

Post by cartoonworld »

scoopertrooper wrote: post #240
randomdata wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. They're not going do much of anything. It is what happens after the final step outlined that actually concerns people, and that is where the real problem lies. Apple is simply exposing the problem; or perhaps more accurately bringing the problem we all understand exists into the limelight. Had Apple not implemented this feature, or implemented it differently (scanning server-side, for example), the problem w…

If a pedophile takes their computer (loaded with CP) to a repair shop and they find CP they call the police. If a pedophile uploads CP to the internet and the host finds CP they call the police. Both seem like reasonable responses to me.

Totally reasonable response. I would like Apple to notify me so that I can call the police after my threshold of one NCMEC and other child-safety organization image identifier matches on my personal computer systems.

This will violate my IT device usage policy! Apple is not my IT department!! We have a ZERO TOLERANCE IT device usage policy. By not calling the local police department after one violation, we violate the policy. There is also a form which must be signed before HR (Girlfriend) so they can be present on the call to LE or else be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#399

Post by [deleted] »

redisman wrote: post #135
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #26

To be honest... None. It's a choice. You might wholly disagree, but recent events aren't enough to get me to switch yet, because I think the competition has too many tradeoffs. I can get my photos scanned against a CSAM database... or I can have Google tracking my location constantly regardless of what they say (as they've been proven to be misleading in the past)... or I can use a Linux phone and say goodbye to batt…

I find it funny how many people pick a random Chinese phone in their bid for privacy (???)

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What Apple alternatives are you switching to?

#400

Post by sneak »

isoskeles wrote: post #316
Syonyk wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be... literally all phones available today, wouldn't it? With the possible exception of the $2000 Librem 5 USA. However, as one who's moved from an iPhone to a Nokia 8110 with KaiOS, which I in no way argue is as secure as iOS: It has less on it. It has far less on it. It has my phone calls, a handful of text messages, and while it has email access right now, I'm experimenting with if I actually need that,…

I might make this change. Are you using any kind of app for 2FA like Google Authenticator?

You can use a password manager to do TOTP codes.

Google Authenticator is sort of a crap option for doing TOTP, all things considered.

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