Slimy as hell.
Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
51–60 of 68 posts
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#52iTunes does this routinely. I never went to back up to iCloud, but somehow that switch keeps getting flipped to backup to iCloud.
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#53This is particularly troubling in light of their CSAM detection. "Before an image is stored in iCloud Photos, an on-device matching process is performed for that image against the known CSAM hashes." You do not own an Apple device that you buy. https://www.macworld.com/article/352875/ios-15-csam-scanning...
Is there any good reason to take Apple on their word that all their scanning for is CSAM? How certain can we be that they're not already using this technology secretly to look for other types of content when the government asks? I doubt they're going to announce every time the government requests they add detection for a new Pepe frog meme and other "far-right" content, and it seems almost inevitable governments will…
At the same time, they did announce this. How would we know if they put a backdoor in and had said nothing at all?
I know there are a lot of eyes on iOS, but if they wanted find a place in the gigabytes of binary blobs to do this quietly, I think they could.
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#54Please let Apple know how you feel about this: https://www.apple.com/feedback/
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple should either remember those privacy-related settings or don't enable any privacy-leaking settings (like iCloud photos) by default. At least as long as they claim to be privacy-aware company.
How can it remember settings after you sign out?
The same way it keeps your files, photos, and any and all state of your devices. Signing out is not the same as deleting all information from the account.
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh really? But extensions are separate from the rendering, right? So is that a separate limitation then?
Not really separate. Many extensions designed for other browsers will still depend on quirks of the respective extension implementations, JavaScript engines, rendering engines, etc. Of course, there are (supposed-to-be-but-aren't) browser-agnostic WebExtensions — but again, only Safari implements them on iOS (starting with iOS 15), they must be bundled with an iOS app, and non-Safari browsers don't have access to tho…
Ok, thanks for the thorough explanation
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't really assume malicious intent here - this is presumably "caching" the current unsaved changes on the cloud in case your application crashes or something. But the fact that it's not obvious at all is a major problem. There's also no way to selectively disable this behavior - if you want to use iCloud Drive for some documents you need to put up with this.
> I don't really assume malicious intent here - this is presumably "caching" This doesn't seem like thinking critically. Do you not imagine that Apple, the size they are, with all their lawyers take a decision like this seriously? It's not like a developer unilaterally decided that they were going to make this as a feature without levels of management and execs deciding that this was okay. Assuming incompetence rathe…
Do you really imagine that there is any kind of oversight on development like this? Levels of management getting involved in some random feature? Very unrealistic.
The requirement said to not lose the customers work. Everything else was on the development team most likely.
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#58Color me surprised Seriously I really want to be able to claim I own a piece of electronics again. I feel the next step will be the FBI putting in a watchlist whoever buys a Polaroid, a Framework laptop or a Pinephone (suspicious that you don't want to be spied on...).
It's already begun - if you apply for a US visa, you are asked to list all your social media accounts, email id and phone numbers that you have used in the last 5 years:
> Previously, only applicants who needed additional vetting - such as people who had been to parts of the world controlled by terrorist groups - would need to hand over this data.
> But now applicants will have to give up their account names on a list of social media platforms, and also volunteer the details of their accounts on any sites not listed.
> Anyone who lies about their social media use could face "serious immigration consequences", according to an official who spoke to The Hill.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48486672
So it appears that the US have already started a program to assign a "social score" to individuals, just like the Chinese. However, unlike China, the US hasn't yet extended it to its citizens yet and the pilot program has been extended from "terrorists" only to all visiting foreigners and immigrants in the US.
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#59Please let Apple know how you feel about this: https://www.apple.com/feedback/
As if they care - it's a feature, not a bug. I am not even being sarcastic. Don't believe me? Try blocking Apple processes on macOS with an application firewall and watch how macOS starts acting erratically, randomly.
Re: Tell HN: Signing out and in to Apple device forcefully activates iCloud sync
#60I can confirm experiencing this issue, at some point suddenly my iPad iCloud backups were enabled even though i’ve always had it switched off (for many years), since iCloud backups are not e2e encrypted and Apple can “see” all data…
I had posted about something similar too on HN - Apple OS updates sometimes change your System Preferences without any warning ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26418809 ). This is done deliberately.