The author of the Pando article is 18 years old. He's not at the age where he has been burned by something he did when he was young and dumb. He's hard at work building a great foundation for what that moment arrives, though!
An open challenge to PandoDaily
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Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#42Pando Daily's cynicism is only matched by society's indifference to data privacy.
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#43PandoDaily appears opaque about their bias to me, so I don't read it.
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#44Pando Daily's cynicism is only matched by society's indifference to data privacy.
s/cynicism/trolling/
FTFY
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#45The author of the Pando article is 18 years old. He's not at the age where he has been burned by something he did when he was young and dumb. He's hard at work building a great foundation for what that moment arrives, though!
A net naive.
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd argue that ven if they read the security policy they wouldn't understand it anyway. When you're surrounded by hackers it's easy to think everyone has some basic understanding of computers but in reality most people are lucky if they know how print a damn Word document. This really is a false comparison. Accessing an address book for the app's use only and accessing the address book for public publishing are so fa…
> People don't seem to care until someone writes a blog post that tells them they should care. But that's the point, isn't it? They shouldn't have to care! People shouldn't have to be security experts to use a phone. The phone should protect them by default and make them have to jump through hoops to waive that protection, rather than the other way around.
The phome ismt what's insecure though in this case. We're talking about the security of the servers that these apps are sending data to. For some reason people think about phones differently than any PC running whichever OS. If the app store didn't exist and we got smartphone apps the way we all used to (and to large degree still do) download PC programs I doubt anyone would be upset with Apple. All the blame would be solely on the app developers. Apple polices the app store and locks down iOS a lot as it is. If Path were a native Mac or Windows program and it was accessing data from other programs we'd all be screaming that it's some kind of spyware. We'd probably sayng that Path itself should be asking permission to access data, not the OS. But because we have the app store and have come to have this strange relationship with Apple where we bitch about how locked down the devices are but at the same time want them to protect us from apps like Path we're placing some responsibility on Apple. I don't think it's right. We need to decide if we like our locked down devices or if we want Apple to stop playing babysitter for us.
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#47Pando Daily appears to be trying to recreate the TechCrunch of last year, rather than the TechCrunch of 3+ years ago. This is the same guy who wrote the mocking article on Ireland's startup scene. I guess he's filling the MG Siegler role. You know what would be awesome? Some solid technology journalism. The last thing we need is another conflicted, industry mouthpiece. If this is the content they're pushing, I hope i…
And, if I might be so bold:
Technology != Consumer-Oriented Devices
Edit (before the downvotes hammer this comment into oblivion): The subject here is "tech journalism". I don't consider puff pieces about smartphones, MP3 players, your cell carrier, or anything else related to consumer-grade products to be "tech journalism".
I've pretty much stopped listening to "tech podcasts" and subscribing to "tech magazines" because of this problem. They're not delivering anything even vaguely related to technology any more. They're telling me about the latest iPhone or iPad press release, or how some cell carrier is doing something that I really could care less about. Just like I don't care about the latest digital camera, or the latest MP3 player.
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#48My open challenge to PandoDaily is to stop being utter shit. That's it. No clever attempts to trap them into defending their beliefs, just improve to the point where they in some way, shape or form resemble a credible journalism outfit.
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#49Don't download an app unless you trust the folks who made it. It's not on the company, it's on you. You are responsible for yourself and the security of your information. It's not Instapaper's job to watch your shit.
Also, call a spade a spade. If you want to issue them a challenge, ask them to download the Facebook app or the Path app or any of the other infringing apps. But they already have. They have already done the thing they're being accused of being uncomfortable with.
How sharing information from your iPhone with a company and publishing it online for the world to see are equivalent, I can't fathom.
Re: An open challenge to PandoDaily
#50This is a false comparison. Uploading your address book to Path is not the same as an app locally reading the contents of your clipboard and asking if you want to use that data. It's not even in the same league. And, loathe though I am to defend PandoDaily, the OP misses the point of their article. Uploading your address book to an app is different than posting it publicly because people trust Path their their data.…
It's different in that having your address book uploaded without your permission is actually being the victim a crime in most countries. At least posting it publicly is a voluntary act.
Putting yourself in a situation where you are very likely to get mugged would be better comparison. Winer is being mild in his challenge.
So yeah, I agree it's not in the same league, but not in the way you mean.