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Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

aalto.fi

11–20 of 244 posts

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#11
post #10

Apple should provide an option to opt-out of Siri "learn from app" for ALL applications. At present, this must be done individually for every app, https://www.imore.com/how-stop-siri-learning-how-you-use-app... . When you later install new apps after setting up the device, you have to remember to go into Settings and opt-out again, for every app, forever. How many people know that iOS devices will default to Siri rea…

You can just disable Siri if you're that concerned? Edit: Turns out — you can't! See the reply below.

From the article:

  The user is given the option to enable or not enable Siri, Apple's virtual assistant. But enabling only refers to whether you use Siri's voice control. Siri collects data in the background from other apps you use, regardless of your choice, unless you understand how to go into the settings and specifically change that,’ says Lindqvist.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#12

Is the whole point of all this data collection nonsense really just to serve me irrelevant ads I never click? What are they doing with all this worthless information? I downloaded a shitty freemium mobile game once and now 80% of my Instagram ads have been ads for shitty mobile games for more than a year. Is this really the best the 500k+ a year ad magicians at Meta came up with? Is this what gives Meta its trillion…

> Amazon serving me ads for washing machines, right after I bought one

Counterintuitive, but there’s a chance that the one you bought didn’t work out - and that’s high enough to make you much more likely than the general population to buy a washing machine.

Consider: in the past 20 years there have been about two weeks (total) where an ad for a washing machine could be relevant. That’s about 0.2% of the time. If the RMA rate for new appliances is higher than .2%, that’s a useful bit of targeting information.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#13

Apple should provide an option to opt-out of Siri "learn from app" for ALL applications. At present, this must be done individually for every app, https://www.imore.com/how-stop-siri-learning-how-you-use-app... . When you later install new apps after setting up the device, you have to remember to go into Settings and opt-out again, for every app, forever. How many people know that iOS devices will default to Siri rea…

[flagged]

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#14

Is the whole point of all this data collection nonsense really just to serve me irrelevant ads I never click? What are they doing with all this worthless information? I downloaded a shitty freemium mobile game once and now 80% of my Instagram ads have been ads for shitty mobile games for more than a year. Is this really the best the 500k+ a year ad magicians at Meta came up with? Is this what gives Meta its trillion…

You are getting Instagram ads for shitty freemium mobile games because everyone else does. This isn’t shitty targeting, it’s just bottom of the barrel spray and pray advertising. There’s a reason that Apple is addicted to the revenue from casino games: there’s a lot of it out there.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#15

Apple should provide an option to opt-out of Siri "learn from app" for ALL applications. At present, this must be done individually for every app, https://www.imore.com/how-stop-siri-learning-how-you-use-app... . When you later install new apps after setting up the device, you have to remember to go into Settings and opt-out again, for every app, forever. How many people know that iOS devices will default to Siri rea…

[flagged]

Excellent. Then Apple can provide one-click, one-time opt out for all apps, instead of consuming CPU cycles, battery life and hundreds of avoidable and unwanted user actions over the lifetime of a phone.

> It never gets sent to Apple and no other application can read it.

Malware can read it. See the list of Apple iOS Security Updates.

If Apple doesn't receive the data and the user doesn't want the data, let's avoid collecting it.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#17
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can just disable Siri if you're that concerned? Edit: Turns out — you can't! See the reply below.

From the article: The user is given the option to enable or not enable Siri, Apple's virtual assistant. But enabling only refers to whether you use Siri's voice control. Siri collects data in the background from other apps you use, regardless of your choice, unless you understand how to go into the settings and specifically change that,’ says Lindqvist.

You're right, I somehow missed that paragraph — I swear I read the article before commenting.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#18
post #16

What I never understand is how engineers working at Apple think about the product they make. Can they love a device that shares data with their employer and advertisers?

I reckon about 1 in every 50 people I've ever worked for actually gives a shit past getting paid. That's probably where the problem lies.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#19
post #16

What I never understand is how engineers working at Apple think about the product they make. Can they love a device that shares data with their employer and advertisers?

No engineers at FAANG companies get to think, they do what the board members and execs tell them to.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#20

Is the whole point of all this data collection nonsense really just to serve me irrelevant ads I never click? What are they doing with all this worthless information? I downloaded a shitty freemium mobile game once and now 80% of my Instagram ads have been ads for shitty mobile games for more than a year. Is this really the best the 500k+ a year ad magicians at Meta came up with? Is this what gives Meta its trillion…

Isn't it more the case that services like Google etc collect data about you and put you under certain categories/tags. Then the company buying an ad selects the categories and tags they wish their ad to be shown to?

In other words, the company paying for the ad wants you to see the ad. For some reason they think you might buy the product. Why would Google tell them "no" if they're offering money for that?

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