Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

Come on, no one is running all their private data through the website. But I do agree that the web should not be browsed without ublock as is at the moment - there's something fundamentally wrong with the current approach

> Apple products will automatically lead to improved privacy vs other vendors. This post is calling that BS.

Where does it do that? It explicitly doesn’t compare Apple’s products with other products:

“Lindqvist can’t comment directly on how Google's Android works in similar respects, as no one has yet done a similar mapping of its apps.”

Also, IMO the post is flame-bait in saying “Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected”. AFAICT, the paper (https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/141787684/Priva...) is not about Apple breaking privacy at all; it solely is about the difficulty of the UI for various privacy settings and of user understanding of what settings do.

They don’t claim, for example, that Apple makes these settings so convoluted to confuse or wear down users so that they close down less stuff (they may or may not, but the paper doesn’t discuss it)

> Whatsapp/iMessage

Both can be bridged to Matrix, which can be accessed with any OS you like with FOSS software.

> Tickets can go on paper yeah, though some restaurants I visit don't do paper menus (especially the asian ones).

Many have said this to me initially, until I insist I do not own a cell phone. Then they always find a way to produce a tablet for me, or hastily print a screenshot from a phone, or find an old paper menu and cross out some old prices. When I go back to those restaurants later they sometimes have paper menus more readily available, because they were embarrassed the first time for being unable to accommodate a paying customer.

After all, even people who do have phones, end up with dead batteries. People with dead phone batteries need to eat too

> Also some stuff for work is mobile-only. We have a stupid 2FA system that only works with a mobile app (the company gives us a phone but it does mean being tracked), and the same with the desk booking (I absolutely hate the office since we implemented flexdesks).

Almost nothing is truly mobile only. You can run Android applications on QubesOS in a pinch, but more generally I find most 2FA apps actually use TOTP or FIDO under the hood, and can be replaced with open alternatives with a bit of research.

> and the same with the desk booking (I absolutely hate the office since we implemented flexdesks).

I have never seen one of these that does not have a webapp alternative. If they really don't have one, run their app in a VM and sniff the request traffic. Then you can make a simple shell script or webapp to book those desks for you. Open source it to annoy the company into producing their own. Done this sort of thing many times.

> Cash is still common here yeah though I don't like dealing with it. I wish there was a mobile payment method that didn't rely on Apple or Google.

In most countries instead of trying to flag down wait staff to take your card, then wait for them to come back, you can just drop cash on the table and leave at any time. I have not been to Spain specifically though.

Thing is, everything you buy with Google Apple Visa or Mastercard is logged. Everything you buy at the pharmacy is cross referenced from the cash register software and your credit card purchase then sold to insurance companies, etc etc.

Every time you use cash, you are making a small vote against those types of organizations having any more power over the public. Cash can be an annoyance, but it helps take power away from entities who will absolutely use your data to harm people for profit.

Apple can change this silently in the future, as long as it remains compatible with their T&C.

I don't think Apple's UX for enabling privacy is half as confusing as that "diagram" in the article.