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Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

aalto.fi

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Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#141

Post by laniakean »

jzzskijj wrote: post #72
lrvick wrote: post #50

I remain shocked anyone trusts Meta, Google, or Apple marketing on privacy. These companies are all fundamentally similar in that their proprietary software collects an insane amount of data that will end up in the hands of your enemies either by sale, court order, or security compromise. It is relatively easy to opt out of all of these companies and take some actual control over your privacy.

What is the easiest way to get comparable smartphone experience with some actual control over your privacy?

I would say to get an android phone and flash Graphene OS (Pixel phones) on it.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#142

Post by krapp »

rcarmo wrote: post #115
krapp wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The authors appear to be associated the university which hosts the site. I doubt they are responsible for the engineering decisions behind the site, or that they "picked the outlet" per se. Authors tend not to have carte blanche control over the platforms on which they publish. I don't know why you would judge the content of the article based on that, rather than its own merits, particularly given that the subject of…

The article also has a number of incorrect assumptions regarding how Siri works and what kind of data Apple collects. They do not mention Apple's differential privacy approach, for instance, nor do they seem aware of many iOS improvements in that regard over the past few years. So I don't really consider it a thoroughly researched piece...

This is the criticism you should have posted originally, instead of considering the article ridiculous because it was hosted on a site that used cookies.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#143

Post by jzzskijj »

sebtron wrote: post #91
jzzskijj wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the easiest way to get comparable smartphone experience with some actual control over your privacy?

Your choices are very limited, but you can get an android phone supported by LineageOS or other alternative roms.

I have tried, a long time ago, LineageOS on Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4. The both of the ports were so buggy, that by those experiences I could not trust the maintainers to be capable of securing the system. It may have been a false assumption, but I had to think stability/bugs and security must correlate at some levels.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#144

Post by em500 »

wasmitnetzen wrote: post #64
throwaway290 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to make it sound bad or no one would read it and earn you ad revenue (edit: donations?)

Aalto is a public university, and there's no ads on that page. So it's rather: You have to make it sound bad or no one would read your press release.

Then I wonder why they're setting 49 marketing cookies on that page, from

- Meta Platforms, Inc. (3)

- Adform (3)

- Google (1)

- Issuu (1)

- Microsoft (16)

- Quantcast (1)

- Unibuddy (2)

- YouTube (22)

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#145

Post by walterbell »

lapcat wrote: post #140
worldwidelies wrote: post #54

Someone much more tech savvy than me should try to use Charles Proxy on an iOS device and see how often your phone is communicating with Apple servers. It’s pretty wild.

> Someone much more tech savvy than me should try to use Charles Proxy on an iOS device and see how often your phone is communicating with Apple servers. It’s pretty wild. You can also see this just by running an iOS simulator with Xcode on a Mac that has Little Snitch installed. The amount of phoning home by iOS (and macOS, for that matter) is shocking.

Little Snitch could use a 1-click on/off ruleset for blocking all Apple network connections (17.x.x.x) except for the published whitelist of Apple notification servers. That would block most of the real-time phoning home. The block could be disabled manually for security updates. If notifications aren't needed, block all of 17.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#146

Post by rcarmo »

krapp wrote: post #142
rcarmo wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also has a number of incorrect assumptions regarding how Siri works and what kind of data Apple collects. They do not mention Apple's differential privacy approach, for instance, nor do they seem aware of many iOS improvements in that regard over the past few years. So I don't really consider it a thoroughly researched piece...

This is the criticism you should have posted originally, instead of considering the article ridiculous because it was hosted on a site that used cookies.

All sites use cookies. Not all of them use an entire bakery's worth.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#147

Post by thejohnconway »

madeofpalk wrote: post #62
klausa wrote: 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.

The problem is that 'Siri' is a pretty ill-defined term that Apple sprinkles onto a bunch of unrelated features if they have anything that sort of looks like 'learning' if you squint hard enough.

It’s so strange they do that, given that Siri doesn’t have good rep!

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#148

Post by Clubber »

layer8 wrote: post #128
Clubber wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't setup an iPhone in a while, but last time I setup a Mac, it asked me to configure Siri or Skip/Later, etc. That's opt in to me.

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”.

A concern with Siri is it sends your voice data to a server to parse. When Siri is disabled, what data is collected via third party apps? I would imagine any time you use voice as a command in an app the iPhone send the data to a server to parse, even in third party apps. Is that the concern, or is it other data?

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#149

Post by lrvick »

aembleton wrote: post #112
lrvick wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is just not true. I have not carried a phone or an Google/Apple controlled device in 3+ years and exclusively use FOSS on a personal basis. I live in Silicon Valley, run a b2b tech company, have a huge group of local friends, and have never been excluded from anything I wanted in my life for not having a phone. Paper menus are available if you ask, sms can be converted to VoIP, you do not need Genie Plus to navi…

Do you have to select car parks based on ones that don't require an app? More and more near me require an app to pay for parking.

Typically you can use a webapp or find a paystation where you can use cash or a prepaid credit card.

If there are really no humans at all I would just park further or sometimes just park anyway and risk 1/3 chance I get a $20 ticket once in a while I can then pay online without an app. Sometimes paying occasional tickets instead of using the app can actually save you money.

Re: Keeping your data from Apple is harder than expected

#150

Post by lrvick »

23B1 wrote: post #97
lrvick wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is just not true. I have not carried a phone or an Google/Apple controlled device in 3+ years and exclusively use FOSS on a personal basis. I live in Silicon Valley, run a b2b tech company, have a huge group of local friends, and have never been excluded from anything I wanted in my life for not having a phone. Paper menus are available if you ask, sms can be converted to VoIP, you do not need Genie Plus to navi…

> I live in Silicon Valley, run a b2b tech company ... I have not carried a phone or an Google/Apple controlled device in 3+ years and exclusively use FOSS on a personal basis. Y'know, a regular salt-of-the-earth type guy

My point was if someone about as technically connected as one can be is capable of thriving without a phone, basically anyone can.
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