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Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

lapcatsoftware.com

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Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#571

Post by fguerraz »

tgv wrote: post #486
Aachen wrote: post #427

> I don't understand most of the technical details of Apple's blog post. I did understand the cited bits, and sorry to say but this could have been an optimistic post ("look at this cool new thing!") I dislike Apple's anti-hacker (in the HN sense of the word) practices as much as the next person and don't own any Apple device for that and other reasons, but saying "it doesn't matter how you solved the privacy problem…

How can you trust something you don't understand? That must come from "authority" (some person or org that you trust to know about such matters). That authority isn't Apple for many people. While I have cautious trust in Apple's privacy policies, many people don't, and not without reason. Hence, not understanding Apple's technical explanation of an Apple feature you didn't opt in to sharing personal data, increases t…

So you understand your own device’s security? You have no more reasons to trust the security of the Apple device in your pocket than you do of an Apple device in a datacenter IMHO.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#573

Post by ghjfrdghibt »

Every time one of these articles pops up about this sort of behaviour but one of the big tech companies, I'm always struck by the differences in the comments you get. I wonder if Google would be getting the benefit of the doubt like apple is currently getting were Google to implement the exact same thing as an opt-out feature?

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#574

Post by criddell »

walterbell wrote: post #558
fragmede wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume it's MBA driven? As a software developer, I like knowing when my software crashes so that I can fix it. I don't care or even want to know who you are, your IP address, or anything that could be linked back to you in any way, but I can't fix it if I don't know that it's crashing in the first place.

Customers can (optionally) submit crash logs via email or support portal. Apple iOS provides crash logs via the following navigation path: Privacy & Security Analytics Data AppName-date-time.ips Notice Apple's choice of top-level menu for crash logs?

Makes sense to me. Many exploits use a crash as their wedge into a system.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#576

Post by criddell »

ghjfrdghibt wrote: post #573

Every time one of these articles pops up about this sort of behaviour but one of the big tech companies, I'm always struck by the differences in the comments you get. I wonder if Google would be getting the benefit of the doubt like apple is currently getting were Google to implement the exact same thing as an opt-out feature?

It doesn’t seem odd to me. I’m more suspicious of Google’s motives and am even more suspicious of companies like TikTok, Amazon, Xiaomi, and Facebook. There’s a privacy spectrum.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#577

Post by Argonaut998 »

I think I just noticed a similar thing for search that I'm pretty sure was not there before IOS 18.

Going into Settings -> Search there's an option now for "Help Apple Improve Search", enabled by default.

>Help improve Search by allowing Apple to store the searches you enter into Safari(!!), Siri and Spotlight in a way that is not linked to you. Searches include lookups of general knowledge, and requests to do things like play music and get directions.

If it was there before then it was switched on again.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#578

Post by simondotau »

LtWorf wrote: post #477
simondotau wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're seriously arguing that it's absurd for customers to have "absolute control" over all software? No EU regulation could regulate away all "moral" concerns over software. More specifically, they EU could regulate, but the overwhelming majority of software companies would either strip significant features out for EU customers, or exit the market altogether.

Lol, they keep threatening that but they still like the money of the europeans.

The EU hasn't threatened granting consumers "absolute control" over all software.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#579

Post by nicce »

z3phyr wrote: post #312
nicce wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is probably reasonable for average end-user to expect that landmark based search works without enabling the extra setting. They have option to disble if they care.

The initiative is for the user to command their computer to communicate or not with the information of their choosing. "Computer, I command thee to send this and only this information over the channel of my choosing, using following encryption scheme, for here be my seal of approval for anyone who might want to verify, and here be the key" "Sicut Vult"

I understand the enthusiasm but from the business perspective it does not matter. Many businesses would fail if they go too deep on this. Their only audience would be people who are experts in the area. Other people are confused and disappointed since things are not working as they expect.

On Apple's scale, most people care about the things they can do, not about how it happens. For that reason, default matters when the option is only about the internal process pipeline and privacy.

As a result, it is enough to showcase that in case some expert investigates the matter, they show that privacy is considered in a reasonable level.

Maybe some day in the future these things are common knowledge, but I fear that the knowledge gap just increases.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#580

Post by fragmede »

sneak wrote: post #561
fragmede wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you assume it's MBA driven? As a software developer, I like knowing when my software crashes so that I can fix it. I don't care or even want to know who you are, your IP address, or anything that could be linked back to you in any way, but I can't fix it if I don't know that it's crashing in the first place.

Once it is running on a computer you don't own, it is no longer your software. To put it in the language of someone who mistakenly thinks you can own information: data about crashes on computers that aren't yours simply doesn't belong to you.

If you don't feel a responsibility for inflicting pain on other people, that's on you. I'm not a sociopath.
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