Apple collects tons of user data, and I'm sure they use some of it to provide machine-learning backed services, and I'm sure they'll come out with much nicer products to compete with Google in the future, also enhanced by machine learning techniques. The difference that Tim Cook wants you to believe in is that Apple doesn't directly make money from your data, they just use it to improve their product; alternatively,…
> Apple doesn't directly make money from your data, they just use it to improve their product Apple improves their products for several reasons, but as a for-profit business the main reason they would use some of their limited capital to "improve their product" would be to make money . The details about how a business exploits user data is not that interesting. Arguments about this kind of minutia are a distraction a…
Not on a social networking site? Don't worry, they probably know a significant amount about you anyway, just from friends who have given the social network the entire address book from their phone and a few photos with you in them.
Decided not to use Google because you're not sure about how much data they collect these days? Don't worry, they probably have a significant proportion of all the e-mails you ever send from one of the other parties anyway, and you have no reliable way to determine when this is happening or to avoid participating.
And of course there are the numerous third party widgets that not only make the modern web a slower, sometimes malware-ridden, often ad-ridden mess, they also follow those not technically skilled enough to protect themselves around. Don't worry, they promise they won't tell your health insurer about the medical conditions you were looking up. No, wait, they didn't.
Now we have the kinds of technologies mentioned in the parent post, with smartphones and headsets and home automation systems that have sensors and network connections being placed just about everywhere, and we really are starting to live in a society with permanent surveillance.
In many ways, these kinds of issues are much harder to address than the already difficult questions of how to control first party data collection. Most of them by their nature operate in the background where a lot of people will never even know they are there, and even those who do may or may not be able to do much about it.