Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 488 posts

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#161

Post by gbear605 »

omnifischer wrote: post #101
banachtarski wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know when I'll believe it? When the un-screw up their app store which vastly incentivizes the development of free-to-use ad-driven apps that prey on user tracking data over premium alternatives. Ad-based revenue has a higher value proposition to developers because it dodges the inane anachronistic 30% tax. "Privacy" first is an utter illusion when the majority of apps approved in this closed ecosystem that ostens…

In addition, please note that Apple's motto is 'Privacy for the rich'. Please do a Privacy for all - iPhone. Sorry HN-users, there are another 5 billion people that cant afford your > $ 200 products. Mind you even in ebay/second hand in the poor markets iPhones are expensive. Edit: Why down votes? Please remember there are other too in the world that deserve technology + privacy.

You can get a decent used iPhone for under $200. I don’t fault Apple for not making an iPhone cheaper than that.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#162

Post by anoncake »

goodmachine wrote: post #156
rapsey wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to sell something to privacy obsessed tech segment is a futile effort. They are never happy and don’t want to pay for anything anyway. But that is not their target market anyway. It is the general public and these comments are just noise.

Last time I checked, 25% of the internet used a VPN at least once a month. We can argue (somebody here will) as to the actual level of privacy conferred, but the segment is far from miniscule: https://thebestvpn.com/vpn-usage-statistics/

But how many of them use it to bypass geoblocking or to bypass censorship? Those who bypass censorship presumably also value privacy, but from their government and not necessarily from corporations.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#163

Post by nadc »

From reading the developer documentation it looks like developers need to implement & maintain Sign In with Apple as a new SSO method: https://developer.apple.com/sign-in-with-apple/

When I read the keynote highlights I assumed Apple were extending the existing (iCloud) Keychain/Safari integration to include username generation, and obfuscated email generation resolving to your iCloud account. Since they implemented 2FA codes auto filling in the QuickType bar in iOS 12, they could've extended this UX further, or used 'Siri suggestions' to complete email verification.

I assume they didn't take this approach as it's harder to present a consistent call to action to initiate sign up, but it seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Does anyone know of a password manager that allows you to generate unique email addresses as a part of the core UX?

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#164

Post by rapsey »

goodmachine wrote: post #156
rapsey wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to sell something to privacy obsessed tech segment is a futile effort. They are never happy and don’t want to pay for anything anyway. But that is not their target market anyway. It is the general public and these comments are just noise.

Last time I checked, 25% of the internet used a VPN at least once a month. We can argue (somebody here will) as to the actual level of privacy conferred, but the segment is far from miniscule: https://thebestvpn.com/vpn-usage-statistics/

And the vast majority of it is to access geoip restricted content, to get around government filters and for corporate use.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#165

Post by afpx »

When I was a teen, my uncle, who was an executive at Oracle at the time, yelled at me for admitting on a medical form that I smoked pot. I said, "But, it's confidential, right?". He told me, "It may be confidential now, but it won't always be. Databases are forever." Apple won't be a privacy company in 10 or 20 years.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#168

Post by turk73 »

rapsey wrote: post #30
nafizh wrote: post #22

Lots of negativity/skepticism here which is reasonable I would say given tech companies' abuse of our trust. I for one, am happy that Apple can afford to offer privacy as one of its strong suites. Whether they can do it because of their business model or not is moot IMO. Everyone is here to make money, I would rather have someone who doesn't have to sell every aspect of my life to do it.

Trying to sell something to privacy obsessed tech segment is a futile effort. They are never happy and don’t want to pay for anything anyway. But that is not their target market anyway. It is the general public and these comments are just noise.

[dead]

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#169

Post by hellofunk »

afpx wrote: post #165

When I was a teen, my uncle, who was an executive at Oracle at the time, yelled at me for admitting on a medical form that I smoked pot. I said, "But, it's confidential, right?". He told me, "It may be confidential now, but it won't always be. Databases are forever." Apple won't be a privacy company in 10 or 20 years.

I think we are living at just the dawn of a long and very privacy obsessed era, that will probably become more intense as the decades pass, and the generations. I don’t see why a company that pounces on this reality now won’t be still successful at it decades from now.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#170

Post by mcv »

It's good to see at least one tech giant wants to compete on privacy, rather than selling our data. It's great that Apple does this. And yet, I find the Apple ecosystem closed and restrictive. I'm not eager to get an iPhone and would much rather use something like Lineage OS, for example.
Post reply on HN