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Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

growth.design

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Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#191

Post by daneel_w »

nirvdrum wrote: post #98
daneel_w wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironic, isn't it. And the author apparently has nothing at all to say about Android and Google.

The article is about Apple because Apple is the one billing itself as the vanguard of privacy and as the privacy-preserving opponent of Android. It's also quite possible the author doesn't have or use an Android device. If you've invested in a platform for reasons related to privacy, I think it's quite okay to be concerned when that platform falls short on some pretty big privacy invasions.

They bill themselves as the privacy-protecting opponent of Android because iOS/iPadOS doesn't commit to breaches of privacy the way Google does in, well, pretty much all of their products. So how does Apple fall short, and how are they the ones committing privacy invasions? By allowing third-party applications on the App Store? By not rejecting every app they don't like? They're doing users the favor of letting them know what information apps can collect so that users can make informed choices.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#192

Post by cromd »

charcircuit wrote: post #175
kaba0 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m fairly sure there are many forms of advertisement that works without tracking.. like a billboard. Displaying an ad next to search results based on the search query for example is similarly benign.

>that works without tracking.. like a billboard. Billboards still require tracking. If you had the option of putting a billboard up in 1 of 2 neighborhoods and it would get 10k impressions in either location which one would you choose? The optimal strategy is not to pick randomly. The optimal strategy is to predict the conversion rate of both locations. In order to do that you need to investigate who is likely to see…

Couldn't one say the same of any brick and mortar store? If a shoe store is going to open in my neighborhood, for example, how much data do they need for it to be optimally located? I guess they could seek out the online browsing history of all the friends of all the people living within 1 mile from the shoe store and analyze it.

I don't doubt that billboards are placed with some careful thought, but tracking is certainly not "required" - some aggregate stats about an area should work, especially as there isn't much feedback on who saw the billboard and bought a product etc.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#193

Post by daneel_w »

wiseowise wrote: post #184
daneel_w wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironic, isn't it. And the author apparently has nothing at all to say about Android and Google.

Why should they? They compare Meta and Apple, aren’t they?

The article tries to make it out as if it's about privacy and integrity in general. Google is all the way up at the top of the list of crooks together with arseholes like Meta.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#194

Post by matthew-wegner »

isodev wrote: post #177
nicce wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's ad business, however, is growing all the time. And in significant margins. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/apple-is-an-ad-company-now https://www.statista.com/statistics/1330127/apple-ad-revenue...

Apple shows ads for apps in the App Store sans behavioural targeting. If there is a kind of “ethical ads” that’s as close as it gets.

Apple advertising extends beyond the app store, both for iOS and macOS, and is personalized by default. You can disable this in Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Apple Advertising on both platforms.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#195

Post by toastal »

hoppyhoppy2 wrote: post #186
soperj wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just use my banking website from my phone. Why install apps?

My bank and credit union allow me to deposit checks from my phone via the apps; their websites don't offer that option.

In my country, bank transfers with vendor is usually done via QR code scanning which isn’t supported on the site. The flow for the site would required adding the vendor (even for a one-time transaction) to your bank contact list, manually inputting all of the account numbers/phone/email, then going back & selecting it—something no vendor wants to wait on. If you haven’t done it in 20 minutes, you will be logged out with no cancel logout pop-up & paste has been disabled for … ‘security’?

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#196

Post by [deleted] »

daneel_w wrote: post #191
nirvdrum wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is about Apple because Apple is the one billing itself as the vanguard of privacy and as the privacy-preserving opponent of Android. It's also quite possible the author doesn't have or use an Android device. If you've invested in a platform for reasons related to privacy, I think it's quite okay to be concerned when that platform falls short on some pretty big privacy invasions.

They bill themselves as the privacy-protecting opponent of Android because iOS/iPadOS doesn't commit to breaches of privacy the way Google does in, well, pretty much all of their products. So how does Apple fall short, and how are they the ones committing privacy invasions? By allowing third-party applications on the App Store? By not rejecting every app they don't like? They're doing users the favor of letting them…

[deleted]

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#197

Post by Fervicus »

Most people here are criticizing this presentation (in true HN fashion), but I appreciated it. I think we need to try new approaches like this to get the message to non tech, especially younger crowd who tend to be less interested in reading long articles.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#198

Post by epistasis »

sumeno wrote: post #116
epistasis wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are dollar-for-service inevitably going to switch to ad supported? I can't imagine the necessity of that, you already have a paying customer.

Because you always have to be squeezing more money from somewhere to keep your stock going up and ads are an easy place to get it

Do you have some examples of services going from fee-for-service to fee-and-ads-for-service? I am coming up blank. The closest that I can think of are areas that had been as based but then added fees as well, such as TV.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#199

Post by Draiken »

tomnipotent wrote: post #165
Draiken wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be less awful, but in no way, shape or form it is benign.

Apple is using the data first-party only and isn't reselling or otherwise making it available for third parties to use. Explain how it's not benign, other than "tracking bad". How does it harm consumers, or put customers at risk?

Because it will. It's simply inevitable because of the system we live in. At some point or another, they will need to grow revenue and suddenly that trove of data they have collected beforehand, regardless of its initial purpose, will be used to screw customers.

The only way to protect against this is to not let them have that in the first place. Once they have it, it's impossible to guarantee it won't be misused sooner or later.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#200

Post by otterley »

raspyberr wrote: post #27

Privacy blog post. vercel-insights.com, www.google.com, 'Sign up with Google', Join 132,793 people from companies like: Microsoft, Amazon, facebook, Google, Disney "There it is again. That funny feeling."

"Gotcha! I am very intelligent."

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/259/257/342...

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