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

Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

growth.design

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

271–280 of 359 posts

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#271

Post by cscurmudgeon »

goalieca wrote: post #71
daft_pink wrote: post #13

I think it's unfair to compare Facebook actively screwing us to Apple not adopting your proposed metric on their product and passively allowing a very popular app in their app store. Not a huge fan of Apple, but they aren't Facebook.

Apple does not have a tracking pixel on half the popular web. Apple's main source of income is through luxury hardware and subscription services. Facebook sells your information and attention to willing buyers.

This is an AOL-level understanding of how digital ads work.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#272

Post by kyle-rb »

YeBanKo wrote: post #218

Simple fix. Ballot measure to replace the “right to be forgotten” with the “permission to be remembered”, that need to be renewed every, 1-3 years. If companies fails to obtain permission in 3 years, then it must remove your data. Such permission is non transferable, meaning that if you started an account with Good Company, Inc. and it was acquired by Evil Corp, Inc. The latter need to get a new permission under the…

Please don't force Twitter to delete more of my favorite inactive accounts.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#273

Post by cscurmudgeon »

isodev wrote: post #189
Timber-6539 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the difference between Meta's tracking pixel and Apple's IDFA?

The IDFA on iOS is a random device identifier and not tied to your identity. It would allow an advertiser to correlate that it’s the same device that has installed several apps, nothing more. It also resets in certain situations. Facebook on the other hand, creates a grand central repository of everything there is to know about you and sells it to whoever wants to pay. Just like Google.

Neither Google or Facebook sell your data. If you get technical, be thorough.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#274

Post by YeBanKo »

kyle-rb wrote: post #272
YeBanKo wrote: post #218

Simple fix. Ballot measure to replace the “right to be forgotten” with the “permission to be remembered”, that need to be renewed every, 1-3 years. If companies fails to obtain permission in 3 years, then it must remove your data. Such permission is non transferable, meaning that if you started an account with Good Company, Inc. and it was acquired by Evil Corp, Inc. The latter need to get a new permission under the…

Please don't force Twitter to delete more of my favorite inactive accounts.

Content != pii.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#275

Post by cscurmudgeon »

Keirmot wrote: post #150
tomcar288 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why people are so against Advertisers targetting people based on their data? what are people so afraid of? the way i see it, the worst case scenario is you get an Ad for something you might actually like...

If that’s the worst you think it can happen, you lack imagination. I Myanmar fingerprinting helped the military find dissidents, the the US Cambridge Analytica managed to get enough data to influence an election, and there’s many more examples. Besides, if a private company can sell access to you through ads, less benevolent actors can use that access for other more nefarious practices.

If that’s the worst you think it can happen, you lack imagination.

It is 2023 and you don't need ads to influence people. E.g, TikTok not acting on dangerous trends.

https://www.vox.com/technology/2023/6/1/23742757/kia-hyundai...

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#276

Post by tobr »

ksec wrote: post #67
daft_pink wrote: post #13

I think it's unfair to compare Facebook actively screwing us to Apple not adopting your proposed metric on their product and passively allowing a very popular app in their app store. Not a huge fan of Apple, but they aren't Facebook.

>Not a huge fan of Apple, but they aren't Facebook. Not a Fan of Facebook, but Facebook never claimed to be the defender of Fundamental Human Right or the Guardian of Privacy. Some people like to label them as evil or the less of evil. I like to label them as evil and hypocrite.

> Facebook never claimed to be the defender of Fundamental Human Right

“Our Commitment to Human Rights” https://about.fb.com/news/2021/03/our-commitment-to-human-ri...

> or the Guardian of Privacy.

“Upholding Our Commitment to Protecting Your Privacy” https://about.fb.com/news/2023/05/upholding-our-commitment-t...

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#277

Post by jhugg »

This is a hard problem to fix with UX, as evidenced by Apple's over-simplistic warnings.

e.g. Threads may collect your financial data! But only if you give it to them, usually to purchase ads or verifications, etc.. This scary warning is over-scary.

e.g. Mastodon collects less data about you, but there's no warning for "The backend is unencrypted and likely run by a handful of humans (who are probably nice but answer to nobody)."

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#278

Post by Draiken »

GeekyBear wrote: post #230
Draiken wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you know what will happen. They will relentlessly spy on their users. This is a for-profit company. It will always do what is more profitable, even if they don't do it right away.

> Then you know what will happen. There is an interesting lesson you can learn from history: Google Maps vs Apple Maps. Google set up their system to track each individual's location history forever, even if the user turned off the setting that Google said would stop this behavior. This data can be handy when you're trying to keep map data updated. However, you don't have to track each user's location constantly to g…

That's an awesome story and I'd love to believe that's how it will always be. But I can't.

I'm sure we could find great examples of other companies that made similar privacy aware decisions, only to then turn around and throw all that out of the window for increased profits.

Call me skeptical, but these entities have one purpose: profits. Why would I trust they won't ever misuse my data?

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#279

Post by riversflow »

glitchc wrote: post #103
innagadadavida wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In 2022, Apple generated 4.7 billion U.S. dollars with its global advertising business. > By 2022, Facebook's ad revenues had hit $135.94 billion. $4.7B is not a small number but no where close to Facebook’s.

Velocity is often more important than the absolute amount in a business context. If velocity is 100% growth, year over year, it holds true for a couple of years, it's going to draw significant attention.

This isn’t really a business context though, it’s an ethical one.

I think most people would agree that velocity hardly matters here, what’s been actually done is generally what gets judgement, not where you will be in some time if you do everything the same.

What you are describing is essentially pre-crime.

Re: Apple vs. Meta: The Illusion of Privacy

#280

Post by threeseed »

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #161
kaba0 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, not all ads are the same from an ethical standpoint. Displaying an app ad in the appstore upon searching for a similar term is very different than displaying ads based on your whole life, collected in malicious ways.

I don't own an apple device now but why does app store have ads ? After paying upwards of $1000+ on a iPhone, why can't you expect an ad free experience on a first party app store?

> why does app store have ads

Because it's useful.

It helps users discover apps that the developer believes is relevant to that keyword.

I can't think of a better mechanism for doing this without an auction style system.

Post reply on HN