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iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

techcrunch.com

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Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#51

Post by snazz »

leevlad wrote: post #44
kerberos84 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is catching up to Android in privacy ? Good joke :)

This kind of comment indicates how effective the marketing/media kool-aid has been. Having paid very close attention to how both systems work (and having used both iOS and Android extensively in recent months), I don't think I'd necessarily declare either of these platforms a clear privacy champion.

If you’re trusting third-party apps with important data and not effectively restricting their permissions, then the OS doesn’t really matter. I’m glad that Apple is doing more to make permissions granular. If you don’t install anything outside of what your phone came with, iOS would certainly be the clear privacy champion.

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#52

Post by hadrien01 »

TheCapn wrote: post #38
mosselman wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In some of these, Apple is catching up to Android Where Android/Google itself is a bigger problem perhaps than the 3rd party apps.

What's funny is with Android 10 you get these prompts now too (can't say how comparative the two features are though). My biggest offender is Google's apps requesting location access in the background; Hangouts, Messenger, Phone, etc. all asking for access when I'm not using the app. Naturally I block them, but since they're all Google products I wonder how much that even matters.

Since Google Play Services is the location provider on most Android phones, Google already has everything. At least with newer Android versions Facebook is blocked from accessing your location...

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#53

Post by snazz »

bosie wrote: post #33
rdtsc wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just switched two months ago. Been an Android users since 3.x days. I switched mostly for privacy reasons as as well. The original idea of why I liked Android: open source / Linux based, I developed apps for it, are not as important as giving too much control and my data to Google at this point. Been pretty happy with it as a new user. At first it was hard getting used to not having a back button where I expected i…

> The interface is slick and nice, however, I'd have have to say in recent years Android mostly caught up in that regard. How would you say are the apps in this regard? Are ios apps more standardized than android's?

Yes and there seems to be more developer time invested in iOS apps than Android apps for smoothness—developers know they make more money from their iOS users even taking into account how many more Android devices there are.

You might miss not being able to set third-party apps as default for certain actions, but I think this is a valid trade-off for maintaining standards and share extensions are almost as good.

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#54

Post by simonh »

Someone1234 wrote: post #32
lstamour wrote: post #5

Huh, all that and I didn’t see an explicit call out to how Apple has changed the location sharing in the background prompts to include a creepy map, prompting you to wake up a bit instead of automatically hitting Allow location sharing: https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/18/ios-13-security-privacy

Wow. What's the opposite of an anti-pattern? Because in terms of visualizing the privacy implications that deserves real praise and likely took quite a bit of work. They should be proud of that, and it makes it seem like their privacy push is more than just a momentary marking-led move.

Oh it's definitely at least partially a marketing issue. They're very keen to promote to users that iOS provides strong controls over privacy, it's a clear differentiator and selling point.

I just don't think that's enough to explain it. Apple was all-in on user privacy right for the beginning, back when their market cap was a small fraction of what it is now, when Wall Street was salivating over the huge profits to be made out of mining social graphs, and when Google was offering big money for access to user data. Instead Apple decided to put up the finger to Google, until then a close partner, and spent billions of dollars building Apple Maps.

There is absolutely no way Apple could possibly have expected a marginal marketing advantage, which was very minimal at first for many years, to compensate for the very lucrative immediate opportunities they gave up. The financial incentive argument just doesn't come close to adding up.

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#55

Post by amaccuish »

rcruzeiro wrote: post #12
vincentriemer wrote: post #4

Since installing the iOS 13 beta I've noticed a bunch of apps asking for bluetooth access. I haven't kept track of every one but I do remember YouTube and Netflix asking for it on their first launch. Thankfully, I haven't witnessed any app failing to work by denying the request though.

Youtube and netflix likely do this to discover TVs that you can cast your video to

As far as I'm aware, AirPlay is handled at the OS level so the individual apps don't need permission for peer to peer AirPlay. And of course standard AirPlay is all mDNS for discovery.

For ChromecastI believe it's either SSDP or mDNS, and I don't think they have a P2P casting option IIRC.

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#56

Post by ascagnel_ »

lstamour wrote: post #7
decoyworker wrote: post #3

Why do applications have access to Bluetooth or WiFi ID's in the first place? Seems too low-level for an app to have access to. Aren't these details better left handled by the operating system?

It’s helpful so Spotify can start playing music when I connect my headphones, or so apps like Bose Connect can update my headphones. Most features with privacy implications are also features that can add a ton of value if used correctly. The problem is partially the lack of system messaging and partially lack of morals...

Spotify shouldn’t need BT access to play audio —- there’s a “blessed” API for apps that need BT audio output that won’t require separate authorization.

Your headphone update app more reasonably will need that permission, as its doing more than audio output.

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#57

Post by snazz »

wildduck wrote: post #27
Tepix wrote: post #10

Tell your non-it friends to uninstall the facebook app and use the web browser interface instead if they want to stay on facebook. Preferably they also block all 3rd party cookies, use an ad-blocker and occasionally delete all cookies and reset their Ad-Id.

https://m.facebookcorewwwi.onion Use facebook over tor. Also check out Richard Stallman's recommendation on using facebook for organizations: https://stallman.org/facebook-presence.html

RMS’s recommendations are actually surprisingly reasonable and a more nuanced take than I was expecting. I think it’s a pretty realistic thing for many organizations to do.

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#58

Post by gruez »

space_drops wrote: post #48
vincentriemer wrote: post #4

Since installing the iOS 13 beta I've noticed a bunch of apps asking for bluetooth access. I haven't kept track of every one but I do remember YouTube and Netflix asking for it on their first launch. Thankfully, I haven't witnessed any app failing to work by denying the request though.

The one that baffled me the most was the Citi Mobile banking app asking for Bluetooth. Like… what? What possible use is Bluetooth information to a banking app?

>Like… what? What possible use is Bluetooth information to a banking app?

"anti fraud"

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#59

Post by merpnderp »

Someone1234 wrote: post #30
oflannabhra wrote: post #17

I've been using the iOS 13 developer beta for a couple months, and I can confirm that within the first week, several apps from the big 4 requested permissions for things that should be absolutely unnecessary. iOS 13 has several great privacy-focused changes: - WiFi SSID is protected behind location permissions (ie, an app must request and be granted location permissions to be able to access the current SSID) - Blueto…

Plus they added mouse support (on iPad). iOS 13 really is a great release. I just wish they allowed you to full hide the mouse cursor when the mouse isn't plugged in (the option that implies it does exactly that does not).

Have you tested this? Is it true mouse support, with a right click (for things like remote desktop) and everything?

Re: iOS 13’s privacy pop-ups of Facebook data grabs

#60

Post by oflannabhra »

kerberos84 wrote: post #41
oflannabhra wrote: post #17

I've been using the iOS 13 developer beta for a couple months, and I can confirm that within the first week, several apps from the big 4 requested permissions for things that should be absolutely unnecessary. iOS 13 has several great privacy-focused changes: - WiFi SSID is protected behind location permissions (ie, an app must request and be granted location permissions to be able to access the current SSID) - Blueto…

Apple is catching up to Android in privacy ? Good joke :)

WiFi SSID has been behind a location permission gate on Android for several releases
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