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Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

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Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#51
post #49

Apple's commitment to privacy and security is really cool to see. It's also an amazing strategic play that they are uniquely in the position to take advantage of. Google and Meta can't commit to privacy because they need to show you ads, whereas Apple feels more like a hardware company to me.

It's all tempered by them ultimately controlling what you can put on your phone though. As was demonstrated in LA, it's starting to have significant civil rights consequences.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#52

Apple's commitment to privacy and security is really cool to see. It's also an amazing strategic play that they are uniquely in the position to take advantage of. Google and Meta can't commit to privacy because they need to show you ads, whereas Apple feels more like a hardware company to me.

Apple is an ad company now though

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#53
You can request a downloadable a copy of any/all of the data that Apple has associated with your account at https://privacy.apple.com.

This apparently includes retrieving all photos from iCloud in chunks of specified size, which seems an infinitely better option than attempting to download them through the iCloud web interface which caps downloads to 1000 photos at a time at less than impressive download speeds.

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#54
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That people fall for this corporate BS while Tim Cook is giving gold bars to Trump and dining and dancing with him When people are being murdered on the streets by ice is just amazing to me.

Well that’s what Americans voted for. So I don’t think anyone cares that every CEO (definitely not just Tim Cook) is schmoozing with Trump.

> Well that’s what Americans voted for.

Americans are not one person.

> So I don’t think anyone cares

Clearly they do.

> every CEO (definitely not just Tim Cook) is schmoozing with Trump.

Tim Cook was (supposedly) principled. I guess it's hard to pretend that you care about privacy or human rights while eating dinner next to bin Salman.

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#55

Apple's commitment to privacy and security is really cool to see. It's also an amazing strategic play that they are uniquely in the position to take advantage of. Google and Meta can't commit to privacy because they need to show you ads, whereas Apple feels more like a hardware company to me.

I still like to encourage people to watch all of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLGFriOKz6U&t=1993s for the details (from Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture) about how iCloud is protected by HSMs, rate limits, etc. but especially the timelinked section. :)

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#56
post #55

Apple's commitment to privacy and security is really cool to see. It's also an amazing strategic play that they are uniquely in the position to take advantage of. Google and Meta can't commit to privacy because they need to show you ads, whereas Apple feels more like a hardware company to me.

I still like to encourage people to watch all of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLGFriOKz6U&t=1993s for the details (from Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture) about how iCloud is protected by HSMs, rate limits, etc. but especially the timelinked section. :)

I still recommend Mr. Fart's Favorite Colors as a refutation, describing why all of these precautions cannot protect you in a real-world security model: https://medium.com/@blakeross/mr-fart-s-favorite-colors-3177...

  Unbreakable phones are coming. We’ll have to decide who controls the cockpit: The captain? Or the cabin?

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#57

[flagged]

You can enable Advanced Data Protection to address that issue with iMessages.

Giving users an option between both paths is usually best. Most users care a lot more that they can’t restore a usable backup of their messages than they do that their messages are unreadable by the company storing them.

I used to work at a company where our products were built around encryption. Users here on HN are not the norm. You can’t trust that most users will save recovery codes, encryption seed phrases, etc in a manner that will be both available and usable when they need them, and then they tend to care a lot less about the privacy properties that provides and a lot more that they no longer have their messages with {deceased spouse, best friend, business partner, etc}.

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#58

Apple's commitment to privacy and security is really cool to see. It's also an amazing strategic play that they are uniquely in the position to take advantage of. Google and Meta can't commit to privacy because they need to show you ads, whereas Apple feels more like a hardware company to me.

Apple is an ad company now though

Apple sells some ads yes. But it’s a tiny fraction of their revenue.

Would Google or Meta go bankrupt if they stopped selling ads? Yes. Apple wouldn’t.

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#59
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is an ad company now though

Apple sells some ads yes. But it’s a tiny fraction of their revenue. Would Google or Meta go bankrupt if they stopped selling ads? Yes. Apple wouldn’t.

Apple would go bankrupt without US protectionist policy propping up their service revenue.

That's pretty bad. Maybe not "reliant on ad monopoly" bad, but pretty close.

Re: Apple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]

#60
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still like to encourage people to watch all of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLGFriOKz6U&t=1993s for the details (from Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture) about how iCloud is protected by HSMs, rate limits, etc. but especially the timelinked section. :)

I still recommend Mr. Fart's Favorite Colors as a refutation, describing why all of these precautions cannot protect you in a real-world security model: https://medium.com/@blakeross/mr-fart-s-favorite-colors-3177... Unbreakable phones are coming. We’ll have to decide who controls the cockpit: The captain? Or the cabin?

Krstić: “Here’s how we reduce the chance that even Apple can access or alter X, and here’s how we can make that credible.”

Ross: “Even if you make X cryptographically airtight, the real fight becomes political/physical coercion: ‘ship this or else.’”

Those can both be true at the same time.

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