EFF Report Highlights Apple's Efforts to Protect Consumer Data, Increase Transparency

[Oletros]

Yes. But my point is if you have a survey of this nature and both google and apple ace it then you have learnt nothing. Because Apple and Google are light years apart in terms of how they treat customers personal data.

And exactly what difference there is between how Apple and Google treat customer personal data?

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It's about protecting your privacy _against the government_. Now with Dropbox I would seriously expect them to keep my data private against anybody (including Dropbox), because that's their business. Facebook and Google, less so.

Google's business relies on having your data secure.

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However the cost in terms of my profile and personal habits that are made available to others is much higher than the with Apple that also gives me mail and an office suite for free but does not make my profile available to others.

And exactly what is made available to others?

 

[Tech198]

Wasn't there an ISP report too, with Com Cast collecting the most info ?

Same strategy ... different companies..

Either way,, they may not pass on x info, but that doesn't mean they don't collect it themselves.

And these report are supposed to make you feel better ...?

True, it may not be personal data, or anything that be uniquely identified to a user/customer, but why should any company be doing that ? For example when you use GPS, app with Location services enabled, true it picks location faster, but Apple has that data...

Why should they ? It's "your" phone. not theirs.

 

[redhawk87]

There is a huge difference between apple and the majority of other companies. Apple is first and foremost a hardware driven company. As in, it makes the majority of its money from selling hardware. Google, Facebook, etc. are ad driven companies. They make most of their money from ads. If you are an ad driven company, collecting user data is essential to increasing revenue and increase interest from other companies wanting to use your ad platform. They have a financial interest in collecting as much data from you as possible and use that data to determine what ad you should receive. Apple being a hardware company does not have this financial incentive to collect your data for use by other companies. Yes, apple does have iAds and does recommend apps, music, movies, etc to you so there are definitely some incentives for apple, but they currently do not affect how much money they make. This puts apple in a much better position than most companies in regards to users data. The other companies could choose to not give out users info, but that would come with a bigger cost.

I don't think one single ad driven company could decide this on their own. Advertisers would abandon them in favor of another company that gives them what they want. If he majority of ad companies decided collectively to not give out user data, then it could work in that advertisers would have no other choice but to accept it.

I think apple is just capitalizing on the fact they are not an ad driven company and can make these firm stances on user's data. It is not so easy for the others to do the same.

 

[phalseHUD]

I think you meant to say "Apple, you ARE NWA"

I think your joke was lost on him/her! I lol'd, and lol'd some more!!

 

[Oletros]

There is a huge difference between apple and the majority of other companies. Apple is first and foremost a hardware driven company. As in, it makes the majority of its money from selling hardware. Google, Facebook, etc. are ad driven companies. They make most of their money from ads. If you are an ad driven company, collecting user data is essential to increasing revenue and increase interest from other companies wanting to use your ad platform. They have a financial interest in collecting as much data from you as possible and use that data to determine what ad you should receive. Apple being a hardware company does not have this financial incentive to collect your data for use by other companies. Yes, apple does have iAds and does recommend apps, music, movies, etc to you so there are definitely some incentives for apple, but they currently do not affect how much money they make. This puts apple in a much better position than most companies in regards to users data. The other companies could choose to not give out users info, but that would come with a bigger cost.

I don't think one single ad driven company could decide this on their own. Advertisers would abandon them in favor of another company that gives them what they want. If he majority of ad companies decided collectively to not give out user data, then it could work in that advertisers would have no other choice but to accept it.

I think apple is just capitalizing on the fact they are not an ad driven company and can make these firm stances on user's data. It is not so easy for the others to do the same.

What had to do that report with giving user info to advertisers?

And by the way, they don't give that info to advertisers

 

[Hieveryone]

That's a rather stupid remark. Google's _business_ is to collect data about you and sell it advertisers. Apple collects data as required to conduct business with you. If Google and Apple collected the same data, then the only people that Google knew anything about would be their advertisers, who they conduct business with. So all the advertisers could happily advertise to each other.

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10 bucks says the can't. And Apple doesn't have the encryption keys for iMessage. Actually, in the link itself they said that their claim (Apple and NSA can read iMessage) is nonsense.

Don't be naive my friend. Your iMessages are being read by the NSA and so is all your other information. They can see you from your front facing camera, hear you from the built in mic, and can read all your emails and see all your pictures. Don't believe them when they say they can't. It's lies. Read these articles then look at the picture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_R._Clapper

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/18/imessage-qualcast-security-weakness

 

[gnasher729]

Google's business relies on having your data secure.

Excuse me, my definition of "secure" seems different from yours. They keep my data "secure" so that advertisers have to pay Google for it, instead of paying someone else. That's like a robber who keeps my money secure. In his wallet, instead of mine.

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Don't be naive my friend. Your iMessages are being read by the NSA and so is all your other information. They can see you from your front facing camera, hear you from the built in mic, and can read all your emails and see all your pictures. Don't believe them when they say they can't. It's lies. Read these articles then look at the picture.

Don't be paranoid - and I woudn't call you my friend. What you see there is not today's reality. Today's iPhones are not the iPhones of years ago. And even back then, their method was to catch a phone in the post when it was delivered and manipulate it before you received it. Nowadays that's not possible without activating the phone, and you'd notice that.

 

[Tech198]

Yep ...

No one reads Terms of Service/conditions anymore when signing up for something online.

Admittedly, i don't really read it that much in detail, but when it comes to "What do we collect and our your info for", ya, that's something i want to know. and if i don't like that they share it, and what specific, then i don't sign up.

Things are all to easy now days.... There should be technology in place that makes you read and understand, not just go over and say "ya, who cares"

If most of us understood these agreements, then there would be no point in these questions.

Then again, companies make That part difficult since they use "words" and sentences in various ways to make it sound something is good for the user, when it's not.

There is no evidence at the NSA has our iMessages.... phone call records, maybe, but there are allot more companies other than Apple which just hand it all over no questions asked.

SnapChat, for instance.

 

[gnasher729]

Things are all to easy now days.... There should be technology in place that makes you read and understand, not just go over and say "ya, who cares"

If most of us understood these agreements, then there would be no point in these questions.

Then again, companies make That part difficult since they use "words" and sentences in various ways to make it sound something is good for the user, when it's not.

Depending on where you live, reading and understanding may be to your disadvantage. If anything goes to court, a judge may very well say that some agreement was too complicated, and that an end user cannot possibly be expected to understand it, and therefore it's null and void.

 

[Hieveryone]

Excuse me, my definition of "secure" seems different from yours. They keep my data "secure" so that advertisers have to pay Google for it, instead of paying someone else. That's like a robber who keeps my money secure. In his wallet, instead of mine.

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Don't be paranoid - and I woudn't call you my friend. What you see there is not today's reality. Today's iPhones are not the iPhones of years ago. And even back then, their method was to catch a phone in the post when it was delivered and manipulate it before you received it. Nowadays that's not possible without activating the phone, and you'd notice that.

My friend, today's NSA is not the NSA of years ago. You don't think the NSA has better technology today than it did in 2007?

Read the slide, it clearly tells you everything they are collecting. I don't need more evidence to prove my point.

The NSA themselves behind closed doors when you aren't looking has made themselves clear on what they are collecting.

Again, I am not saying your iMessages are being read by them. The NSA is saying your iMessages are being read by them. To believe otherwise would be denying the facts.

 

[taptic]

Awesome. Even though all these companies got the same rating, we are somehow twisting this into Google still being worse. What you state above, the quantity of data, was not the basis of this article.

Wait... you mean, google isn't the worst thing this planet has ever had to bear?

 

[DELLsFan]

Don't be paranoid - and I woudn't call you my friend. What you see there is not today's reality...

"Paranoid" was the word used to mock before Snowden. Now that there are multiple reports corroborating what people have been warning for years, your use of the word at this point speaks louder here than any iMessage you think isn't being read.

 

[Hieveryone]

"Paranoid" was the word used to mock before Snowden. Now that there are multiple reports corroborating what people have been warning for years, your use of the word at this point speaks louder here than any iMessage you think isn't being read.

Exactly. Using the word paranoid when Snowden, a top gun at the NSA, told us all the conspiracy theories weren't conspiracy theories at all, they were the truth.

What if I came here and said, "the government collects all your emails, has all your texts, knows who you are calling, when you are calling, and how long you are calling, can see you from your iCam, hear you from your iPhone mic, and they also intercept packages and install malware, and have all your pictures and AIM chats"

They'd say I need a chill pill and maybe a therapist, but I would've been 100 percent right!

 

[Oletros]

Excuse me, my definition of "secure" seems different from yours. They keep my data "secure" so that advertisers have to pay Google for it, instead of paying someone else. That's like a robber who keeps my money secure. In his wallet, instead of mine.

Advertisers don't pay for your data.