XPost: comp.mobile.ipad, comp.sys.mac.advocacy, comp.sys.mac.apps
From: rlhamil@smart.net
In article ,
Arlen Holder writes:
> On Fri, 07 Feb 2020 16:46:00 GMT, Richard L. Hamilton wrote:
>
>> I like almost all Apple products (not a huge fan of Lightning connector
though,
>> except for being small and reversible; IMO, USB-C is both better and more
>> durable, and ultra-thin devices bend too easily anyway, so the slightly
>> smaller thickness of Lightning does't impress me).
>
> There's an interestingly obvious published joke that goes somewhat like "If
> Apple has the courage to _remove_ the headphone jack, why doesn't Apple
> have the courage to switch to USB-C?".
>
>> I also like that they take design very seriously. And (see below) that they
>> don't significantly profit by selliing customer information (or at least
highly
>> targeted advertising), unlike Google, Facebook, etc.
>
> You have to be careful about what Apple "says" and what Apple "does".
> o They're quite different things, for adults to comprehend.
>
> Most people just want to _feel_ safe, so, like a child who believes his
> mother when she assures him that the monster can't get out of the closet if
> he shuts the door at night, most Apple customers _believe_ what MARKETING
> tells them about privacy.
>
> And yet, the privacy on iOS is no different than the privacy on Android
> o Which is to say _neither_ has much privacy even as we strive to gain it!
>
> For example, we have tons of privacy-based settings on Android that simply
> don't exist on iOS, where this uk.telecom.mobile thread, just today, covers
> some of them:
> o Does anyone know how or if Google associates your identity with
> your Google Map navigation activities?
>
>
> In the end, given privacy is a long chain of links, where any one weak link
> destroys the strength of the entire chain, it's trivial to prove Apple only
> touts where they're more private than Android, while remaining totally mum
> on where they're far less private (and I mean _far_ less) than Android.
>
> Sordid details here, but the point is don't believe everything Apple says,
> and, more importantly, pay attention to the privacy Apple _ignores_.
> o What is the factual truth about PRIVACY differences or similarities
> between the Android & iOS mobile phone ecosystems?
>
>
>> They're not perfect though; no organization is. If divine protection from
>> human flaws is not granted to religious organizations, I very much doubt it
>> would be granted to other organizations. (such protection would violate
>> free will, anyway)
>
> Apple has been caught _secretly_ throttling CPUs to half speed.
> o And then they _blamed_ the batteries, which is a brazen lie by Apple
> (given batteries are in all smartphones and nobody else has to secretly,
> drastically, and permanently throttle their CPUs due to their poor design)
>
> Apple has been caught _secretly_ listening to your conversations, whether
> or not you activated Siri (a simple zipper would activate Siri, according
> to the reliable reports which Apple did not refute).
>
> Apple has been caught shipping huge security holes that they _knew_ about,
> which you can drive a bus through them so many times, that you can't ever
> trust an iOS release (e.g., broadcom bugs in iOS 10, facepalm bugs in iOS
> 11, the entire sordid release of iOS 13 where they knew in June and July
> for sure of huge security holes they simply shipped "on schedule" anyway).
>
> Apple removes functionality that is on 99.9% of current Android phones
> (i.e., the headphone jack), and Apple _never_ had the functionality on most
> Android phones (e.g., the sd card slot).
>
> The list goes on and on and on and on and on that Apple is a sordid outfit.
A lot of your rant is IMO malicious interpretation. Show me that they
were throttliing CPUs on iPhones with perfectly healthy batteries - I
doubt you can. (Nobody supports old hardware forever; they manage 4-5
years usually, which is tolerable. But that doesn't make special
handling of older hardware a conspiracy to get rid of it.) Given a
choice between full speed and greater risk of crashing that might
exist with a worn battery, I think not crashing is a better choice.
All that throwing a hissy got was disclosure and a switch so you can
choose yourself - the latter always good, but hardly obligatory, IMO.
Everyone (Apple, Google, Amazon) with voice activated AIs listens some
to improve both speech-to-text and understanding of questions. And
they all have some false activations. With Google and Alexa, if you're
paranoid, you have to clean out saved samples and queries
periodically. Heck, Tesla collects a bunch of data to refine their
auto-drive; and EZ-Pass or similar regional toll transponders could be
trivially used to track vehicles (although I've never heard of someone
getting a ticket for times between toll road entry and exit closer
than possible given the speed limit in between). Then again, you can
buy a magnetic GPS+cellular tracker and slap it on anyone's car; as
long as it's removed before next maintenance, probably nobody would
notice. And face and iris ID cameras and red-light cameras are
everywhere. Corporate will abuse and mishandle, but it takes
government to really shove a barbed object where the sun doesn't
shine; worse when they collude and there's $$ to be made (red light
cameras).
If you are crazy about privacy, you have to live in an off-grid shack
like the Unabomber did; otherwise, be careful but don't expect wonders
from anyone. Apple will CYA and sometimes release on marketing
schedule rather than on ready like anyone else; but the basic premise
remains: your data is not what they sell (unlike Google) nor used for
marketing what they do sell both directly and for 3rd parties (unlike
Amazon).
(The only 100% secure computer is in a block of concrete, but it's
also quite unusable...which is how it's 100% secure. Ok, _maybe_
something with full ECC, runniing seL4, and TEMPEST shielded and
without physical access...but formal proof of correctness or not,
there's still always "covert channels" including timing attacks like
Spectre and Meltdown, which OS changes mitigated but didn't totally
eliiminate, and which some believe are representative of an entire
class of problems unlikely to be ever entirely eliminated. Worst
though is wetware, the meathead behind the keyboard, whether malicious
or just careless.)
Everybody sucks, but Apple mostly sucks less than the other choices
(unless you're po' folk that judges strictly by price tag/price envy,
I suppose). And you don't need the dang headphone jack. I just leave
[continued in next message]
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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