That's not even close to true. Apps that you have downloaded can reveal a massive amount of potentially personal information.
Think about someone having a dating app that would out them. Or a therapy app that they don't want people to know about. And that just scratches the surface.
I'm not an Apple user so forgive my ignorance here.
1. Do you need an apple account to use the app store?
2. Do you need to provide personal information to use an apple account (I'm thinking at least enough to get a credit card working for app purchases/subscriptions)?
3. Is the data sent to this anti-malware service linked to your Apple account or an apple hardware id? (Has someone wiresharked the data to confirm/deny)
That's unrelated to my comment. I was simply responding to the astoundingly wrong claim that "My personal data involves what I do within those apps, not which ones they are."
Part of it is that, when we're talking about a traditional computer (contrasted with a phone), all of that stuff happens in the web browser these days. The average user's native binaries are mostly limited to said web browser, some work communication apps, maybe a notes app, maybe some dev tools or office tools or media tools depending on the person. Nothing remotely interesting to advertising companies. Maybe that will change with the new iOS app support, but I kind of doubt it.
And anyway, when we are talking about a phone, it would be literally impossible to run an app store without recording (and personally identifying!) that information. Maybe that's one more argument to allow third-party app stores, which I'm not against (though who knows if they're more trustworthy with that data?), but nevertheless.
My point is that in the grand scheme of privacy concerns, this is a very silly hill to die on. In the grand scheme of system reliability, on the other hand, it's totally legitimate to be upset that this effectively took down thousands of expensive workstations across the world for a few minutes.
So you're okay with it because at the moment you personally (or at least some vague idea of the "average user") don't have any "interesting" apps on your traditional computer? You should step back and understand why this is the wrong way to look at it.
Take a look at the macOS App Store medical section. Doing a quick scan of the top apps there is one app to help with some diabetes pump, one for a personal ECG machine, one that says it's a "mobile lactation consultant". Those can reveal a lot about a person that they might want to keep private. Searching "therapy" or "dating" also shows many results that people might want to keep private.
> My native binaries are mostly limited to said web browser, some work communication apps, dev tools, maybe a notes app. Nothing remotely interesting to advertising companies.
I don't think that's necessarily true. Meta data about your usage can be very revealing in itself. To use an analogy, if someone tracked every location you visited that'd be very invasive, regardless of whether they recorded any details about what you did at those locations.
Its what apps you’ve got, exactly when and how often you use them, and where you are at those times via network info. Casual gay pickup app, last night in a coffee shop in the red light district, while your wife thought you were at the office working late for example.
That's not even close to true. Apps that you have downloaded can reveal a massive amount of potentially personal information.
Think about someone having a dating app that would out them. Or a therapy app that they don't want people to know about. And that just scratches the surface.
Only if linked to personally identifiable information. Do we have any evidence this is happening?
You are moving the goal posts.
It is also trivially linked to ip address, which is usually personally identifying.
3 replies →
I'm not an Apple user so forgive my ignorance here.
1. Do you need an apple account to use the app store?
2. Do you need to provide personal information to use an apple account (I'm thinking at least enough to get a credit card working for app purchases/subscriptions)?
3. Is the data sent to this anti-malware service linked to your Apple account or an apple hardware id? (Has someone wiresharked the data to confirm/deny)
2 replies →
That's unrelated to my comment. I was simply responding to the astoundingly wrong claim that "My personal data involves what I do within those apps, not which ones they are."
Part of it is that, when we're talking about a traditional computer (contrasted with a phone), all of that stuff happens in the web browser these days. The average user's native binaries are mostly limited to said web browser, some work communication apps, maybe a notes app, maybe some dev tools or office tools or media tools depending on the person. Nothing remotely interesting to advertising companies. Maybe that will change with the new iOS app support, but I kind of doubt it.
And anyway, when we are talking about a phone, it would be literally impossible to run an app store without recording (and personally identifying!) that information. Maybe that's one more argument to allow third-party app stores, which I'm not against (though who knows if they're more trustworthy with that data?), but nevertheless.
My point is that in the grand scheme of privacy concerns, this is a very silly hill to die on. In the grand scheme of system reliability, on the other hand, it's totally legitimate to be upset that this effectively took down thousands of expensive workstations across the world for a few minutes.
So you're okay with it because at the moment you personally (or at least some vague idea of the "average user") don't have any "interesting" apps on your traditional computer? You should step back and understand why this is the wrong way to look at it.
Take a look at the macOS App Store medical section. Doing a quick scan of the top apps there is one app to help with some diabetes pump, one for a personal ECG machine, one that says it's a "mobile lactation consultant". Those can reveal a lot about a person that they might want to keep private. Searching "therapy" or "dating" also shows many results that people might want to keep private.
> My native binaries are mostly limited to said web browser, some work communication apps, dev tools, maybe a notes app. Nothing remotely interesting to advertising companies.
Translation: "I've got nothing to hide".
1 reply →
I don't think that's necessarily true. Meta data about your usage can be very revealing in itself. To use an analogy, if someone tracked every location you visited that'd be very invasive, regardless of whether they recorded any details about what you did at those locations.
I think this is more analogous to someone tracking what models of car you drive.
And where you drive it since they track IP numbers.
Its what apps you’ve got, exactly when and how often you use them, and where you are at those times via network info. Casual gay pickup app, last night in a coffee shop in the red light district, while your wife thought you were at the office working late for example.