quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
quote:
Originally posted by LBTRS:
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
We complain when the government spies on us, but it's perfectly ok if Google does it.
Then don't use Google or Gmail. You chose to use a companies products (more than likely for free) and then complain because you don't like their business practices or how their products operate?
We don't have a choice in Government (outside of elections) but we do have a choice in who we use for email and search functions.
Typical canned, predictable response.
You can go ahead and
till they fall out, but, that doesn't change the fact LBTRS is right: If you're using a free service, and particularly when, as is well-known with Google, that free service's primary revenue stream is advertising: You're not the customer, but, the product.
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Yeah sure, as if people nowadays can choose not to be spied on by Amazon, Google, Apple, etc. Nonsense.
You can and some do. Note my earlier example of the Samsung Blue-ray player that went right back to the store--replaced with a Sony Blue-ray player, the TOS of which did
not contain language indicating its use was tacit approval for them to spy on me.
As for my iOS devices and the iCloud? I just re-read Apple's TOS. Not a
single mention of them sharing my personal information for use by
anybody. Here's Apple's statement wrt Apple product users' privacy:
quote:
Apple’s commitment to your privacy
At Apple, your trust means everything to us. That’s why we respect your privacy and protect it with strong encryption, plus strict policies that govern how all data is handled.
Security and privacy are fundamental to the design of all our hardware, software, and services, including iCloud and new services like Apple Pay. And we continue to make improvements. Two-step verification, which we encourage all our customers to use, in addition to protecting your Apple ID account information, now also protects all of the data you store and keep up to date with iCloud.
We believe in telling you up front exactly what’s going to happen to your personal information and asking for your permission before you share it with us. And if you change your mind later, we make it easy to stop sharing with us. Every Apple product is designed around those principles. When we do ask to use your data, it’s to provide you with a better user experience.
We’re publishing this website to explain how we handle your personal information, what we do and don’t collect, and why. We’re going to make sure you get updates here about privacy at Apple at least once a year and whenever there are significant changes to our policies.
A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.
Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.
One very small part of our business does serve advertisers, and that’s iAd. We built an advertising network because some app developers depend on that business model, and we want to support them as well as a free iTunes Radio service. iAd sticks to the same privacy policy that applies to every other Apple product. It doesn’t get data from Health and HomeKit, Maps, Siri, iMessage, your call history, or any iCloud service like Contacts or Mail, and you can always just opt out altogether.
Finally, I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.
Our commitment to protecting your privacy comes from a deep respect for our customers. We know that your trust doesn’t come easy. That’s why we have and always will work as hard as we can to earn and keep it.
Tim Cook
CEO, Apple Inc.
Source:
Apple’s commitment to your privacyShort, sweet, to the point and without a lot of obfuscating legalese to try to hide from their customers the ugly things they're
really doing.
(Ya know: I've never really been much a fan of Apple or Apple products, but, I think I'm becoming one.)
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Unless you live in a cabin on a mountain like Ted Kaczynski, these companies are collecting your data whether you like it or not.
This whole "there's no privacy on the Internet" meme is getting old. First of all it's not
strictly true. There are degrees. Can somebody with sufficient motivation and means eventually find out anything they want about you? Sure. That has
always been the case. But, this "no privacy" thing is being used as an excuse for people to be cheap and lazy. "Oh well, they can find out whatever they want, anyway, so I might as well not even try."
In a word: Bollocks. That's like saying there's no point in putting locks on the doors because determined thieves can break in anyway. Or turning off the ignition and locking your car because determined car thieves can steal it, anyway. Or shredding your bank statements and other sensitive papers before discarding them because... ad infinitum.
Btw, "Balzé Halzé": If there's no point in even
attempting to guard your privacy on the 'net: Why are you using a pseudonym here?
"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system,,,, but too early to shoot the bastards." -- Claire Wolfe
"If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living." -- Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher 
