by Dave Moore, 5-3-20
Want to know what Apple knows about you, and is willing to admit to? Visit privacy.apple.com. Sign in. Enter any codes they may send you. Go to “obtain a copy of your data.” Choose to download your data, and then, sit back and wait.
“At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. And so much of your personal information – information you have a right to keep private – lives on your Apple devices. Your heart rate after a run. Which news stories you read first. Where you bought your last coffee. What websites you visit. Who you call, email, or message.”
That’s how the Apple Privacy page read in 2018. Compare that to how the page reads today:
“Privacy is a fundamental human right. At Apple, it’s also one of our core values. Your devices are important to so many parts of your life. What you share from those experiences, and who you share it with, should be up to you. We design Apple products to protect your privacy and give you control over your information. It’s not always easy. But that’s the kind of innovation we believe in.”
Privacy may still be a fundamental human right, but Apple no longer clings to privacy as a “belief;” that “fundamental human right” has been reduced to living in Apple’s barnyard of “core values,” members of which are regularly sent to the slaughterhouse and exchanged for more cooperative critters.
Your personal information is no longer front and center; instead, “your devices” are now the important consideration. The “right to keep private” has changed to “what you share… should be up to you,” because, no matter what, privacy be damned, you will share. Oh, yes, you will share.
“It’s not easy,” laments poor biggest-tech-company-in-the-world Apple. But, worry not. Apple has transformed what used to be a “right,” the stuff that revolutions are fought over, into an “innovation.”
When it comes to global mega-corporations like Apple, carefully crafted statements like these have been written and vetted by armies of lawyers, and must be carefully read and considered to be understood; they usually mean exactly and precisely what they say. In this case, Apple is saying they don’t collect personal information about you in order to sell it to third parties. Instead, they take a different route with your personal information. They don’t sell your data.
They give it away.
Now, Apple is never going to tell you they give away your private data, but that is, in fact, what they do. How, you may ask, does Apple give away your personal information? They give it away by allowing third-party app developers to take it, free of charge. Not only does Apple hoover up your data for their own purposes, they have also created an environment that allows other companies to harvest your information and do who-knows-what with it. Dorothy, stop; pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Check out this section from the apple.com/privacy page, where they brag about how much Apple has your back: “Apps are restricted to asking only for your name and email address, and Apple won’t track your app activity or build a profile of you.”
Sorry, Apple, no deal. Play it down, if you will, but names and email addresses are exactly the starter information identity thieves are looking for to begin a full-on identity theft assault. And, saying “Apple won’t track your app activity or build a profile of you” is not the same as saying none of your app developers won’t do those things. Apple app developers absolutely track user activity and build user profiles because you allow them to, for free.
Do I sound a little skeptical, here? If I do, it’s because I have seen too much, been through too much, witnessed first-hand too much Internet craziness to believe the warm and fuzzy, touchy feely double-speak written by attorneys working for the world’s biggest Internet company.
Don’t trust Apple to have your back; why would you? Do you have inside knowledge because you are pals with Apple CEO Tim Cook? Did you know Steve Jobs? Have you ever known anyone who even worked for Apple? Trust Apple to have your back? Apple makes great phones. I would not trust them to be great friends.
Dave Moore has been fixing computers in Oklahoma since 1984. Founder of the non-profit Internet Safety Group Ltd., he also teaches Internet safety community training workshops. He can be reached at 405-919-9901 or www.internetsafetygroup.com