I'm hoping we can get another detailed discussion going around Apple's software and discuss in particular whether they have moved forward or backwards consumer ~privacy in recent years.
Here are some Stacker thoughts on SN regarding Apple's prior decisions:
- Why I Hate Apple by @siggy47
- Do you trust Apple's differential privacy?by @0397f4ba43
- Is Big Tech Prioritizing User Privacy? by @kr
- The DEA Quietly Turning Apple’s AirTag Into A Surveillance Tool by @brxyz
- Apple Has Begun Scanning Your Local Image Files Without Consent by @cointastical
- Apple iOS Devices Don't Route All Network Traffic Through VPNs by @unofficial
- The Apple Backdoor Explained by @Thawne
- Apple will popularize chip implants. Here is how. by @insanelyFree
- Apple trashing Damus by @Oialt
- Before purchasing that new macbook pro, consider this possible alternative by @guyfawkes
- Competing with Apple and Google - A Weekend Discussion by @sn
- Apple does not allow you to install bitcoin core by @drfred
- Apple removes original Bitcoin whitepaper from the latest macOS Ventura beta by @k00b
- Apple releases emergency update to fix zero-day exploit in Webkit by @k00b
- UNIX co-creator Ken Thompson is dumping apple for linux by @0359c62f34
- Apple quietly released a framework for machine learning on Apple silicon by @zuspotirko
- Apple ‘passkeys’ look to kill off the password for good – TechCrunch by @CypherPoet
- Mac Mini (Late 2012) BTC Node - Chapter 1 by @0xjogir
- Apple overtakes Android to account for 50% of smartphones used in US by @cryptocoin
- Apple Built Its Empire With China. Now Its Foundation Is Showing Cracks. by @satup
- Apple is Canceling Electric Car Project ironically posted by @Car
- Having alternatives in Tech by @KLT
- Apple is killing webapps and PWAs in their powerplay against the EU by @sebastix
- Apple Confirms iOS 17.4 Disables Home Screen Web Apps in the European Union by @DEADBEEF
Love It Or Hate it
I've recently come to the conclusion, Apple is like marmite (or vegemite). For those not aware of these products in the UK & Australia, there is a huge split in terms of whether a 'spreadable yeast' tastes good or bad on toasted bread. Yes, it's actually a thing!
I suspect the same divisiveness exists here on SN regarding Apple. Their laptops are well loved by the developer community, but you either love the brand or you hate it. And I must admit also my tastes are changing somewhat.
In the years ahead, Apple might choose to run some similar advertising campaign to the video commercial from the Marmite (Unilever) team in 2013. Especially if they out-grow their 'greenwashing' mother-nature messaging, to appeal to their hardcore fans.
Love or hate Apple - let's hear why in the comments below.
Love It ✅
1. Great Hardware
First off, I am still an Apple user and I think it's absolutely clear that they make some of the best hardware in the world. Yes, everything is locked-down and not at all open, but they have been a huge success story of the past 20 years, the likes of which we cannot ignore. Particularly on Mac.
For instance in 2024 battery performance on Macbooks is still completely unrivalled. Neither has any manufacturer seemingly been able to match the snappiness of their trackpad in recent years. Those are 2 very specific characteristics, but they are both items users depend on from almost every use.
The competition's computers may pack a similar punch in terms of compute or memory performance, and there will of course be better windows devices for gaming, but Apple does otherwise offer the complete laptop package for 'creatives'. Their laptops are well-loved by the dev & creative community as a whole, given the performance and 'swooshiness' of various apps on their devices. We cannot ignore that alternative manufacturers need to up their game here, but given rumours surrounding Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon chips, we might soon have some more capable alternatives even if the jury is still out on thermal performance.
Macbook for now remains the most capable laptop. The iPhone today is extremely comparable to other competing devices. Inferior in many aspects. For mobile hardware, there's very little reason why we shouldn't all pivot to Android to run GrapheneOS or Calyx. Another post will be dropping on that soon, something we can together here in the coming weeks together (if you're interested)! For Macbook addicts, we can still partition Linux on MacOS, more on that in a future post too...
2. Lockdown Mode
No other big technology company has provided such a significant set of security tools for use cases like journalism or politics. Apple launched a suite of options in 2022, attempting to protect devices against "extremely rare and highly sophisticated cyber attacks". Lockdown Mode is available to anyone wishing to toggle it on, on the latest OS software - be it Mac, iPhone, iPad or Watch. Doing so will block all calls, messaging attachments, photo metadata and drastically limit the code that can be run in browsers.
Apple do seem to be trying to give customers more choices and are moving forward the industry by implementing these ideas of privacy-preserving technology. Even if it prevents people from finding open-source alternatives, we will likely see far more privacy tools to come in the future because of initiatives like 'Lockdown Mode'. Developers and business pay attention to what Apple is building and so it may not be long before we see something similar on Linux or Android operating systems in the near future. We will also likely see it's capabilities improve, with each OS update to come.
I posted about some positive privacy attitudes here on SN 2 months ago. People are without doubt becoming more privacy conscious. Apple is clearly responding to consumer's growing demand for such solutions, unlike any other company under the 'big tech' umbrella right now. They are advertising about privacy and normalising it as a value-add. So some kudos is deserved here.
3. Advertising Privacy
Apple is the biggest brand currently shouting-about and recognising privacy as a differentiating feature. They are helping convey to the world that it's something for the masses to be conscious & careful about. They are changing consumer behaviour.
Previously Apple data in iCloud had been "encrypted" but with the encryption keys in Apple's data centre or Apple's hands. The logic being, Apple could decrypt your data in the event of data loss. At least that is how they justified it.
More recently however, iCloud is gaining traction for encrypted cloud data too or 'Advanced Data Protection' as the marketing gurus call it. On the section for end-to-end encryption on the 'Advanced Data Protection page':
Starting with iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2 and macOS 13.1, you can choose to enable Advanced Data Protection to protect the vast majority of your iCloud data, even in the case of a data breach in the cloud. With Advanced Data Protection, the number of data categories that use end-to-end encryption rises to 25 and includes your iCloud Backup, Photos, Notes, and more.
End-to-end encrypted data can be decrypted only on your trusted devices where you’re signed in with your Apple ID. No one else can access your end-to-end encrypted data — not even Apple — and this data remains secure even in the case of a data breach in the cloud.
Whilst this is a welcome change, it does NOT necessarily mean by using an Apple device and storing your data there that you are 'safe' from prying eyes. Firstly, you need to pay Apple more money on an ongoing basis, to prevent access. And secondly, exploits have been used for years to get data off iPhone and directly off macOS devices. Despite Apple stating here that:
Apple has never created a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services. We have also never allowed any government direct access to Apple servers. And we never will.
Hate It ❌
1. Excessively Expensive
Apple may make good products but my goodness they are expensive. The cost of a standard iPhone 15 are estimated at $423, the iPhone 15 Plus at $442 and the iPhone 15 Pro at $523. That's a markup of 89%, 126% & 129% respectively vs current RRP for what is now a commodity item. Their fast Macbook charger, god forbid should you ever need to buy a replacement costs $149. $49 for the cable alone. It's incredible how this practice has been normalised for the industry.
Arguably we've been subsidising Apple for some time, by them not having a hugely significant offering in the advert industry. Instead, selling us USB-C to Lightning cables for $29 with a shelf-life of 2 years. Apple has not needed to monetise their users via advertising to extreme ends like Google and Facebook have, since they are SO profitable from both their hardware products and App Store. With that in mind, we may struggle to find a better example than Apple, that embodies the spirit of the word
fiat, perhaps with the exception of Balenciaga.2. Walled Garden
When you think of anti-trust these days, one of the first brands that comes to mind is also Apple. Particularly, as of today US and EU authorities are on the verge of delivering the verdict of a new investigation into Apple, regarding the iPhone, its App Store & payments system being uncompetitive. It will likely see the company hit with a new record fine, given that Uncle Sam and his friend are short of a few pennies these days. We may also see new requirements to open-up and allow apps to be side-loaded, which may in actual fact be a bonus for us bitcoiners. Apple recently confirmed their decision to retain PWA support, which as @k00b suspects could actually be a negotiating ploy for these anti-trust cases:
It's possible they never planned to remove it to begin with. Making a ridiculous offer you intend to back out of can make counterparties feel like you're compromising more than you are.
In other prior moves, let us not forget either, that Apple in the interests of privacy removed the ability for mobile apps to access the IMEI numbers on devices.
They did so in the name of privacy, whilst pushing and providing greater targeting than their competitions via their own advertising product. Allowing advertisers to target based on age, gender, location & interests (app categories). They prevented cookies from firing for third parties in browser, whilst still collecting device usage information for themselves. They increasingly make it more difficult for people to install a simple app onto MacOS, be it open-source or from a trusted source, whilst being judge and jury for app approvals all whilst collecting their 30% tax their inside the App Store. They rolled-out AirTags in a supposedly private manner, only for them to become a terrible innovation and tool of choice for victims of stalkers and surveillance.
We talked about the benefits of 'Lockdown Mode' earlier but the cynic in me does believe this is the hook that maintains people dependent upon Apple, to require the 'latest and safest' software and hardware upgrades. With more barriers to untangle themselves from the web of 'protectionist' features.
3. Government Access x3
A. Government Influence
There are known links between Western Governments and companies like Microsoft, Palantir and Google for example. Apple to a lesser extent, but at times it has felt like Apple is actively introducing features that Governments wants them to. Take for example automatic software updates, on-device image & file scanning for 'child protection' and 'contact tracing' to name a few.
B. Government Backdoors
We also know that recently a vulnerability had existed on Apple devices for quite some time and if you are interested in the more technical aspects of that, this article is worth a read. It was also discussed in detail on the Security Now podcast:
The vulnerability was there with subtle changes through 5 generations of chips. That doesn’t feel like a mistake; and there are far more straightforward means for debugging. No one hash-signs a packet to be written by DMA into memory while debugging. That makes no sense.Also, the fact that its use is guarded by a secret hash reveals and proves that it was intended to be enabled and present in the wild. The hash forms a secret key that explicitly allows this to exist safely and without fear of malicious exploitation without the explicit knowledge of the hash function. This is a crucial point that I want to be certain everyone appreciates. This was clearly meant to be active in the wild with its abuse being quite well protected by a well-kept secret.
Somewhere, people within Apple knew of this back-door. They knew that this backdoor was present and they knew how to access it. And somehow that secret escaped from Apple’s control.
C. Government Requests
More recently, Apple has been making a pivot to storing more data on device, as people's perception is that it is much more secure there. As we will see, this a natural reaction to guard itself against the spotlight and growing consumer dissatisfaction with increasing requests from Governments, as well as more code vulnerabilities. With Apple complying in roughly 9 out of 10 cases. The United States 🇺🇸 have been increasingly requesting
account information stored in Apple iCloud:There is a clear increasing upwards trend there for 🇺🇸, but what is interesting is that when looking at the 2nd chart below; China 🇨🇳 is requesting far more
on-device information, rather than account information these days. This is a big distinction vs 2017, when both spiked. This is very speculative here, and no one else I am aware has flagged this, but this may lend itself to the view that China has better tools/leverage to get information off of Apple devices without user knowledge:Note: Both of these charts have been created using data from Apple's Transparency Report. It does not consider any other access that these Governments have privilege to or visibility of. The charts log the 'worst' 9 offending countries by units requested. Both charts exclude Poland, given that their requests for devices skewed the chart significantly around a similar time of the 'wiretapping scandal' in 2014:
Poland 🇵🇱 requested a staggering 500,000 device IDs in the second half of 2014.4. Apple's Excessive Data Collection
In the aggregate, look at the types of information that Apple still "needs to" collect about you on their privacy policy. There is perhaps an argument to say that they need to have most of this, to provide the products and services they do today. However it is still a conscious decision, and the facts remain that it is something they have yet to rein-in or reduce to date.
Personal Data Apple Collects from You:
- Account Information. Your Apple ID and related account details, including email address, devices registered, account status, and age
- Device Information. Data from which your device could be identified, such as device serial number, or about your device, such as browser type
- Contact Information. Data such as name, email address, physical address, phone number, or other contact information
- Payment Information. Data about your billing address and method of payment, such as bank details, credit, debit, or other payment card information
- Transaction Information. Data about purchases of Apple products and services or transactions facilitated by Apple, including purchases on Apple platforms
- Fraud Prevention Information. Data used to help identify and prevent fraud, including a device trust score
- Usage Data. Data about your activity on and use of our offerings, such as app launches within our services, including browsing history; search history; product interaction; crash data, performance and other diagnostic data; and other usage data
- Location Information. Precise location only to support services such as Find My or where you agree for region-specific services, and coarse location
- Health Information. Data relating to the health status of an individual, including data related to one’s physical or mental health or condition. Personal health data also includes data that can be used to make inferences about or detect the health status of an individual. If you participate in a study using an Apple Health Research Study app, the policy governing the privacy of your personal data is described in the Apple Health Study Apps Privacy Policy.
- Fitness Information. Details relating to your fitness and exercise information where you choose to share them
- Financial Information. Details including salary, income, and assets information where collected, and information related to Apple-branded financial offerings
- Government ID Data. In certain jurisdictions, we may ask for a government-issued ID in limited circumstances, including when setting up a wireless account and activating your device, for the purpose of extending commercial credit, managing reservations, or as required by law
- Other Information You Provide to Us. Details such as the content of your communications with Apple, including interactions with customer support and contacts through social media channels
Personal Data Apple Receives from Other Sources
- Individuals. Apple may collect data about you from other individuals — for example, if that individual has sent you a product or gift card, invited you to participate in an Apple service or forum, or shared content with you.
- At Your Direction. You may direct other individuals or third parties to share data with Apple. For example, you may direct your mobile carrier to share data about your carrier account with Apple for account activation, or for your loyalty program to share information about your participation so that you can earn rewards for Apple purchases.
- Apple Partners. We may also validate the information you provide — for example, when creating an Apple ID, with a third party for security, and for "fraud-prevention purposes".
So, what am I doing? 🤔
- Switch to GrapheneOS as daily driver. Stripped-back iPhone for legacy fiat/banking guff.
- Partitioning Macbook to run Fedora Asahi - gradually move across work before going all-in.
- Wiped MacOS from Mac Mini to run as a secondary node.
- Migrating & redirecting all email accounts from Apple (look-out for upcoming ~privacy challenges on this).
- Consider a non-Apple desktop as daily driver by 2025, for more mindful use and better posture, in a new citadel setup.
Upcoming Privacy Challenges 🍺
Sunday 10th March - MacOS > Fedora Asahi Linux install on partition
Sunday 24th March - iPhone > GrapheneOS SetupI had previously planned for these challenges in January but if you're interested in the GrapheneOS switch - find a way to purchase a second-hand Pixel device in cash these next 2 weeks.
Cowboy tip 🤠 Subscribe to these posts (by clicking the ... dots on the profile page) if you'd like to be notified when these drop and we'll then do the challenges together!
Love or hate Apple? Discuss... 🗯️
Let's talk about their products like phones, laptops, watches, software, cloud storage & more.
Golden Delicious or a Rotten Empire, what do the plebs think about Apple ~privacy?