[liberationtech] iPhones/iPads secretly track 'scary amount' of your movements

[Erik Sundelof]

All,

(Sorry about the long form, but my two replies went missing and thanks 
to Yosem things should be working again)

I am actually stunned that developers, technology architects and others 
are surprised this is the case. In particular as Apple is a closed 
system and also very commercial. If you have advanced recommendation 
engines etc etc you will be profiling your users extensively and even if 
you do not offer products needing all information you will generally 
collect as much as possible.

Maybe it is time for everyone to start with that in mind when you use a 
third-party solution. There is no such thing as a free solution. 
Creating solutions with this in mind, as Nathan implied, instead of 
being surprised is probably more fruitful in general.
*
Nathan:*

I am a big fan of Android of many other reasons, but I do think your 
arguments are not completely fair. Based on my experience of advertising 
in a previous life I would probably say that Google is no better than 
Apple here. They are a for-profit advertising agent more than anyone. 
Sure they probably have made unsubscribe options clearer  (respect for 
that) but Apple did in fact say explicitable that they might be logging 
this data. Putting this open for anyone to and is beyond me though as 
you also pointed out.

As far as Android they have a much heavier approach for cloud storage 
why I wouldn't be surprised if they track movements more directly.

This has a very simple solution. The second you use a third party 
solution you will have to be a bit paranoid about what they track even 
if it is not clear if they do.

I want to again remind everyone that most commercial websites and apps 
WILL track users and create profiles of them. In particular if they are 
advertising based or have that as a possible model. Every app or website 
I know will track you and most terms of use clearly state that it will 
track your actions.

Best,

Erik

http://sundelof.com <Http://sundelof.com>
@eriksundelof
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