

What the hell happened to Apple guys? - DanielBMarkham
http://www.whattofix.com/blog/archives/2011/04/what-the-hell-h.php

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scrame
> Remember how Apple guys used to be? Hip, smart, creative -- perhaps a subtle
> hint of smugness and self satisfaction -- but fiercely free thinkers?

Uh, no? Thats the marketing image that apple always portrayed as a 'lifestyle'
brand. Some amount of their customers certainly liked to think of themselves
that way, but simply owning a premium piece of hardware does not make you any
of those things.

Nowadays apple is a wildly successful consumer products manufacturer, owning
the same phone as all of your friends does not make you a 'fiercely free
thinker', any more than having a blueberry iMac in 1996 did.

 _edit_ added a bit more, but removed it.

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merloen
Well, I think this reaction to the Apple location issue show a lack of
perspective. Apple stores the location of nearby cell towers and access points
on your phone.

Cell phone providers store your actual location for a period of many months.

 _This_ is bad, terrible, uber-creepy:
[http://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2011-03/data-
protecti...](http://www.zeit.de/digital/datenschutz/2011-03/data-protection-
malte-spitz)

What Apple is doing now is not even in the same ballpark.

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GiraffeNecktie
How is it not in the same ballpark? It's the same data being quietly collected
without consent from the same people for various vaguely articulated purposes
and being kept for extended periods of time. How is this different? It's the
same game, only the team colours have changed. In fact, it's plausible that
the cell phone companies have a more legitimate interest in tracking location
since understanding where devices are used is fundamental to their business of
providing cell phone service. Furthermore, there are other implications to
having location data cached on the phone since the border guards in a number
of countries including the US are authorized to snoop on any devices they
find. The phone company data would (at least theoretically) require some kind
of court order.

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junklight
So seriously? you think that the risk I might go through a border crossing and
have data that I know is there taken without warrant is the same as cell phone
companies holding the same data (it's just the other end of the connection)
and being able to sell it, provide access to it, whatever without any
oversight on my part at all?

I can wipe my phone data, I know if someone has gotten a warrant to see it.

and lets face it if you use a phone and a credit card your broad movements
(which is all you can tell from this data) can be worked out anyway. If you
don't want someone to know your location then this is small potatoes in the
ways you are going to need to change your behaviour

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superchink
Wait… Apple was collecting the location data? I thought it was just being
synced to your computer. Anyone know either way? A reference would help, as
well.

~~~
jasonlotito
It talks about it in the FAQ they put out. Crowd sourced database and all.
They are even talking about building a product based on the data with regards
to traffic and directions.

<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/04/27location_qa.html>

