Apple REVEALS how it gives users' data to govt, says 'we're better than Facebook, though'

[Poll_Blind]

Apple REVEALS how it gives users' data to govt, says 'we're better than Facebook, though'

Apple has joined Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo!'s transparency club, releasing a detailed report on the numbers and types of requests for personal records it has received from law enforcement and government agencies around the world.

--snip--

"In very rare cases," the report says about account requests, "we are asked to provide stored photos or email. We consider these requests very carefully and only provide account content in extremely limited circumstances."

In the report, Apple manages the somewhat contortionistic feat of simultaneously patting itself on the back while sticking its thumbs in the eyes of such companies as Google, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. After saying that the privacy of their customers is "a consideration from the earliest stages of design for all our products and services" and that they "work hard to deliver the most secure hardware and software in the world," the thumbs comes out:

Perhaps most important, our business does not depend on collecting personal data. We have no interest in amassing personal information about our customers. We protect personal conversations by providing end-to-end encryption over iMessage and FaceTime. We do not store location data, Maps searches, or Siri requests in any identifiable form. ... Unlike many other companies dealing with requests for customer data from government agencies, Apple's main business is not about collecting information.

As critical as I am of Apple, and they have reason to be criticized on other fronts, I think the jab directed at Google ("our business does not depend on collecting personal data&quot is not only a fair one, but one worth considering. No large service on the Internet is 'free' by any means, and when you use a service like Facebook, Google, et al...you, your data, are monetized.

PB

[Scuba]

1. Lowest. Bar. Evah.

[tridim]

2. "We do not store personal data.... in any identifiable form"

Weasel words from a weasel corporation.

They just admitted they store personal data, just not in plain text.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. What about the finger print data to go with those photos? n/t