Author Topic: Apple and users' privacy (Read 77,515 times)

xtabber · « **on:** September 07, 2011, 10:15 PM »

I gave up on Macs and OS X back around Panther, so I have no way to verify this, but if true, it is one of the most amazing deliberate privacy/security breaches I've ever seen. What could they be thinking!

zridling · « **Reply #1 on:** September 08, 2011, 01:23 AM »

Governments and the corporations that fund them are doing everything they can to erase anonymity on the net. Not merely for the purpose of computer forensics and prosecution, but to sell you more stuff.

Renegade · « **Reply #2 on:** September 08, 2011, 01:59 AM »

Quote from: zridling on September 08, 2011, 01:23 AM

Governments and the corporations that fund them are doing everything they can to erase anonymity on the net. Not merely for the purpose of computer forensics and prosecution, but to sell you more stuff.

Both of those are VERY SCARY propositions.

For the first, you're basically 1 step away from prison as with the number of laws now, everyone is a "criminal", or can be turned into one with a few twisted words.

The second is just as sinister; how can regular people possibly hope to compete with extremely well funded think-tanks and propaganda machines that work day-in and day-out to shape people's thoughts? I don't people can. There's simply no way to resist when large companies/governments/organizations are doing research into exactly what makes people tick, and then turning it against them for their own benefit. These people market specifically to children with tactics like "the nag factor".

"Oh, people are free to choose..." BS. That's a black lie. People are NOT free to choose. That's an illusion.

Let me give a nice little and VERY controversial example...

Do you believe in global warming?

If you do, the chances are you've been bamboozled. Why? Because it's unlikely that you're an expert on the subject and unlikely that you have enough information to make an informed choice on whether to believe or not. Rather, you've been tricked into believing it through various means. Does this mean that you or me are idiots? No. It just means that we're human and are wired in certain ways that people are exploiting for their own means.

NOTE: I did NOT say anything about the truth or falsity of global warming. So please don't put any words in my mouth. What I AM saying is that the tactics used to convince you and me are not valid arguments in the logical sense. I am speaking purely about the tactics used, and not the subject matter -- the controversial nature of the content merely serves to illustrate the point better.

The same tactics are used in numerous different areas. Propaganda is a very well refined science, and it's only becoming more and more sophisticated.

Eóin · « **Reply #3 on:** September 08, 2011, 06:37 AM »

Jaysus guys, calm down with the conspiracy theories

Renegade · « **Reply #4 on:** September 08, 2011, 06:45 AM »

Quote from: Eóin on September 08, 2011, 06:37 AM

Jaysus guys, calm down with the conspiracy theories

I'm not going on about any conspiracy. It's simple logic. (Like I said, don't infer anything about my belief or disbelief in global warming -- I'm not touching that one way or another as it's off-topic and heated.)

Security is inherently a messy issue as a large part of the problem is to stop slippery slopes, which admittedly, do tend to look like conspiracy theories.

So, good security prevents access to those paths that could, potentially, just maybe, lead to very dark places. Better safe than sorry?

skwire · « **Reply #5 on:** September 08, 2011, 01:08 PM »

IMO, there really isn't much difference between this and the fact that you can usually easily recover "deleted" files from a hard drive, the Windows Recycle Bin, etc.

Renegade · « **Reply #6 on:** September 08, 2011, 02:51 PM »

Quote from: skwire on September 08, 2011, 01:08 PM

IMO, there really isn't much difference between this and the fact that you can usually easily recover "deleted" files from a hard drive, the Windows Recycle Bin, etc.

However... That is ONLY true when you don't want to recover the files. If you want them... well... that's quite a different story...

Stoic Joker · « **Reply #7 on:** September 08, 2011, 04:48 PM »

Quote from: skwire on September 08, 2011, 01:08 PM

IMO, there really isn't much difference between this and the fact that you can usually easily recover "deleted" files from a hard drive, the Windows Recycle Bin, etc.

If someone forgets to empty the trash, or isn't astute enough to E-shread sensative files that's one thing. For the OS to inaccessably store changes made to any document for the next four forevers in a secret database ... Is quite another.

MS Word has the change log/crash recovery files true ... But they get auto-deleted by default, and are easy to see/access/delete on a case by case basis if they happen to straggle.