RE: People Are Trying to Mislead You

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RE: People Are Trying to Mislead You

dbooster in Rant, Complain, Talk • 2 years ago

I think it's more nuanced than that. It's true that their OS is closed so we really don't know. But we can make some assumptions from what we see. We do know that the FBI demanded they build in a backdoor to their encryption a few years ago and Apple refused, claiming that they don't have access and aren't going to rewrite their code to add a backdoor. We also know the FBI then either believed them or decided it wasn't worth trying to pressure them, so they hired a third party hacking company that claimed they knew a workaround that would give access to the info if the user hadn't enabled encryption, and it seems like their hack did work. A few weeks after that they was a story that the FBI was angry because Apple closed that workaround. But of course we can guess that behind the scenes the FBI and other government organizations are still working to gain access and may have gotten it. We might also assume that if the FBI did find another workaround to gain access to our data they wouldn't announce it to avoid Apple patching the hole.

Furthermore, a lot on the phone isn't encrypted at all. If you sync any data with Google or Dropbox, that is visible to anyone who knows how to look. And we know from news stories that both Google and Dropbox are not against selling our info. Email and SMS are visible to anyone. Apple Messanger is encrypted on both ends and again Apple claims not to have access. And again the government is pressuring Apple to open Messanger up, now opening an Anti-trust lawsuit to force them to open it up. That doesn't tell us if Apple is telling the truth about not having access, but it does suggest the gov believes them and so if taking a more forceful approach to get access.

We also have engineers who have quit Apple who make claims about the security. And there is the fact that more than any other company, Apple has staked their reputation on keeping our info private. They gain nothing by secretly going against that and they have everything to lose.

So it's yes and no. I don't know if we should assume the worst That's taking the extreme position that I argue against in my post. But we also shouldn't blindly trust and should watch to see what's going on. I also think it's probably best to avoid putting very sensitive info on our phone.

2 years ago in Rant, Complain, Talk by dbooster

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cmplxty 2 years ago

Yeah for sure, I've started to shift my stuff away from Google, regular email, SMS and others for the simple fact that I am trying to shift my stuff to be more private and privacy focused. Not because I have anything to hide but because privacy is a right and the 4th amendment to the US constitution is still law of the land, even though it gets trampled on left and right.

I was abreast of the FBI and backdoor thing years ago but didn't get the follow up that it was closed which is good, if those things are accurate. I just think that as things become increasingly digital, and the powers that shouldn't be increasingly try to gain access and monitor our every communication and move, it's best to operate on the principle that you should not trust companies like this.

For example - the CCP was having an issue a few years ago where their citizens were protesting against their draconian measures for lockdowns I believe it was, so they were air-dropping protest and other materials to people through the Airdrop feature on the phone. Then people could transmit the data without the internet itself, bypassing the CCP control grid on information. Naturally the CCP was pissed about this and I think it was a week or few weeks later Apple removed the airdrop to everyone feature without any restrictions to limiting airdrop to 5 or 10 minutes.

Complying with such a horrible government as the CCP almost immediately just raises my suspicions about Apple, and that feature is now global as part of the OS; there is no longer any airdrop to all for unlimited timeframe feature on the phones. It's the ratchet effect, it goes in the wrong direction and does not turn back.

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dbooster 2 years ago

Yeah I read about that Airdrop thing. I did read something about it that said it wasn't nearly as bad as the pundits were trying to spin it, but I honestly don't remember what was said, so I can't tell you. But for sure, just on the surface it doesn't sound encouraging that Apple did that. In some ways, companies are in a rock and a hard place. If they resist the government too much, they risk being completely shut down. Now I know that applies more to China than to the US, but it also applies in the US, just in a different way. Obey or they could sue for antitrust and try to break you apart.

I'm not trying to defend Apple in that. Like I said, I don't remember the piece that gave another side to the issue and I'm otherwise not at all informed on the issue so I don't know enough to argue. I'm just saying it is a tricky game for companies when going against the government.

The best solution for all of us would probably be a Linux phone. That OS is also too complex for any of us to really know what's going on, but there are enough trusted security people on that side that we can have some level of trust. Maybe this option will become more of a possibility in the future.

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cmplxty 2 years ago

Yeah for sure, it's good to look at everything with a grain of salt! It's a bit like having to fly under the radar. You want to go a certain height to get you quickly from place A to B but you don't want to go too high or you end up being in the cross hairs of folks you may not want to be!

I think ultimately, we are probably heading in the right direction with these things - meaning yes we are having issues now but in the long-run, if things keep getting decentralized and the human race is interconnected at an increasing rate like we are now, a lot of these things are far lower of an issue.

It's just the pain of progress!

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