Apple:
I want to be absolutely clear that we have never worked with any government agency from any country to create a backdoor in any of our products or services. We have also never allowed access to our servers. And we never will.
Our commitment to protecting your privacy comes from a deep respect for our customers. We know that your trust doesn’t come easy. That’s why we have and always will work as hard as we can to earn and keep it.
I await similar letters from every other company we trust with our data.
So then why are the choices for Location Services, for example, “Never” allow access, or “Always” allow access? On top of that when you start an app you are asked to deny or ‘always allow access even when you are not using the app’? It makes me uncomfortable. There was only one app out of a few dozen on my iPad that had the choices never/always and ‘when the app is in use’.
If that option is available, isn’t it the developer who does or does not decide to utilize it?
This is changed in iOS 8. You can now select Never, Only When in Use, or Always Allow. Selecting Always Allow presents a dialog box that explains what you are enabling in more detail.
In iOS 8, most apps provide the “When Using” option. I turned this on for Facebook, because I don’t trust Zuckerburg any further than I can throw him.
I have 96 apps on my [now] iOS8 iPad. About 40 of those use Location Services. Many of those have been updated for iOS8. Only 1 has a “When Using” option.
Apple didn’t give clear answer last year about NSA.
and didn’t give clear answer for iCloud selfie debacle.
So this page is just another parsing of words and false bravado.
China is also pressuring Apple.
You notice they haven’t arrested anyone as yet for iCloud theft.
Without an independent third-party audit, this is nothing more than empty promises. It’s also well-known that border agencies have tools to dump,the contents of iPhones and Macs bypassing encryption, and that Apple HQ themselves can easily bypass any encryption on the device. What is that if not a backdoor?
They also don’t need to overtly “cooperate” or purposely build-in a back door, it’s enough if they simply allow it to happen. Just like the kid in class who lets others read off their paper without making it obvious, all Apple has to do is leave the data unencrypted or make sure it passes through a central point where the NSA can easily read it. To even have a chance of privacy against the NSA it needs to be such that even Apple themselves cannot access the data without your key, That the keys are robust against brute-force attacks, and that data is encrypted at every single point.
I have 6 with the option, but it’s only been one day. I’m hoping more will jump on the boat soon (and maybe by iOS 9, Apple will require it?).
Apple doesn’t have the power of arrest.
Wow, just one more thing Apple stole from Android! There have been multiple levels of permissions in Android for decades! When will Apple fanatics get a clue that Apple doesn’t innovate or do anything worthwhile!
I also fully endorse what my fellow conspiracy enthusiasts below me say about the NSA being allowed to tap Apple’s stuff when it’s outside Apple’s control as well as being fully responsible for what criminals do in socially-engineering people’s passwords.
I’m outraged!
This is a potentially interesting development, if accurate:
https://gigaom.com/2014/09/18/apples-warrant-canary-disappears-suggesting-new-patriot-act-demands/