“The emerging Cambridge Analytica/Facebook affair, in which people’s personal data was allegedly used for purposes it should not have been used for, shows the danger of surveillance capitalism and the need for a new approach to social networking — and that’s what Apple can provide,” Jonny Evans writes Computerworld.
“History shows us that Apple has never succeeded in creating a social network,” Evans writes. “History also shows that Apple has always had a hard time letting go of control for long enough to let people use any social media tools it provides for self-expression.”
“Which company already has a stated position to put safeguards around user data? Which company seeks the convenience of machine intelligence and data analytics at the same time as wanting to protect users from abuse of their private information? Apple,” Evans writes. “Apple’s devices already possess more power than most. The company just needs to tie them all together.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote in January:
We’re interested to see if Apple can really capitalize on their commitment to privacy or if it’ll take a major breach to wake up the majority of people or if even that would be enough to make privacy a real selling point.
Given how many gullible and/or ignorant people are willing to hand over their personal data for free to the likes of Google and Facebook (while mailing their DNA to other companies, no less), we’re not seeing Apple’s devotion to privacy as very salable versus the extra capabilities of other personal assistant from companies that wipe their feet on user privacy every second of the day.
People who value privacy and security use Apple products. — MacDailyNews, September 12, 2015
SEE ALSO:
The problem isn’t Cambridge Analytica: It’s Facebook – March 19, 2018
Apple: Privacy is a fundamental right – September 27, 2017
It’s past time for you to STOP USING FACEBOOK – March 19, 2018
Delete your Facebook: The only way to win the social game is not to play – March 19, 2018
How you access the super creepy data that Facebook has on you – March 12, 2018
Facebook asks users: Should we allow men to ask children for sexual images? – March 6, 2018
Study: Facebook is for old people – February 12, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg is fighting to save Facebook; announces major change to News Feed – January 12, 2018
Facebook developing ‘Portal’ gadget which will let it put microphones and cameras in people’s homes – January 11, 2018
Facebook is giving the US government more and more data – December 21, 2017
Former Facebook exec: Facebook is ‘destroying how society works’ – December 11, 2017
Apple’s cutting-edge ‘differential privacy’ is opt-in – June 24, 2016
Apple’s cutting-edge ‘differential privacy’ offers unique option for technology users – June 20, 2016
Apple’s use of cutting-edge tech will peek at user habits without violating privacy – June 16, 2016
Apple unveils iOS 10, the mother of all iOS releases – June 13, 2016
Apple previews major update with macOS Sierra – June 13, 2016
Apple seeks to use AI to keep Google off your iPhones, iPads, and Macs – June 15, 2016
Edward Snowden: Apple is a privacy pioneer – June 5, 2015
Tim Cook gets privacy and encryption: We shouldn’t surrender them to Google – June 4, 2015
Tim Cook attacks Google, U.S. federal government over right to privacy abuses – June 3, 2015
The price you’ll pay for Google’s ‘free’ photo storage – June 3, 2015
Apple CEO Tim Cook champions privacy, blasts ‘so-called free services’ – June 3, 2015
Passing on Google Photos for iOS: Read the fine print before you sign up for Google’s new Photos service – June 1, 2015
Why Apple’s Photos beats Google Photos, despite price and shortcomings – May 30, 2015
Is Apple is losing the photo wars? – May 29, 2015
How Google aims to delve deeper into users’ lives – May 29, 2015
Apple CEO Cook: Unlike some other companies, Apple won’t invade your right to privacy – March 2, 2015
Survey: People trust U.S. NSA more than Google – October 29, 2014
Edward Snowden’s privacy tips: ‘Get rid of Dropbox,” avoid Facebook and Google – October 13, 2014
Apple CEO Tim Cook ups privacy to new level, takes direct swipe at Google – September 18, 2014
Apple will no longer unlock most iPhones, iPads for government, police – even with search warrants – September 18, 2014
U.S. NSA watching, tracking phone users with Google Maps – January 28, 2014
U.S. NSA secretly infiltrated Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say – October 30, 2013
Google has already inserted some U.S. NSA code into Android – July 10, 2013
Court rules NSA doesn’t have to reveal its semi-secret relationship with Google – May 22, 201
Yeah, what we need is another ‘social network’ lorded over by a political ‘social conscience’ CEO dictator in Mr. Cook….
I disagree in general that a conscience is a bad trait for a CEO or for a corporation. If Citizens United has made corporations people, let’s assign to them all of the responsibilities that govern people. And I certainly would not want to work for a corporation whose CEO has no social conscience!
But in Apple’s case, I agree with you. They already had a social network, eWorld, back in the late nineties. It was HORRIBLE. They censored private chatrooms and would boot users for saying “Damn.” Seriously. It was the Disneyland “It’s a Small World” ride of social networking sites.
I liked eWorld….
Apple CEO Cook: ‘Fake news’ is ‘killing people’s minds’
uh, no thanks.
I understand, you would prefer a Fox and Friends social site. I thought that you were a champion of freedom, hansomesmitty. Freedom of speech. Freedom of expression. Individual rights. If people make ill-advised choices to join a given social network, well, that is a manifestation of that freedom. The thought kind of makes me ill, but sometimes that is what a democracy does to a person.
You are free to develop a conservative social media site that promotes all kinds of ideas, from the pragmatic to the ridiculous. You complain all of the time that the free press and most everything else is left-leaning, so start your own social network lorded over by your conscience.
for me, the most unsettling thing about facebook are the friends. friends i’ll never know. friends i’ll never talk with. friends i’ll never touch. friends around whom my arms will never encircle. friends whose voice i’ll never hear. whose house i’ll never enter. a six letter noun so diluted i’m no longer sure i remember what a real friend really means. other than that, it is, at times, a useful tool.
Excellent summation of Facebook users?
“Useful tools” ?
Bulls eye!
if i may … u left out ‘ Narcissistic friends’ ( as oxymoronic as that may be ) 😉
Nah! FB is full of Pretend Friends and people who think if they post a lot they can get more Pretend Friends!
It is plainly, obviously sick.
Is that FB’s fault or just that you accept friend requests from people you don’t know well and don’t remove them when you don’t feel a connection?
i do have a fb account but use very little. i don’t accept friend requests, though, daily, facebook floods my fb and email accounts with new friend suggestions and i have no idea how they make the connections to these strangers. that’s the least of it to be sure. when logged in i feel less like ms social than i feel like a mark
From your prior post it sure sounded like you had a lot of ‘friends’ in your FB profile since you complained about it so vehemently. Like any tool use it properly and you’ll get the benefits that ‘suit’ you. 🙂 Hard to complain about a hammer if you use it to hit your thumb more often than the nail.
my current fb account is my second. the first i deleted along with friends, posts, photos. as a utility, i think it’s a fine tool. i think you misunderstand my initial post.
if you stockpile friends as facebook encourages, your wall becomes a cascade of strange, dissociated personal drivel punctuated by an occasional proverb. instead of one creating content, actively engaging, one may easily get hypnotized by the flow of detritus in one’s own gutter and give more and more attention to the community as a witness, and to the ads.
i’m a very emotional person. my world is full of emotion. my friends i love to touch, kiss, throw my arms around. facebook by facebook’s rules can become desperately shallow. i was naive. i was spellbound with my first account. now, with my second, i know better. it’s just a tool.
Your posts are unusually deep and thoughtful for this forum, solome. That makes them even more delightful. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t have a Facebook account, but when you’re here, I sense a friend, whether or not we connect.
such kind words i will take with me through the ether.
Agreed with your comment. I would just add that Apple’s ‘Find my friends’ IS their social networking service. I would venture to say that if your going to allow anyone to track your whereabouts, like this app does, your likely actually interacting with them, routinely see them face to face, and would likely attend an event with them, and just basically give a damn about them, as opposed to the nitwits following each other like dim witted sheep on Facebook and Twitter.
Apple already has too much to worry about. If they make an Apple Network, it’ll just become another Siri.
Devin Prater Assistive Technology Instructor certified by World Services for the Blind JAWS certified
>
” or if even that would be enough to make privacy a real selling point.”
You’re already sold out if privacy is your selling point!
Heck, you’re already in bed with Google (very profitably) and somehow “magically” that’s not selling out. Yet the assumption that “Apple won’t sell out our privacy” remains. That is the “magic” of spin.
Many Apple users already defend single store censorship as a feature, for the sake of security.
What’s that Franklin quote again?
And we let Alexa and Google Home listen in to our homes 24/7 welcome to 1984.
Alexa says all she hears in my house is angry breathing and rapid typing.
Just leave FaceBook and hang out on REDDIT. If you’re 17 or younger, instagram, what’s app, snapchat, etc.
An Apple Social Network is a bad idea. This would be a social network managed by the people who believe that turning the gun emoji into a water gun helps the world.
What would be the point of Apple rolling out RePing?
The only way charlatan companies like Google and Facebook make money is to datamine the public and carpet bomb the internet with ads.
Do we really want Apple to become another ad pusher and data miner?
Big investors don’t care how a company makes money. It has nothing to do with morality and everything to do with how much money they can make. Apple is the only major tech company that doesn’t data mine and also has the lowest P/E because of Tim Cook wanting to preserve consumer privacy. Apple is never praised by Wall Street for protecting consumer privacy. In fact, Apple is the only major tech company on the doomed list for not harvesting user data.
I contend that Apple has a relatively poor P/E ratio because Apple is highly obtuse in its financial reporting. Don’t let investors know that you have a plan while it is obvious many product lines are dying on the vine, and you will rapidly lose trust.
Also, Apple does data mine just as much as any other tech company. The difference is that Apple claims to anonymize the data (a lie) and not sell it to other companies (also now questionable since the new Apple business model is subscription model, which means constant analytic data will go to content creators).
For you to believe, without proof, that Apple keeps your data entirely private and secure is an act of faith. It’s not in the user agreement.
BRING BACK PING!!! YEAY!!!!
((shoe flies over my head))
HEY!!! Who the crap threw that!!???
What people seem to forget is that FaceBook, MySpace, MAcDailyNews, Reddit, Gmail, whatever, is somebody else’s living room! It”s their house and their rules. You are allowed in as their guest. If their rule is that you give them your ID at the door, then either accept it or don’t go in or use the ID without your essential info. Facebook had it’s good points, meeting remote family members, reconnecting with distant friends, making new acquaintances, learning a few helpful things. That misinformation and hysteria prevailed, probably because it was profitable to FaceBook’s advertising model (I don’t believe for an instant their excuse that fake news jpeg memes are not readable to their search algorithms), makes FaceBook a distasteful place.
What would an Apple social network achieve? Well, I for one already have places (here for example) where I can interact with other Apple users so that’s not helpful. I assume that most PC people wouldn’t want to join an Apple branded network initially and anything that Apple would moderate (it the full sense of the word moderate) would bring out the wailing ninnies against “Apple conformity”.
Perhaps FaceBook can gain a conscious, I don’t expect it.
The best social network is talking to each other alive, period.
Facebook isn’t going anywhere. Consumers need their daily Facebook fix. Facebook is valued far higher than Apple will ever be. Apple is always worried about invasion of privacy while tens of millions of consumers are quite happy to give away all their personal information to Facebook, Google, and Amazon. I doubt any consumer sits around worrying about some data breach or fake news. They probably think that stuff is exciting and they’ll continue to patronize all those social apps. Facebook, Google, and Amazon will never be regulated because the people investing in those companies are very powerful and those companies generate a lot of money for those people. All the FANG stocks are completely untouchable and will continue to become more powerful as they harvest and control all the information available.
Apple is probably the only major tech company trying to protect consumer’s privacy and is surely never praised for doing so. Big investors love companies that harvest user data. To them, Apple is just a big loser company missing their chance at making more money.
I am not in favor of an Apple version of FB. Apple already makes it possible to reach out to the important people in your life – phone, text, photos, FaceTime, etc. Your Contacts database contains the people that really matter to you. As people have stated above, the “friends” and “followers” that you collect in social media sites are really just narcissistic icing for your ego. Unless they develop into true friendship and a real relationship, they mean little to nothing.
„Surveillance capitalism” WTF? Facebook is funded by the CIA (our tax dollars), John Brennan voted communist (before Obama). Deep state as hell.