“The greatest commercial in Apple history — perhaps all history — did not show an Apple product,” Ross Rubin writes for ZDNet. “The ‘1984’ spot heralded the Macintosh as a tool to smash a society that, per its Orwellian inspiration, dominated by a Big Brother, was constantly surveilling the populace. These days, comprehensive tracking of activity comes from not (just) the government, but any number of companies that seek to target consumers for ads and offers.”
“At WWDC 2018, Apple continued to emphasize that it values privacy over profit,” Rubin writes. “But, like many companies, Apple has multiple constituencies. And despite the public attention it receives, WWDC is a time to communicate with developers, not consumers.”
“And despite its stance, there’s evidence that Apple’s stance on privacy is not getting through, at least not in a way that engenders more trust than consumers have in Amazon and — gasp — Google.,” Rubin writes. “Apple must take its message of privacy to consumers with advertising that focuses on it. ”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Gee, ya think?
Apple should be running a massive ad campaign that clearly explains how they stand apart from virtually every other major Silicon Valley company when it come to privacy and monetizing users. Every time there is a breach or an abuse at Facebook, Google, etc. Apple should be ready to pound their privacy message into the general public’s exceedingly thick collective skull. — MacDailyNews, April 10, 2018
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It’s not at all apparent that the general public values their privacy enough or even knows that Apple’s privacy is paramount, but the average Joe/Jane does seem to regard Siri as not too bright, putting into question whether Apple’s commitment to privacy will every really pay off; i.e. translate to increased product sales.
Apple product users seem to value their privacy. Non-Apple product users, by definition, do not value their privacy (or they’d be Apple product users).
So, what’s the inflection point? Do Google and the others need to have an Equifax event befall it for their product users to wake up? Would they even wake up if Google etc. did have a cataclysmic breach? We have our doubts. — MacDailyNews, October 5, 2017
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Until we see everyday people wake up about privacy, we’ll continue to believe that Apple is serving a niche market of those relative few who recognize the need for and desire the type of stringent privacy protections that Apple offers (outside of China). — MacDailyNews, March 21, 2018
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Apple needs to continue to relentlessly point out how FaceBook and Google make their money: By vacuuming up your personal data and selling it to the highest bidder. – MacDailyNews, June 5, 2017
SEE ALSO:
Apple borks Facebook’s pervasive personal data-harvesting operation – June 5, 2018
Apple requested ‘zero’ personal data in deals with Facebook – CEO Tim Cook – June 5, 2018
Facebook CEO blasts Apple’s latest privacy protections as ‘cute virtue signaling’ – June 5, 2018
Couldn’t agree more! When I explain how Apple protects your privacy vs. others it amazes people. Education is key!
Unfortunately, the companies that data-harvest users’ personal data are seen as having far more value than privacy-protecting Apple. Just one look at Facebook and Google’s P/Es will prove that much. Data-harvesting companies pull the most profits because there is an endless supply of consumers to fleece. The Feds can’t regulate those companies out of fear of big investor backlash.