Alex_V

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Alex_V
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  • Apple's flavor of RCS won't support Google's end-to-end encryption extension

    Alex_VAlex_V
    The more I use messaging apps, the more I appreciate the genius of Apple’s simple, useful, elegant, Messages app. 
    tomkarlmike1williamlondon12Strangers9secondkox2jimh2jony0

  • Will Apple save us from surveillance advertising?

    Alex_VAlex_V
    I see the same old defences of Google all the time:

    1. “That’s advertising buddy, just get used to it.” Even though database marketers have long been doing this sort of thing, surveillance capitalism has reached a new, extreme, and perilous form of intrusion in our private lives. 

    2. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch, just get used to it.” It doesn’t need to be this way. Apple profits enormously exceedingly well by simply selling hardware, software, and services. We should not allow companies to survey us, end of story. But, if a company wants to offer me something in exchange for my data, they must explicitly ask for permission at the outset. Not years too late, when they have already been tracking your every action for a decade.

    3. “Apple is bad too, just get used to it.” Apple ain’t Jesus. We should be vigilant and hold every company to account, including Apple. When we discover unwarranted intrusions on our privacy, we should prosecute.
    muthuk_vanalingamkiltedgreenwilliamlondonjony0

  • Will Apple save us from surveillance advertising?

    Alex_VAlex_V
    Thank you Daniel Eran Dilger, and best wishes. It is impossible to give a comprehensive account of what ails us in a short article. Still, you are correct to point your finger at surveillance advertising. You suggest that this is a categorically different age. I agree. Although, at best the old system gave us a manufactured consent, and today I have a thousand Libraries of Alexandria in my pocket, I read more and consider myself to be better informed than ever. Apple can easily provide an alternative to Google’s surveillance despite their enormous revenue from advertising. How? Because Apple makes even more money by simply selling hardware, software, and services. This happens while the public awareness of Google’s surveillance is low, and most people think that a choice between an Apple and a Samsung (etc.) is a question of specifications. They are wrong, it’s a far more perilous question.
    kiltedgreen

  • Washington D.C. rolling out Apple AirTag program to help curb car theft

    Alex_VAlex_V
    sflocal said:
    Locating a stolen vehicle via AirTags is only part of the solution.  Actually arresting, convicting, and getting the thief locked-away is what needs to happen and to send a message to future would-be thieves.
    I love the concept!! However, that would mean treating the cause, not the symptom. That's not how we do it in America.
    “Treating the cause, not the symptom.” Unintentionally hilarious. Your country is world champion at ‘treating the cause’ with the largest population of convicts (irony intended). Here you go:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate
    US incarceration rate is 531 people per 100,000, sixth highest in the world and keeping company with some pretty dysfunctional states:
    “In comparison to countries with similar percentages of immigrants, Germany has an incarceration rate of 67 per 100,000 population (as of June 2022), Italy is 97 per 100,000 (as of November 2022).”
    caladanianwatto_cobrawilliamlondon

  • Apple prepares to open 46th Chinese Apple Store on November 4

    Alex_VAlex_V
    Interesting comparison: there is only 1 store in India.
    watto_cobra