US authorities can see more than ever, with Big Tech as their eyes
And all of that is pre-TM*.
*Trump & Musk
Noticed that as well.
For the rest: The only thing that surprises me is that is seems to surprise people.
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The UK is even worse.
The UK forced Apple, by secret order (not a joke), to either implement a backdoor or stop end-to-end encyption. Forced to oblige Apple decided to end end-to-end encryption (their service is called Advanced Data Protection). So far this applies to new users only, but it’s only a matter of time that this applies in general.
With freedom of speech also gone the UK is quickly turning into an authoritarian regime.
It feels a bit like the old communist dream of a computer that can plan and control the economy. If you have enough data, somehow control is achieved. It’s funny when deranged capitalists and communists converge.
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Did the US not do this a while back?
Seems to me, Apple chose the honest way. At least the customer knows and who’s to blame is also very clear.
Doesn’t make it any better, I know but kudos to Apple from my part.
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Still plenty of end-to-end encryption options in the UK continue to exist. Only ones that suffer are the non-tech savvy.
The FBI did indeed try to force Apple, perhaps a decade ago in connection with some mass shooting, but failed. Rightfully, Apple got plenty of big-tech support back then.
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That was related to unlocking an iPhone.
Apple said they didn’t know how. The US gave in after some Israeli company said they could do it and they did. Now that tool is available to anyone with the money.
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It’s the same issue, one customer or many makes no difference as Apple outright refuses to participate in weakening customer privacy and security. And I bet they improved their mechanisms, a decade is a looooong time in IT.
A friend works in the data harvesting industry, if you want to call it that. According to my friend, it’s actually easier for the US government to hire a subcontractor, who then buys the data from any of these big companies. No need for court orders, etc. when the information is simply for sale.
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Usually that’s meta data, not the data itself. That’s valuable but far less useful for the legal prosecution than the actual data.
The meta data on e.g. a phone call are that Roxy phoned 3Whishes yesterday at 2pm, including both phone numbers (and possibly data on both devices used), and that the call lasted 10 minutes. However that doesn’t say what the conversation was about. Likewise with data transfers, chats, etc.
The problem is that gov backdoor are in the mainstream devices: smartphones, macbooks, windows laptops. On top of that most people use google or apple as their communication provider. So I agree with you, privacy will be always there for the tech savvy, who can use linux and smartphone without big brother. Everyone else have to “get used to” zero privacy, even pictures you take on the smartphone can be quickly analyzed by the AI generating text description of the content and/or extract text sending that to BB in an instant.
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You’d be surprised how much that reveals. BTW, telecom data contains also real time position of your phone (no need for gps, the cell towers “see” your location), all SMS are plain text in the records (perhaps that’s why there is the length limit). Further you can combine data sources, telecom data + FB activity, etc
threw google off my handy years ago. Nope, no need to root them and still use it without google-account. Aurora store delivered everything I wanted (admit, I don’t want much on my handy). Standortbestimmung (location) generally turned off. wlan definitely outside the house. No cloud. Etc. etc.
Did you know they can target you by which wlans you walked by?
I know provider and government can still find out where I was (transmission towers used) and who I phoned. But those two are most likely absolutely not interested in my boring data.
If you dont have anything to hide then whats your problem?
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If you enjoy being stalked, this is your century.
Some people are glad to get any attention and if it’s only by sales-companies.
This article will tell you just how much is known about you. It’s not really about “nothing to hide” (from whom?), it’s more about not wanting to be stalked.
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And again, this is not news and I have no idea why people are surprised about it. Then again I just got used to the pitying smiles I got when mentioning/warning.
Receiving adverts for wedding rings all of a sudden is almost funny. Wonder if Meta thought 3 years relationship means she’s gotta become a “decent woman” or if it was because Meta thought she had cancer and needed to be fast now.
Recordning wake up calls “…once for every time I woke up, hit snooze or reset” … when collectors become just addicts. And while that means turning into a messy (collecting trash even) in the real world I start to wonder about the server-size of meta.
edit: while on SF just now, ghostery blocks adverts from iTunes Link Maker and hosting (don’t know what’s meant by that in this context) from ImgIX. Never heard of either. But definitely very little compared to how busy ghostery can be on other sites.