Apple to give users "Trust" ratings ...

[idle]

Can you see a theme with all these tech commies, oops I mean companies?

SECRET SCORES Apple gives you a TRUST rating – and it’s based on your phone call and email habits
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/7303020/a ... ls-emails/
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09- ... -questions

[Pierre]

"To help identify and prevent fraud, information about how you use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive, will be used to compute a device trust score when you attempt a purchase," Apple explained.

Yeah - Right.

[MintBean]

Joe public doesn't give a damn about their privacy and want to label anyone who does as paranoid.

[Portreve]

This sounds eerily similar to China's new social credit thing.

[ajgringo619]

I guess Apple wants to catch up to Google.

[Portreve]

I guess Apple wants to catch up to Google.

I didn't realize the scope of what you just said until I read this:

c|net: Report: Google suppressed an explosive memo about its Chinese search engine

To wit:

According to the report, the so-called Dragonfly search engine would require Chinese citizens to log in to perform searches, track their physical location, and then share all of its data with a Chinese partner company that could presumably share it with the Chinese government. The company would reportedly have "universal access" to the data. That might also presumably include Chinese citizens' phone numbers, as described in an earlier Intercept report.

and

At least 1,000 employees have protested the existence of such a project, according to The New York Times, and The Intercept and Buzzfeed report that some employees have resigned in protest. The protest and resignations echo ones around Google's Project Maven drone work for the US Department of Defense.

Several people here on LMF have expressed concerns about Google and having any ties to them; I'm starting to see it is likely more justified than I had previously realized.

[ajgringo619]

I guess Apple wants to catch up to Google.

I didn't realize the scope of what you just said until I read this:

c|net: Report: Google suppressed an explosive memo about its Chinese search engine

To wit:

According to the report, the so-called Dragonfly search engine would require Chinese citizens to log in to perform searches, track their physical location, and then share all of its data with a Chinese partner company that could presumably share it with the Chinese government. The company would reportedly have "universal access" to the data. That might also presumably include Chinese citizens' phone numbers, as described in an earlier Intercept report.

and

At least 1,000 employees have protested the existence of such a project, according to The New York Times, and The Intercept and Buzzfeed report that some employees have resigned in protest. The protest and resignations echo ones around Google's Project Maven drone work for the US Department of Defense.

The big tech companies are out of control. But we have nobody to blame but ourselves. I will never understand how people can sacrifice privacy over a few "cool" gadgets. I just want a phone - and Internet - that works and stays the heck out of my life - is that too much to ask?

[Portreve]

The big tech companies are out of control. But we have nobody to blame but ourselves. I will never understand how people can sacrifice privacy over a few "cool" gadgets.

I agree completely. Our ignorance and apathy is just as likely going to get us all killed as their greed and lust for power.

I just want a phone - and Internet - that works and stays the heck out of my life - is that too much to ask?

No. No it isn't. More and more I'm thinking the only thing to do is to buy a Librem phone from Purism and bite the bullet and buy the kind of GPS that Moem has which can be updated without having to run Windows.

[ajgringo619]

I just want a phone - and Internet - that works and stays the heck out of my life - is that too much to ask?

No. No it isn't. More and more I'm thinking the only thing to do is to buy a Librem phone from Purism and bite the bullet and buy the kind of GPS that Moem has which can be updated without having to run Windows.

This sounds interesting. I have a POS AT&T prepaid Android phone with as much Google crap turned off as possible, but I still don't feel safe.

[Portreve]

I just want a phone - and Internet - that works and stays the heck out of my life - is that too much to ask?

No. No it isn't. More and more I'm thinking the only thing to do is to buy a Librem phone from Purism and bite the bullet and buy the kind of GPS that Moem has which can be updated without having to run Windows.

This sounds interesting. I have a POS AT&T prepaid Android phone with as much Google crap turned off as possible, but I still don't feel safe.

It happens that today I decided to give LineageOS another go on my Nexus 6. I think I've figured out the camera problem I was having before, but I'm going to give it a couple days of use just to be sure, as the problem (if it's still a problem) will show up within that amount of time.

Here's what I would have to say about Google's apps in Android and trying to get away from them...

AOSP (Android Open Source Project)-based ROMs, like LineageOS, Nitrogen, etc. offer the opportunity to not have any undesired software on your (supported, of course) phone from the start. You can then pick which AOSP replacements you want to use, what from other sources apps you want, and if you then feel a particular Google app is appropriate for you, then you may decide what is on your phone; nothing more, nothing less.

Right now, my needs dictate that I make use of Google's office suite, calendaring software, and navigation system. I've said before and I'll say again that Purism has to be able to offer replacements and/or opportunities for replacements because a smartphone absent those things, and WhatsApp, Signal, either Tutanota or Proton Mail, etc., really won't appeal, and not just to me, but to a great many others as well.

[ajgringo619]

Thanks for the info, Portreve. Time to start DuckDuckGoing!

[BenTrabetere]

The big tech companies are out of control. But we have nobody to blame but ourselves. I will never understand how people can sacrifice privacy over a few "cool" gadgets. I just want a phone - and Internet - that works and stays the heck out of my life - is that too much to ask?

It may not be too much to ask, but sadly it is too much to expect. Controlling the tech companies will take a lot of government regulation and oversight, and that is not going to happen in a way that has any meaningful impact.

I think we are partially to blame for allowing this intrusion to happen, but I also think intrusion was inevitable the moment someone started looking for ways to monetize the Internet and its use.

[Portreve]

It may not be too much to ask, but sadly it is too much to expect. Controlling the tech companies will take a lot of government regulation and oversight, and that is not going to happen in a way that has any meaningful impact.

I think we are partially to blame for allowing this intrusion to happen, but I also think intrusion was inevitable the moment someone started looking for ways to monetize the Internet and its use.

No; we are completely to blame for allowing things to go in this direction. There's a difference between companies being guilty of engaging in bad behavior and we the general public letting it go on essentially unchecked and unchallenged. These are two independent facts and must not be conflated.

Remember also that the entertainment industry and the tech industry are big sources of governmental lobbying, both in the US and internationally. They're likely only beaten out by the defense contractor- and pharmaceutical industries. Examples such as America's DMCA, a Treaty with England allowing us to have British nationals arrested and extradited to the US for violating US-specific copyright laws, the recent EU digital copyright law just passed the other day, etc., all spring to mind. We the People of various different sovereign nations have allowed this overreach to happen, almost without comment.

We only say "It's them over there who did it" because we don't like accepting our share of the blame.

I do all that I can to keep myself independent of and un-dependent on proprietary things and vendor lock-in solutions. None of my data is stored in a format which makes me dependent upon a single vendor or product, and as much of my data as possible is stored in strictly libre formats (FLAC & OGG, SVG, PNG, etc.) I'm not, to the maximum extent it is possible to achieve while being a normally functioning person in society, an enabler of Corporate America generally, the entertainment industry in particular, and so forth.

Even where my use of Google's various cloud-based products is concerned, I'm prepared to walk away from all of it when a suitable replacement appears.

[ajgringo619]

Even where my use of Google's various cloud-based products is concerned, I'm prepared to walk away from all of it when a suitable replacement appears.

That's another big problem - alternatives. I can remember like it was yesterday when AT&T was broken up over monopoly concerns, Microsoft was being pushed to split its Office products from Windows. Now we have Amazon basically destroying everything in its path, AT&T not only bought back all of the baby Bells but other carriers as well, "Google" has become a verb. Every single day another story breaks about privacy attacks/breaches, employee abuse, or skewed search results.

And the world does nothing. I don't even think Orwell could have imagined the world we live in now; it's so much more subtle that his "prediction".

[BenTrabetere]

I think we are partially to blame for allowing this intrusion to happen, but I also think intrusion was inevitable the moment someone started looking for ways to monetize the Internet and its use.

No; we are completely to blame for allowing things to go in this direction. There's a difference between companies being guilty of engaging in bad behavior and we the general public letting it go on essentially unchecked and unchallenged. These are two independent facts and must not be conflated.

I understand your position, but in most cases "we the general public" have very little say in the matter, and for all intents and purpose we do not have the means or power to check or challenge this behavior. The law is on their side.

So our options essentially come down to three equally unsatisfactory choices: Accept the intrusion, unplug, or use something else.

Even where my use of Google's various cloud-based products is concerned, I'm prepared to walk away from all of it when a suitable replacement appears. [emphasis mine]

This is where the Use Something Else option fails. In a lot of cases there really isn't a suitable replacement, and there is no guarantee it will remain a suitable replacement.