Apple spying on users? AT&T locking everyone down?

scottjl · 06-23-2010, 08:19 PM

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/...a-ota-updates/

Now take this article with a huge grain of salt, as no one can verify this information. But it is interesting. Makes me wonder if I should have upgraded to 4.0 after all and if I want to pick up my iPhone 4 tomorrow.

Might be putting my iPhone in a tin-foil hat soon!

scottjl · 06-23-2010, 08:30 PM

ahh.. it's already been debunked.. that's what i get for working a 10 hour day and catching up on my reading after only 4 hours of sleep.

http://twitter.com/musclenerd

"Common sense (and simple code inspection) shows that "leak" by "Alpha" about iPhone4 OTA re-locking to be silly FUD."

Still.. funny. and weird. why would someone make up this crap?

Bremen Cole · 06-23-2010, 08:36 PM

Even if the article is not true, a lot of the new technologies are a bit unnerving for freedom lovers. With GPS tracking through "location services", and the ability for "them" to know every book, app, movie or song we buy. Some say Amazon even knows where you are at in a book, how much time you spend reading, and if you finish the book or not. I have no idea if such is true, but it does make you think...... Just how much of our lives do we want "them" to know?

So, when do we start to get a bit paranoid?

scottjl · 06-23-2010, 09:00 PM

hmm.. good question.

i certainly can see the points you're making about reading a book. might even be true. marketers would love info like that. since you're syncing your location in a book to their servers, they have the information right there. and since people don't read their EULA's, it probably gives them the permission to do so. i know i never dug deep into apple's.. or google's.. or yahoo's..

what i think is funny, is if someone collected all the possible marketing information on me in all my years of life. just how big would that file be? and just how useful would it really be? some target marketing could be useful. i'd certainly rather see an ad about some gadget than a girl sitting on a swing telling her mom she's not feeling fresh. but i wonder when do the marketing types have too much information on someone that it's useless?

iAds is definitely a step in the "surrounded by advertising" direction. we're going to see more and more of it..

Trubu · 06-24-2010, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottjl

iAds is definitely a step in the "surrounded by advertising" direction. we're going to see more and more of it..

For the truly paranoid - you can opt out of having targeted and/or location-based iAds served to you - just visit oo.apple.com via Mobile Safari.

Note that you'll still get ads served to you, they just won't be targeted for your interests.

There's also been some alarmist stories about location-based info in the new Terms of Service; people seem to forget that you have to explicitly give any iOS application permission to use location data, and there's a whole new control panel in the iOS 4 settings that lets you easily control all of your location data permissions in one place.

The OTA lock story probably grew from a kernel of truth - with iOS 4, carriers can now send carrier settings updates OTA instead of having to go through iTunes as they did previously. That's a long way from locking devices to a particular network, though.

murraypaul · 06-24-2010, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bremen Cole

Some say Amazon even knows where you are at in a book, how much time you spend reading, and if you finish the book or not. I have no idea if such is true, but it does make you think...... Just how much of our lives do we want "them" to know?

Any platform that lets you sync bookmarks between the same book on different devices (which iBooks does now), must be keeping track centrally of how far you have got in each book.

Bremen Cole · 06-24-2010, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Any platform that lets you sync bookmarks between the same book on different devices (which iBooks does now), must be keeping track centrally of how far you have got in each book.

That does make sense. At this point in time it appears that nothing is being done with that data. But, I am sure they will find a way to use it. Government/corporations love personal data on their citizens/customers.

drofgnal · 06-24-2010, 09:39 AM

I read the link and it seems rather mild. Having SW to lock down a phone you agreed to in a contract to use a certain way is not that terrible.

Having data on video phone calls for marketing as long as they are not listening in and watching is not great, but not really an invasion of your privacy. All you cell phone calls are monitored by the carrier including which tower you are using. This just seems like another bit of data in that stream.

I'm not sure either of these issues would have prevented me from upgrading my phone to OS4. (The video one surely wouldn't as my 3GS phone isn't capable of that.)

If you think this is bad, does anyone remember Alan Poindexter? (Admiral in the Reagan admin.) He was manager of a Pentagon Program for Total Information awareness. From wikpedia:

"From December 2002, to August 2003, Poindexter served as the Director of the DARPA Information Awareness Office (IAO). The controversial mission of the IAO was to imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, components, and prototype closed-loop information systems that will counter asymmetric threats (most notably, terrorist threats) by achieving total information awareness: enabling preemption; national security warning; and, national security decision making."

"The Information Awareness Office (IAO) was established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorists and other asymmetric threats to national security, by achieving Total Information Awareness (TIA). This would be achieved by creating enormous computer databases to gather and store the personal information of everyone in the United States, including personal e-mails, social network analysis, credit card records, phone calls, medical records, and numerous other sources, without any requirement for a search warrant.[1] This information would then be analyzed to look for suspicious activities, connections between individuals, and "threats".[2] Additionally, the program included funding for biometric surveillance technologies that could identify and track individuals using surveillance cameras, and other methods.[2]
Following public criticism that the development and deployment of these technologies could potentially lead to a mass surveillance system, the IAO was defunded by Congress in 2003. However, several IAO projects continued to be funded, and merely run under different names.[3][4][5]

I wouldn't get too worked up about your iphone. There is a much more accurate database and tracking of what you do that is available. The iphone is nothing in comparison.

06-23-2010, 08:19 PM	#1
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	Apple spying on users? AT&T locking everyone down? http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/...a-ota-updates/ Now take this article with a huge grain of salt, as no one can verify this information. But it is interesting. Makes me wonder if I should have upgraded to 4.0 after all and if I want to pick up my iPhone 4 tomorrow. Might be putting my iPhone in a tin-foil hat soon!

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06-23-2010, 08:30 PM	#2
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	ahh.. it's already been debunked.. that's what i get for working a 10 hour day and catching up on my reading after only 4 hours of sleep. http://twitter.com/musclenerd "Common sense (and simple code inspection) shows that "leak" by "Alpha" about iPhone4 OTA re-locking to be silly FUD." Still.. funny. and weird. why would someone make up this crap?

06-23-2010, 08:36 PM	#3
Bremen Cole Wizard Posts: 1,115 Karma: 2718 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Texas Device: iPad	Even if the article is not true, a lot of the new technologies are a bit unnerving for freedom lovers. With GPS tracking through "location services", and the ability for "them" to know every book, app, movie or song we buy. Some say Amazon even knows where you are at in a book, how much time you spend reading, and if you finish the book or not. I have no idea if such is true, but it does make you think...... Just how much of our lives do we want "them" to know? So, when do we start to get a bit paranoid?

06-23-2010, 09:00 PM	#4
scottjl Reader of Books Posts: 1,632 Karma: 2697 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: none	hmm.. good question. i certainly can see the points you're making about reading a book. might even be true. marketers would love info like that. since you're syncing your location in a book to their servers, they have the information right there. and since people don't read their EULA's, it probably gives them the permission to do so. i know i never dug deep into apple's.. or google's.. or yahoo's.. what i think is funny, is if someone collected all the possible marketing information on me in all my years of life. just how big would that file be? and just how useful would it really be? some target marketing could be useful. i'd certainly rather see an ad about some gadget than a girl sitting on a swing telling her mom she's not feeling fresh. but i wonder when do the marketing types have too much information on someone that it's useless? iAds is definitely a step in the "surrounded by advertising" direction. we're going to see more and more of it..

06-24-2010, 09:39 AM	#8
drofgnal Wizard Posts: 1,227 Karma: 7838248 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Ipad Pro/Kindle Oasis 3/iPhone 13 Pro Max	I read the link and it seems rather mild. Having SW to lock down a phone you agreed to in a contract to use a certain way is not that terrible. Having data on video phone calls for marketing as long as they are not listening in and watching is not great, but not really an invasion of your privacy. All you cell phone calls are monitored by the carrier including which tower you are using. This just seems like another bit of data in that stream. I'm not sure either of these issues would have prevented me from upgrading my phone to OS4. (The video one surely wouldn't as my 3GS phone isn't capable of that.) If you think this is bad, does anyone remember Alan Poindexter? (Admiral in the Reagan admin.) He was manager of a Pentagon Program for Total Information awareness. From wikpedia: "From December 2002, to August 2003, Poindexter served as the Director of the DARPA Information Awareness Office (IAO). The controversial mission of the IAO was to imagine, develop, apply, integrate, demonstrate and transition information technologies, components, and prototype closed-loop information systems that will counter asymmetric threats (most notably, terrorist threats) by achieving total information awareness: enabling preemption; national security warning; and, national security decision making." "The Information Awareness Office (IAO) was established by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorists and other asymmetric threats to national security, by achieving Total Information Awareness (TIA). This would be achieved by creating enormous computer databases to gather and store the personal information of everyone in the United States, including personal e-mails, social network analysis, credit card records, phone calls, medical records, and numerous other sources, without any requirement for a search warrant.[1] This information would then be analyzed to look for suspicious activities, connections between individuals, and "threats".[2] Additionally, the program included funding for biometric surveillance technologies that could identify and track individuals using surveillance cameras, and other methods.[2] Following public criticism that the development and deployment of these technologies could potentially lead to a mass surveillance system, the IAO was defunded by Congress in 2003. However, several IAO projects continued to be funded, and merely run under different names.[3][4][5] I wouldn't get too worked up about your iphone. There is a much more accurate database and tracking of what you do that is available. The iphone is nothing in comparison.

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