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Comment by hellosputnik | Hacker News Reader

You can avoid all of this by using an iPhone. Apple's business model does not involve ad revenue or data collection. Your data is collected but is used purely to improve the iPhone. Your data is intentionally obfuscated for privacy. For an example of Apple's strict policy, check out this article on Apple Maps: https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/apple-is-rebuilding-maps-f...

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Except this is not really about data collection, but about the other direction: Who can send data to my phone (or other device) I ostensibly own and make it do all kinds of things without my permission - or restrict what I can do with it.

I don't see how Apple is better than anyone else in that regard.

From "Guardians of Truth"[0]:

> This is why I've always insisted, for example, that if you're going to start talking about "AI ethics", you had better be talking about how you are going to improve on the current situation using AI, rather than just keeping various things from going wrong. Once you adopt criteria of mere comparison, you start losing track of your ideals—lose sight of wrong and right, and start seeing simply "different" and "same".

[0]: https://www.lesswrong.com/s/M3TJ2fTCzoQq66NBJ/p/etBrzxdfNop3...

> You can avoid all of this by using an iPhone.

Not really. https://www.apple.com/lae/iphone-battery-and-performance/

> Apple's business model does not involve ad revenue or data collection.

I fail to see how ad revenue and data collection has anything to do with battery saving mode.

It doesn't, monitoring and configuring battery saving is relatively harmless to the majority of consumers. The point that the OP made is that there is nothing stopping them from doing more harmful tests like experimenting with web traffic, running benchmarks or something, tracking app usage in terms of direct relationships (e.g. this person always reads emails, then hacker news, then checks snapchat, then browses these kinds of shopping apps), etc. I'm not saying that these are likely, but when information about specific users drives ad revenue up then it's not much of a leap to suggest they'll collect a bunch of information that people don't want them to collect.

> I fail to see how ad revenue and data collection has anything to do with battery saving mode.

The implication is clearly that someone whose revenue is based on prying on your personal information has more incentive to do things like this than someone whose revenue is not affected by how much they know about you.

Apple's business model heavily relies on planned obsolescence to bully you into throwing away YOUR working iPhone when they've decided its time for you to drop another 700-1000$ by making their latest OS so slow that your phone is essentially unusable. Of course you'll also have to throw away all the expensive accessories you might own because the connection port has changed format too, yet again.

At least on Android I can install a custom ROM, root it, and install a system wide adblocker like adaway. Oh and also my phones cost under 300$ and I can keep them working until I decide it's time to replace it.

Because android works better for me doesn't mean it has to be the same for everyone, but in any case Apple is out to milk money out of you and not to save you from google. Neither companies have your best interest in mind, you're just there to make them money.

> Apple's business model heavily relies on planned obsolescence to bully you into throwing away YOUR working iPhone when they've decided its time for you to drop another 700-1000$ by making their latest OS so slow that your phone is essentially unusable.

Ah. That’ll explain why the 5s - a phone that was released 5 years ago - is still supported with iOS 12.

My wife is currently using a 5c. It's not great, but is working perfectly fine for everyday usage.

Supported? Yes. Usable and not excruciatingly slow? Not so sure.

I am. My partner uses it as her daily driver everyday. I have asked her if she wants to upgrade, but she doesn't see the point as there is nothing wrong with the 5s, which is running the latest release of iOS11.

> Your data is collected but is used purely to improve the iPhone. Your data is intentionally obfuscated for privacy.

As per Apple.

I see no reason to trust Apple any more I trust Google. Especially in the context of Snowden's disclosures of tech giants collusion under the Prism program. What they say is only remotely related to what they actually do.

Err, perhaps you missed [0]. Both these ecosystems are proprietary dumpster fires, you are not in control.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17970197

Apple is just as involved in data collection. Just mostly for internal consumption and they are moving heavily into ad space.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-looks-to-expand-advertisi...

There aren't any saints in the corporate world.

I'm not sure if it is still the case nowadays, but back when I had an iPhone I remember that Apple had a killswitch which allowed them to remove already installed apps on one's phone.

Nevertheless, I doubt that Apple is more inclined to give away their control of your device. I would guess that they could do the exact same as Google did.

I wish I could've avoided that terrible U2 album.

> Apple's business model does not involve ad revenue or data collection

Seeing how ads and analytics are so pervasive in the Apple app and music stores, they probably profit from ad revenue and data collection.

I like that I can put my IPhone in low power mode even if it is at 100 percent. I also like that I can turn off all notifications in one central place. This has helped me lower distractions from the phone. Previously I was on a Nexus 5. Upgrading to newer versions of Android always came with the possibility that my wifi would not work or my cell signal degraded etc.

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