Hacker News Reader

Comment by ethbr0 | Hacker News Reader

> Very interesting distinction which boils down to whether a bullet item might show up in the box or not.

This is the biggest compliment to the UI Apple designed.

Because it's exactly the conversation we should be having, and that users actually care about.

Either you are hitting an API or you aren't. And that causes a bullet item to appear.

What you're doing with that information is debatable -- and Facebook is welcome to debate that they're "really not actually using all the massive amount of information they're collecting."

But users deserve to see the superset of collection clearly, as a starting point.

View on HN

> Either you are hitting an API or you aren't. And that causes a bullet item to appear.

That's not really how it works.

The same type of data can appear in multiple categories, and there are exceptions that mean you don't have to list certain usages.

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/

For example, if your app doesn't ordinarily collect email addresses, but you have a contact form for support purposes that does collect them, you don't need to list email address as being collected.

The privacy label doesn't really cover the app - it covers what the services that the app connects to do. An entirely offline app shouldn't need to list anything on the label, even if it does use APIs like location.

The difference (vs Android) is a default expectation of disclosure, no? Whether enforced or declared?

Google doesn't really care if its app developers lie out of the side of their mouth. Apple is saying they do.

(I'm in no way an Apple fanboy, but I think they deserve kudos for changing the starting point for this discussion)

It's long been the case that companies legally have to disclose what data they collect and what they do with it in their Privacy Policy/Notice. That applies to services on any platform, including iOS, Android, or the web.

I think that the Privacy Label is a "one size fits all" box ticking exercise, that a lot of people are going to ignore/not understand.

When all of the most popular apps state that they collect a lot of data, there's no reason for people to think any given app is "bad".

That was GP's point, IMHO.

Do you think more people read privacy policies from start to finish and understand them, vs will look at Apple's label and understand it?

The perfect is the enemy of both the good and progress.

> That was GP's point, IMHO.

I thought the point was more that until now, app developers have been able to keep how they use data quiet, and that Apple is forcing them to reveal what they do.

That's not really the case, the data is just in a format that people can't be bothered to read (Privacy Notice).

I think that Apple's format is better in some ways, but not others.

There are a lot of possible types of data, but they can each appear in multiple categories. Developers can't justify why they use data in a privacy label, so it's difficult for people to tell exactly how the data collection would affect them (if at all), and whether it's justified or not.

An interesting idea for Apple Pay feature could be to allow its users to and apps to negotiate fees for API hits i.e. allow users to get paid by Facebook if it wants their data.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com