Japan to open up Apple- and Google-dominated phone apps to competition
reuters.com
reuters.com
However, corporations, industry organizations and unions are only allowed to donate to political parties and their fund-managing organizations. There are no such things like Super PAC's in Japan.
Super PAC's are effectively legalized bribery schemes that permit billionaires to provide unlimited amounts of money to representatives and completely influence all policy decisions. Representative effectively become simple and mindless puppets of the briber class. (I refuse to call them donors)
What the world really needs now is an open alternative to Google Pay and Apple Pay --- particularly for ticketing purposes.
Airlines and Ticketmaster are now willing accomplices in Google's privacy invasion enterprise by encouraging the use of Google Wallet and discriminating against those who don't.
This is being worked on but it's not here yet. https://github.com/openwallet-foundation
I don't use Apple Pay but I suspect the same is wrong as with Google Pay --- it requires you to surrender your identity and financial info to a company that is monetizing your privacy for profit.
There are privacy laws that prevent your bank from selling your financial history and details to those who might want to target you.
These laws don't apply when Google, Apple and cohorts literally extort you to provide access to this info.
Ticketmaster now charges an extra fee if you don't store some event tickets in your Google Wallet --- where Google has full access to them. I suspect something similar is going on with Apple.
As someone who has never owned an Apple device (apart from my work iPhone SE, which I rarely use): I always thought of Apple as a company that I can rather trust with my data. It might be marketing white-washing my brain, but Apple seems to be settled in the selling devices business, not in the "selling data" business.
My point being, "monetizing" my privacy is something that I feel very uneasy about with Google but not with Apple, somehow. The former screams "give us your data, so we can use it --- also you get to use this cool app, that relies on it" whereas the latter seems more like "Give us your data so you can use this cool app that relies on it, but honestly your data isnt that profitable to us".
Somebody please pop my naivity bubble.
One reason I "trust" Google more than Apple is: I know that Google uses basically everything about me, but they are also kinda open about it. Apple on the contrary always likes to tout that they are oh so privacy friendly while still harvesting data en mass.
(Also, basically Googles entire business is about your data, so they better have it safe. Cuz if it starts crumbeling because of EU Laws and similar they basically have no business anymore unlike Apple)
And yes, I know it's not the best idea to "trust" even Google.
It's not in the logic of any capitalist firm to be settled on selling anything. They will sell everything they can to maximize value. Arguing about whether they'll settle for anything because you're already paying them a premium is mistaking a company for a person. When they stop Facebook from selling you ads, they do it because they want the slice of that pie.
A few years ago streaming services promised you to not see ads again for a flat free, now they all have an ad plan that costs as much as the old one and the ad-free plan costs more. Don't ever think one company is going to protect you from another one.
[1] https://www.wired.co.uk/article/apple-is-an-ad-company-now
There aren’t really. Banks and Visa/MasterCard are monetizing your data too. Even your phone and internet provider is selling whatever data they have on you.
https://mysudo.com/2021/03/shocked-or-not-your-bank-is-selli...
https://www.fastcompany.com/90490923/credit-card-companies-a...
Tell me where Apple Pay does that and how I surrendered my identity.
How do you use Apple Pay without connecting a method of payment --- either a debit or a credit card? How do you store a boarding pass in Apple Pay without revealing your identity?
You do understand that all of this data gets stored on Apple's servers? Once they have this info, they know exactly who the owner of your particular iPhone is. Your identity has been surrendered --- willingly.
Every Apple device has a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) assigned at the factory. This UUID is constantly relayed to Apple --- along with location and lots of other data.
https://www.howtogeek.com/425856/how-to-find-your-mac-iphone...
As a result, they can easily track you personally --- everything you do, everywhere you go, everything you buy with your iPhone --- both on the internet and in the real world. If they really wanted to, they can probably take pictures with your camera and listen in on your iPhone's microphone.
Bad news dude, you've been LoJacked -- your privacy is now fully in Apple's hands!
Good. So now we know how you willingly "surrender your identity" to Apple for tracking purposes.
You do realize not everyone does this? You can buy an iPhone at Walmart --- using cash if you prefer.
I'm a nobody.
Really? Just a guess but "ulfw" is not your real name is it?
Imagine that --- even though you try to deny it in order to defend Daddy Apple, it turns out that you're an "important spy guy" too --- just like me.
But Apple knows exactly who you are and where you are right now, where you live, work, shop, eat, play, travel, who you spend time with, where you post anonymous comments and how much you earn and spend.
Apple probably knows you better than Mrs. ulfw. Speaking of which, they probably have photos of the two of you, maybe even audio of you doing the nasty. Hopefully you're not fooling around on Mrs. ulfw or hiding money from her. You know she can subpoena your Apple data file for the divorce proceedings.
I'm sure Apple will send you a "thank you" for surrendering and allowing them to make a few extra bucks each month subverting your worthless privacy. They really need the extra cash.
And the fact that you either don't know or choose to ignore it doesn't make it any less so.
https://www.unbundledlegalhelp.com/blog/can-divorce-lawyers-...
I don't think its unreasonable to have a strong skepticism and even hearty distrust of these platforms which have been invited into our lives, ostensibly for the benefit of mankind, only to be treated rather callously in the best instances and negligently in the worst.
No, the op is not important. I am not important and on a grand scale individuals are rarely influential in general. I reject that somebody needs to have some kind of spy's double life to demand basic decency wrt their literal moment-to-moment physical status and location.
I buy Apple because I trust it's walled garden.
Just because people might want to use alternatives doesn’t force you to do the same.
In the same vein, Google users can use multiple stores, but most just use Google Play.