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Comment by beeboobaa3 | Hacker News Reader

Especially considering how these big tech companies seem obsessed with gobbling up communication, and seem to want all of their users communication to go through them.

Sure, Apple makes grandiose statements about its security and privacy. But they are protecting you from others. Apple has the keys to the kingdom and if they want they can just silently push a targeted software update to your device.

They can make your phone send messages you never typed. They can make your phone show you things that never happened. They could trivially influence an election, and it doesn't even take the entire org being in on it.

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Everything you said is hypothetically true but fails to withstand scrutiny.

Apple has a brand of trust and security. If they decided to become even the tiniest bit evil in that dimension their “secure” brand would evaporate overnight.

Unless you think they control all media and levers to power too?

The org has that brand. Could be that a small part of the org with access to the correct tech has different ideas. Like I said, the entire org doesn't have to be in on it.

I don't actually believe this is actually happening, but it could.

What, if they did something like set up a massive ad sales team after banning FBs competing tools and literally went to all the gaming advertisers and told them that Apple would still let them target on payment status?

Something like that, perhaps?

Fortunately we live in a world where corporations are never hypocrites, so that definitely didn't happen.

First off, I’m far more concerned about end-user security and privacy than anti-competitive moves.

For the latter I’m sure the FTC will cover that in their antitrust suit.

Secondly do you have a link for your targeting claims?

I hope this does get covered in the suits, but im sceptical.

The targeting stuff was all verbal communication from Apple sales reps, i dont have a link.

> They can make your phone send messages you never typed. They can make your phone show you things that never happened.

How many microseconds do you think it'd take before someone noticed and made it into a huge PR nightmare?

If it was well targeted and thought out? We'd be lucky if someone even realized it happened. And even then, they'll probably just blame it on a hack from $OTHERCOUNTRY

Apple, we "care about privacy". But we will take billions of dollar every year to keep your data funneled towards Google via the defaults.

Steve Jobs was barely out the door before Cook ran to allow PRISM access, something Job's had fought against for years.

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