I skimmed that list, and Devil's Advocate; It seems like most of that is functional, stuff that they want to update in the background to make sure you have a better experience when you're back?
On the flip, I guess we think Apple is up to something shady? My last understanding was that they were firm they didn't sell user data. Did this change?
It's important to note that, generally speaking, Linux software does not come with default-enabled telemetry, and for those that do, distros like Debian will routinely patch out phoning home and telemetry from the software they package.
Now install Spotify, VSCode, Steam for Linux and you will see the same kind of chatter with backend services.
Some of us would call this a feature. I am quite happy to have control over my computer and the data on it without having to trust third party cloud services.
- Cloud Drive
- Up to date Weather/News
- Malware checks
- System update checks
- Push Notifications
and more.
Before you say "I don't care about News", sure but lots of people do and everyone has a different subset of the network-traffic-causing features. Yes, this means many things are "on by default" but, again, that's what the average consumer wants. HN is a completely different crowd with, sometimes, different wants/needs as compared to the average user.
"What about the news widget?" I find it difficult to believe the average user even remembers the news widget exists in Mac OS since it's hidden away in a non-obvious panel.
The most compelling cases for phoning home are OS updates and Drive like services, but at the end of the day this should all be easy to disable should the user want to.
> HN is a completely different crowd
Yes, HN is filled with the very worst kind of techbros who regularly defend bad practices under the guise of saving the average consumer from themselves.
yes this. learning about the user-aligned patching in debian's chromium made me feel like I had made the right choice with desktop linux
My understanding is they have a long term relationship with Google worth about $20 billion a year. Other than money, does anyone really know the full extent of what they exchange?
Maybe this doesn't technically count as "selling" your data but it certainly counts as selling access to something important to Google --- which most likely, ultimately involves your data.
In other words, I don't believe Google pays them $20B to help maintain user privacy
There is very little go on beyond general mistrust when it comes to belief that Apple might be selling customer data. Make no mistake, Apple spies on its users almost just as much as other tech companies. The difference looks to be that Apple keeps it all to themselves.
I'd wager Windows does something similar. Linux distros may do it, but also may not since they may not be obsessed with happy eyeball problems and user perception of speed/latency.