
"Full-range driver and dual passive radiators! " No idea what that means but Apple makes that sounds like the coolest thing ever in these little round, colorful globes of a smart speaker. The HomePod Mini comes in five colors with four built-in smart microphones to listen for all those, "Hey Siri" requests. Apple promises anything you say after "Hey Siri" is encrypted and associated to a random identifier on Apple's servers though, so hopefully your voice requests are safe. And iPhone owners, you're in luck! Apple says personalized listening suggestions will appear magically on your iPhone when you hold it next to your Homepod without having to unlock your phone. There goes the privacy of your playlist.
Co się może stać, jeśli coś pójdzie nie tak?
Apple does a pretty good job with privacy and security as a company. They have had some serious security issues, including one in 2022 that could allow hackers to take complete control of iPhones, iPads, and Macs. And another bad security vulnerability that resulted in spyware that could allow bad actors to record calls and messages and even turn the device camera and microphone on without the user knowing. The good thing with Apple and security is, they seem to take these security breaches seriously, jump and fix them immediately, and communicate pretty well with users on what they need to do to stay safe. So keep those devices updated folks! And take those security warnings seriously when you get them. This is also a good reminder that even the best companies can be vulnerable to high-level security bugs and breaches.
On the privacy front, yes, Apple is generally better than other Big Tech companies (cough, Meta, cough cough, Amazon, cough Samsung), when it comes to privacy. They aren’t perfect, of course, but they do seem to do a better job at collecting less data because they aren’t trying to sell as many ads as Google and Facebook (yet, at least).
Apple says they can collect things like name, email address, age, location, device information, contact information, and more. The good news is, Apple says they treat all this information as personal information. So, things like device ID and the like are treated as securely as your name and age. That’s good. And Apple says they don’t share or sell your data, which is also good. They do say they can share your data with some third parties such as business partners, service providers, and others as you give your permission. For the most part, this sharing looks pretty normal for the services they provide.
And Apple does say they can target you with some personalized ads on their platforms. Apple delivers ads to you on Apple News or App Store, and gives you the option to opt-out of these personalized ads using your Apple ID, which will opt you out of these ads across all Apple devices. However, keep an eye on how Apple does their ads business. Right now it’s not too worrisome to us, but that could be changing as they look to grow their ad revenue.
When it comes to AI voice assistants, Siri is a bit more privacy conscious than others like Amazon’s Alexa. Apple says they take special care to make sure your Siri requests aren't associated with you, which is great. And in 2021, Apple made a positive change for your Siri voice requests -- many audio requests for things like setting timers or alarms or controlling music are no longer sent over the internet to their servers, instead they are processed directly on the HomePod. And any information used to personalize things for you across your Apple devices is synced over iCloud using end-to-end encryption. All this is good for your privacy. Apple did face backlash in 2019 when it came to light their contractors were regularly listening in on confidential personal conversations when they were reviewing the voice assistant's recordings. Apple changed their policy so users weren't automatically opted-in to human voice review.
What’s the worst that could happen? Well, Apple isn’t perfect, they could do better. And they seem to be looking to grow their ad business. This is a good time to remind people that Apple’s privacy policy -- as do almost all the privacy policies we read -- has a clause that says, “We may also disclose information about you where there is a lawful basis for doing so, if we determine that disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce our terms and conditions or to protect our operations or users, or in the event of a reorganization, merger, or sale.” So, while Apple is pretty good now, there is no guarantee that Apple won’t reorganize their business or change their privacy practices in the future. Then that personal information you trust them with now could become more vulnerable or more valuable. Here’s hoping Apple keeps being one of the better ones out there though. 🤞🏼
Wskazówki, jak się chronić
- You can say “Hey Siri, stop listening” to turn off speech recognition for a period of time.
- Check out Apple HomePod privacy controls.
- You can turn off location services on your HomePod, too.
- Before you give HomePod to someone else, you should remove it from the Home app.
- Use your device privacy controls to limit access to your personal information via app (do not give access to your camera, microphone, images and videos)
- Keep your app regularly updated
- Limit ad tracking via your device (eg on iPhone go to Privacy -> Advertising -> Limit ad tracking) and biggest ad networks (for Google, go to Google account and turn off ad personalization)
Czy może mnie podsłuchiwać?
Aparat
Urządzenie: Nie
Aplikacja: Nie dotyczy
Mikrofon
Urządzenie: Tak
Aplikacja: Nie dotyczy
Śledzi położenie
Urządzenie: Nie
Aplikacja: Nie dotyczy
Czego można użyć do rejestracji?
Tak
Telefon
Nie
Konto firmy trzeciej
Nie
Jakie dane zbiera ta firma?
Osobiste
Name, email, phone number, address
Związane z ciałem
Społecznościowe
Contacts
Jak ta firma wykorzystuje te dane?
Jak możesz kontrolować swoje dane?
Jaka jest znana historia tej firmy w zakresie ochrony danych użytkowników?
In 2022, Apple identified and patched serious security vulnerabilities, one that could allow hackers take full control of iOS devices.
In 2022, Apple allegedly gave user data to hackers who faked being law enforcement and forged requests for information.
In 2021, Apple had a recent serious spyware security vulnerability called Pegaus that infected iPhones and other Apple devices.
In 2021, a major data leak was reported of 61 million fitness tracker data records, including Apple's Healthkit data, by the third party company GetHealth. In September 2021, a group of security researchers discovered GetHealth had an unsecured database containing over 61 million records related to wearable technology and fitness services. GetHealth accessed health data belonging to wearable device users around the world and leaked it in an non-password protected, unencrypted database. The list contained names, birthdates, weight, height, gender, and geographical location, as well as other medical data, such as blood pressure.
Informacje o prywatności dziecka
Czy ten produkt może być używany bez połączenia z siecią?
Przyjazne dla użytkownika informacje o prywatności?
Apple has a webpage highlighting its privacy principles and features. Apple begins its privacy policy with a statement of principles. While this statement is very long, it is clearly broken out into relevant topics.
Odnośniki do informacji o prywatności
Czy ten produkt spełnia nasze minimalne standardy bezpieczeństwa?
Szyfrowanie
Uses encryption in transit and at rest.
Silne hasło
Aktualizacje zabezpieczeń
Zajmuje się problemami z bezpieczeństwem
Apple has a bug bounty program.
Zasady ochrony prywatności
Some of Apple's AI research can be found at https://machinelearning.apple.com/.
Czy tej sztucznej inteligencji nie można ufać?
Jakie decyzje sztuczna inteligencja podejmuje o Tobie lub za Ciebie?
Apple states in its privacy policy, "Apple does not take any decisions involving the use of algorithms or profiling that significantly affect you." Apple employs machine learning in many different ways, from using it to to improve Siri to using it to sharpen the photos that you take.
Czy firma jest przejrzysta w kwestii działania sztucznej inteligencji?
Czy użytkownik ma kontrolę nad funkcjami sztucznej inteligencji?
Dowiedz się więcej
-
Apple says it prioritizes privacy. Experts say gaps remainThe Guardian
-
Apple’s Privacy Mythology Doesn’t Match RealityWired
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Apple’s Illusion of Privacy Is Getting Harder to SellThe New York Times
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Apple is sneaking around its own privacy policy — and will regret itComputer World
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Apple Still Has a Privacy ProblemPC Magazine
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Apple’s privacy-centric brand image takes a hit as it scrambles to fix security bugsThe Drum
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61M Fitbit, Apple Users Had Data Exposed in Wearable Device Data BreachHealth IT Security
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Apple security flaw ‘actively exploited’ by hackers to fully control devicesThe Guardian
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Apple Issues Emergency Security Updates to Close a Spyware FlawThe New York Times
-
Security News This Week: Fake Cops Scammed Apple and Meta to Get User DataWired
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Apple and Meta Gave User Data to Hackers Who Used Forged Legal RequestsBloomberg
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Apple warns of security flaws in iPhones, iPads and MacsNPR
-
Apple Is an Ad Company NowWired
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Apple’s AI plan: a thousand small conveniencesThe Verge
-
Apple overhauls Siri to address privacy concerns and improve performanceThe Guardian
-
Apple Data Breaches: Full Timeline Through 2021Firewall Times
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