Apple Privacy Debate

Discussions center on whether Apple's strong emphasis on user privacy is authentic or primarily a marketing tactic, with skeptics accusing them of data harvesting and defenders highlighting their business model that avoids selling user data unlike Google.

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Keywords

VP FB DNS HN stratechery.com SW BERT CASM FAIR YouTube apple privacy care privacy user privacy data care apple devices google cares products

Sample Comments

gloryjulio Oct 29, 2022 View on HN

Apple is not protecting anyone's data - they are using data for themselves. They are exempted from their own terms and they are expanding selling ads. U r just changing the different overlords. I wish more people could understand this and I would rather choose Google in this regard

blatchcorn Jun 4, 2019 View on HN

Apple is a 'use all of our products, or else we will make life inconvenient for you' company. The fact that this happens to offer some privacy benefits is just a strategy credit[1][1] https://stratechery.com/2013/strategy-credit/

tokyodude Apr 7, 2019 View on HN

see post above yours. Apple is not protecting your privacy. in fact they are explicitly disallowing your privacy to be protected.

fragmede Jul 29, 2024 View on HN

there's that privacy thing that Apple's kinda known for?

zpeti Oct 26, 2021 View on HN

You mean apple isn't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts and belief in privacy. Wow!

yreg Jul 24, 2023 View on HN

Privacy standpoint is the Apple standpoint.

doctorpangloss Oct 30, 2024 View on HN

Privacy is the new obscenity. What does privacy even mean to you concretely? Answer the question with no additional drama, and I guarantee you either Apple doesn’t deliver what you are asking for, or you are using services from another company, like Google, in a way that the actions speak that you don’t really care about what you are asking for.

arccy Feb 22, 2025 View on HN

because Apple privacy is just marketing, they just want you to pay for it, they don't really care if it's possible to do better for free / by others

SmellyGeekBoy Jul 23, 2019 View on HN

Apple are harvesting just as much data, they're just being less evil with it... For now.

Aleklart Sep 12, 2023 View on HN

May be Apple care about privacy?