This is the smartwatch I own. True netrunners know that the tech we wear on (or under) our skin is a prime entry vector for ever hungry megacorps to bleed the pulsing data from our digital veins, so having a wearable I have full control over is of paramount importance. I can flash it with new firmware whenever I want, the multiple open source options available are all an open book to any hacker worth their cyberlinguistic salt, and I can know for a fact that it won’t phone home with my location or other data to any corporation behind the scenes. If we are all going to be cyborgs integrating technology onto and eventually into our bodies, better to control that tech ourselves!
You should watch this video about how much invasive user data MacOS collects and sends (in plaintext) to Apple’s servers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMc5zgALLiY
And this one, about App Store tracking and them ignoring privacy settings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=016QGxOsjQY
And read this NYT article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/19/opinion/apple-iphone-privacy.html
That’s for iMessage. And you can get identical functionality from Signal on any Android phone with a secure element (like a Pixel). They don’t encrypt iCloud backups, and regularly turn that info in to the government. And, ironically, those iCloud backups include messages, which aren’t stored on their servers encrypted! According to the NYT: “Apple also has access to text messages that it says are otherwise encrypted when they are backed up in iCloud, a workaround that’s apparently necessary to aid law enforcement.”
Not remotely. That would be GrapheneOS on a Pixel or CalyxOS on another Android phone. Apple is good in comparison to other stock vendors, sure. But it isn’t the best option. Also, maybe read their privacy policy sometime: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww. It’s enlightening stuff. They collect a lot, and use it for whatever they want as long as it doesn’t leave Apple (or the businesses its partnered with).
Maybe not: “Apple is also building out its own online advertising business, portions of which a French privacy watchdog said may run afoul of European laws. The agency said that Apple doesn’t appear to require users’ consent for tracking, as it now does from other app makers, meaning it could benefit from the targeted advertising that its do-not-track feature is meant to hinder.” (From the NYT article)
After all, why would a megacorporation turn down the opportunity to milk more profit out of their very captive (have you ever tried to get an Apple person to leave their walled garden?) income source? Remember, this is /c/cyberpunk lol