Lit Apple Mac, iPhone, iPad User Group

[sandysgeek]

Facebook encourages iOS 14.5 users to enable tracking so apps remain ‘free of charge

Now that iOS 14.5 has been released to the public, we’re starting to get a closer look at how various companies are implementing the new App Tracking Transparency privacy requirement. Perhaps most notably, the Verge has details on the popup message Facebook and Instagram are using to encourage users to choose the “Allow” option when prompted about tracking…

Facebook had been a vocal opponent to App Tracking Transparency, which is a new feature in iOS 14.5 that requires developers ask permission from users before tracking them across other apps and websites. Despite Facebook’s opposition, however, the company has no choice but to comply now that iOS 14.5 is publicly available.

In the popup message, Facebook explains that iOS 14.5 requires developers to “ask for permission to track some data from this device to improve your ads.” The message details three ways that users benefit from this type of data collection:

• Show you ads that are more personalized
  
  
• Help keep Instagram/Facebook free of charge
  
  
• Support businesses that rely on ads to reach their customers

Facebook refers to these popups as “educational screens.” They will appear to users immediately before the iOS 14.5 App Tracking Transparency prompt. The second bullet point is especially interesting because there have been no indications that Facebook plans to offer paid versions of its applications.

To help people make a more informed decision, we’re also showing a screen of our own, along with Apple’s. It will provide more information about how we use personalized ads, which support small businesses and keep apps free. If you accept the prompts for Facebook and Instagram, the ads you see on those apps won’t change. If you decline, you will still see ads, but they will be less relevant to you. Agreeing to these prompts doesn’t result in Facebook collecting new types of data. It just means that we can continue to give people better experiences.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that it is against Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines to offer users incentives for enabling tracking. Facebook is not offering an incentive, but rather an explanation on why it collects the data it collects.

Don’t offer incentives for granting the request. You can’t offer people compensation for granting their permission, and you can’t withhold functionality or content or make your app unusable until people allow you to track them.

Facebook says the prompts will begin rolling out in Instagram and Facebook applications over the coming days and weeks, so you might not see them right away.

 

[sandysgeek]

This was written last Wednesday, but didn't see until yesterday



Update Your Mac Now: The ‘Worst Hack In Years’ Hits Apple Computers

Apple’s macOS has been hacked by adware cybercriminals, and MacBook owners are being urged to patch as soon as possible.


Apple Mac users are being urged to update their macOS software now, as they’re at “grave risk” of hackers exploiting what’s been described as one of the worst vulnerabilities to affect the tech giant’s computers in years. Malware that takes advantage of the bug has been hitting Macs since at least January, making patching all the more urgent.

The hacks effectively take Mac security back a decade, according to Patrick Wardle, a former NSA analyst and a macOS security expert, who described it as one of the worst security issues to have ever hit the Apple operating system. Malicious hackers can and have created malware that, though unsigned, is misclassified by Apple’s operating system, thanks to a logic error in macOS’ code. That means malware can skip all the checks done by Apple’s security mechanisms like Gatekeeper and File Quarantine, which are designed to stop any unapproved, dangerous apps from running.

There’s one caveat: The hackers have to convince a user to download or run an app that’s not in the App Store or allowed by Apple. But once that’s done, the malware won’t be stopped installing by the Mac’s defensive tools, though macOS should stop any changes to critical system files and ask the user if the app can access photos, the mic or other systems. For anyone still running an unpatched macOS, Wardle’s advice was simple: “Don’t open anything from anybody.”

It affects all recent versions of macOS but Apple has released a patch that prevents the attacks. Version Big Sur 11.3 is available now and contains other fixes besides addressing this bug.

To Wardle, it’s startling Apple ever shipped the code in the first place. “it undermines so much of Apple’s security efforts. Clearly this code was never audited,” he told Forbes. “It’s trivial to weaponize 100% reliably.”

An Apple spokesperson said the company has now addressed the issue in macOS 11.3 and updated XProtect, its malware detection, to block the malware using this technique. That XProtect update will happen automatically and retroactively apply to older versions of macOS.

The bug was first reported to Apple by security researcher Cedric Owens, who discovered it in mid-March. He found that certain scripts within apps were not checked by Gatekeeper. That came after he discovered Appify, a legitimate tool that had also managed to get past Gatekeeper checks back in 2011 with a tool allowing developers to create simple macOS apps with just a script. When Owens copied those techniques and tested his mock malware, he did it on an up-to-date macOS with the Gatekeeper settings set to the most restrictive. When he clicked on the download, it ran without any of the popups that should’ve warned he was about to run unapproved software. That gave him remote control over the test Mac.

Owens informed Apple, which fixed the bug in beta versions of the new Big Sur OS this week. He tested it himself and confirmed the latest version is secure from his attack.


Shlayer attacks

But by the time Owens had informed Apple, malicious hackers had already started exploiting the issue, according to Jaron Bradley, a Mac expert at cybersecurity company Jamf, which published research into the attacks on Monday. He said that as early as January 9, 2021, hackers running a known macOS malware called Shlayer had discovered and started using the zero-day vulnerability (one that hasn’t been patched at the time of exploitation.) The malware’s ultimate goal is to install adware on Macs, earning money for the fraudsters per faked clicks and views on advertisements. Often, Shlayer is installed on victims’ Macs via fake app installers or updaters. “Shlayer continues to be one of the most active and prevalent malware families for macOS,” added Bradley.

It’s unclear who else found out about the bug and why they started hacking Macs. It’s also unknown just how many users have been hit.

Though not a cybercrime target on the same level of Microsoft’s Windows platform, Macs do come under attack. In one recent hack, where a mysterious malware known as Silver Sparrow targeted the new M1 Macs, as many as 30,000 Apple PCs were breached.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple confirms outage affecting Find My, Mail, and other iCloud apps

Another week, another problem. Following an Apple Music and iTunes outage last week, Apple confirmed on Tuesday that some of its services are now partially offline. This includes Find My, iCloud Mail, iCloud Contacts, and iCloud settings.

The confirmation was shared on the System Status page on Apple’s website and was confirmed by 9to5Mac. While some users may notice that these iCloud apps are slow, others may not even be able to access them right now.

According to Apple, the issues started around 2 p.m. ET. However, the company didn’t provide a timeframe to fix the outage in iCloud services. Here’s how Apple describes today’s outage:

Some users are affected. This service may be slow or unavailable. Users may be experiencing a problem with this service.

 

[sandysgeek]

Android apps send student data to very high-risk third parties 8x more often than iOS

Report: Android apps send student data to ‘very high-risk’ third parties 8x more often than iOS

A new study published today takes an in-depth look at how apps used in schools are sharing children’s data with third parties. The research found the majority of school apps transmit data and that Android is 8x more likely to be sending that data to “very high-risk” third parties than iOS.

The new study was performed and published by the Me2B Alliance, a nonprofit with the goal of “fostering the respectful treatment of people by technology.” It included a random sample of 73 mobile apps used by 38 schools, “covering at least a half a million people (students, their families, educators, etc.) who use those apps.”

In the big picture including both iOS and Android, Me2B found 6 out of 10 school apps send student data to third parties and that on average, “each app sent data to 10.6 third-party data channels.”

The analysis found that the majority (60%) of school apps were sending student data to a variety of third parties. These included advertising platforms such as Google, to which about half (49%) of the apps were sending student data, as well as Facebook (14%). On average, each app sent data to 10.6 third-party data channels.

But getting more specific, the study revealed Android is a much bigger culprit than iOS.

91% of Android apps send data to high-risk third parties compared to only 26% of iOS apps, and 20% of Android apps sent data to very high-risk third parties, compared to 2.6% of iOS apps.

That means Android is 3.5x more likely than iOS to share student data with high-risk third parties and 8x more likely to share with very high-risk third parties.

Me2B says that Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature that launched with iOS 14.5 reduces the risk of profile building on Apple devices by third parties and “increases the ‘respectfulness gap’ between iOS and Android apps.” However, the report says that ATT in iOS “may not fully remove the risk of profile building.”

Another concern is that the Me2B researchers believe “upwards of 95% of the third-party data channels are active even when the user isn’t signed in.”

The report also called out both Google and Apple for not detailing what third parties apps share data with:

Further, neither the Google Play Store nor the Apple App Store include details on which third parties are receiving data, leaving users no practical way to understand to whom their data is going, which may well be the most important piece of information for people to make informed decisions about app usage.

Me2B’s key takeaways from the study:

• There is an unacceptable amount of student data sharing with third parties – particularly advertisers and analytics platforms – in school apps.
  
  
• School apps – whether iOS or Android, public or private schools – should not include third-party data channels.
  
  
• iOS apps were found to be safer than Android apps, and with ongoing improvements the “privacy gap” between iOS and Android apps is expected to widen unless Google makes some changes.
  
  
• People still have too little information about which third parties they’re sharing data with, and the app stores (Apple and Google Play) must make this information clearer.

You can read the full study on Me2B’s website here.

 

[sandysgeek]

Comment: Facebook has changed my mind on App Tracking

I have always seemed to be one of the few people in the tech world who had no objection to App Tracking, but Facebook has finally succeeded in changing my mind.

Just not in quite the way the company intended …


Ad revenue pays developers and websites

Many useful things in life are paid for by ads, whether it’s free services like Gmail or a huge chunk of the web (including this site). I view online ads as an acceptable entry price, especially when you consider the real-life alternative.

Any time you ask people whether they’d be willing to pay a small monthly sum to use an online service, or visit a favorite website, and not have ads, the answer is invariably “yes.” Sums that people say they are willing to pay typically range from $2 to $10.

However, closer questioning quickly reveals that this is a myth. People have no idea just how many online services and websites they use regularly until you have them examine their browsing history to find out. At that point, it becomes clear that all of those small monthly payments would add up to literally hundreds of dollars a month, just for the sites they use most frequently.

So ads are a necessary evil. (Sure, you can use ad-blockers, but that’s like walking into a store and saying you want the products they sell, but prefer not to pay for them, so you’ll just help yourself and walk straight out.)


Personalized ads generate more revenue

The question, then, is what type of ads you see: ones that are likely to have at least some relevance to you, or totally random ones?

Of course, personalized ad systems are far from perfect. Very often they will show me ads that correctly reflect one of my interests, but are for products or brands I’d never buy. On the occasions they are spot on, they are usually showing me an ad for something I’ve either recently bought, or considered and then rejected. (I’m an efficient shopper: For anything but really expensive purchases, I do my research and then buy immediately.)

But I have no philosophical objection to personalized ads. Indeed, I’d rather see ads that are at least in the right kind of ballpark than ones for makeup or curtains or football. Unlike non-techies, I know how ad-tracking works. I know that advertisers know me only as iOS user 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 (or whatever my IDFA might be). They know that 30255BCE-4CDA-4F62-91DC-4758FDFF8512 has visited websites for filmmaking kit, which triggers them to show me their idea of relevant ads.

That’s always been fine with me. I know that personalized ads are worth more to app developers and web publishers than generic ones, so I’ve always viewed it as a win-win. I get a higher chance of seeing ads for things that interest me, and developers and websites make more money.


Facebook’s disingenuous App Tracking prompt

But when I saw Facebook’s utterly disingenuous prompt text, implying that it would have to start charging a subscription if users didn’t allow app tracking, that crossed a line for me.

This version of iOS requires us to ask for permission to track some data from this device to improve your ads. Learn how we limit the use of this information if you don’t turn on this device setting. We use information about your activity received from other apps and websites to: Show you ads that are more personalized; Help keep Facebook free of charge

I should say I fully accept the possibility that Facebook might offer a subscription option to users. But there is no way in the world that it would ever start charging every Facebook user. Indeed, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has even testified to Congress to this effect.

There will always be a version of Facebook that is free

So Facebook’s permission text is, in essence, a bald-faced lie that attempts to bully or blackmail users into granting permission. I’m not going to reward that behavior, so – for me at least – it totally backfired. I would have been perfectly willing to grant permission, but the company’s deceptive behavior persuaded me to instead deny it. I look forward to the ads for diapers and bird-watching.

 

[sandysgeek]

Facebook and Signal are fighting over an ad campaign. Here’s why

Facebook, the world’s largest social media platform, found itself in a public dispute with communications app Signal this week over an ad campaign.

The encrypted messaging service — a non-profit that rivals Facebook-owned WhatsApp — said in a blog on Tuesday that Facebook had blocked one of its ad campaigns on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

The campaign was designed to show Instagram users the amount of data that Instagram and parent firm Facebook collect on users.

“We created a multi-variant targeted ad designed to show you the personal data that Facebook collects about you and sells access to,” Signal wrote. “The ad would simply display some of the information collected about the viewer, which the advertising platform uses.”

Signal used Instagram’s own adtech tools to target the ads at users. Here is example text of one of the ads from Signal: “You got this ad because you’re a teacher, but more importantly you’re a Leo (and single). This ad used your location to see you’re in Moscow. You like to support sketch comedy, and this ad thinks you do drag.”

Signal said that Facebook “wasn’t into that idea” and claimed that its ad account had been disabled as a result.

“Being transparent about how ads use people’s data is apparently enough to get banned,” Signal wrote. “In Facebook’s world, the only acceptable usage is to hide what you’re doing from your audience.”

Facebook described the ad campaign as a stunt and claimed that Signal had never actually tried to run the Instagram campaign.

“This is a stunt by Signal, who never even tried to actually run these ads — and we didn’t shut down their ad account for trying to do so,” a Facebook spokesperson told CNBC on Thursday.

“If Signal had tried to run the ads, a couple of them would have been rejected because our advertising policies prohibit ads that assert that you have a specific medical condition or sexual orientation, as Signal should know. But of course, running the ads was never their goal — it was about getting publicity.”

Signal countered on Twitter that it “absolutely did” try to run the ads. “The ads were rejected, and Facebook disabled our ad account. These are real screenshots, as Facebook should know.”

Joe Osborne, a Facebook spokesperson, responded on Twitter on Wednesday saying the screenshots are from early March “when the ad account was briefly disabled for a few days due to an unrelated payments issue.”

Osborne added: “The ads themselves were never rejected as they were never set by Signal to run. The ad account has been available since early March, and the ads that don’t violate our policies could have run since then.”

Signal is funded by Brian Acton, the entrepreneur who sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $22 billion, making himself a billionaire several times over in the process.

Acton left Facebook and WhatsApp in 2017 and later claimed that Facebook was laying the groundwork to show targeted ads and facilitate commercial messaging in WhatsApp.

Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal (Facebook - Cambridge Analytica a timeline of the data hijacking scandal), Acton tweeted: “It is time. #deletefacebook.”

Venture capitalist Bill Gurley said on Thursday that the Signal vs. Facebook story is “remarkable.”

“The biggest threat to Facebook is a non-profit funded by WhatsApp founders,” he said. “Such a great story. What was Facebook argument for banning these ads? Too much transparency? My favorite prize fight.”

 

[sandysgeek]

Video: Apple highlights iPhone 12 camera with new Everyday Experiments: ‘Full Bloom’

Apple’s “Experiments” videos using the iPhone have produced some really neat results over the last few years and now the latest in the series is out with a spring theme: “Full Boom.” Check out the fascinating footage the iPhone 12 was able to capture in the new video below.

We saw some impressive Everyday Experiments last fall shortly after the iPhone 12 lineup launched including “Balloons + Slo-mo, “Oil + Water + Macro,” and “Glow-sticker + Night mode.”

Now Apple is out with the latest installment that it commissioned the media company Incite to create titled Everyday Experiments: Full Bloom.

Celebrate spring’s colors, life, and growth with iPhone 12.

The 3-minute video highlights some really sharp shots and includes behind-the-scenes commentary and footage of how they did it all with stop motion, slo-mo, and time-lapse.

Shot on iPhone 12 — Everyday Experiments: Full Bloom | Apple - 3:02

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Koj3N4cupNE

 

[sandysgeek]

Biggest ISPs paid for 8.5 million fake FCC comments opposing net neutrality

Not real, not spectacular —

ISP-funded astroturfing used millions of real names and faked consent records.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on December 14, 2017, in Washington, DC, the day of the FCC's vote to repeal net neutrality rules.



The largest Internet providers in the US funded a campaign that generated "8.5 million fake comments" to the Federal Communications Commission as part of the ISPs' fight against net neutrality rules during the Trump administration, according to a report issued Thursday by New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

Nearly 18 million out of 22 million comments were fabricated, including both pro- and anti-net neutrality submissions, the report said. One 19-year-old submitted 7.7 million pro-net neutrality comments under fake, randomly generated names. But the astroturfing effort funded by the broadband industry stood out because it used real people's names without their consent, with third-party firms hired by the industry faking consent records, the report said.

The NY AG's office began its investigation in 2017 and said it faced stonewalling from then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, who refused requests for evidence. But after a years-long process of obtaining and analyzing "tens of thousands of internal emails, planning documents, bank records, invoices, and data comprising hundreds of millions of records," the NY AG said it "found that millions of fake comments were submitted through a secret campaign, funded by the country's largest broadband companies, to manufacture support for the repeal of existing net neutrality rules using lead generators."

It was clear before Pai completed the repeal in December 2017 that millions of people—including dead people—were impersonated in net neutrality comments. Even industry-funded research found that 98.5 percent of genuine comments opposed Pai's deregulatory plan. But today's report reveals more details about how many comments were fake and how the broadband industry was involved.

"The broadband industry could not, in fact, rely on grassroots support for its campaign because the public overwhelmingly supported robust net neutrality rules," the report noted. "So the broadband industry tried to manufacture support for repeal by hiring companies to generate comments for a fee."


Comcast, Charter, and AT&T biggest ISPs in group

The AG report said the industry campaign was run through Broadband for America (BFA), an umbrella group that includes Comcast, Charter, AT&T, Cox, and CenturyLink. Broadband for America also includes three trade groups, namely CTIA–The Wireless Association, NCTA–The Internet & Television Association, and the Telecommunications Industry Association. Verizon isn't listed as a Broadband for America member, but it is part of the CTIA.

"BFA hid its role in the campaign by recruiting anti-regulation advocacy groups—unrelated to the broadband industry—to serve as the campaign's public faces," the AG report said.

The "primary funders" of Broadband for America's anti-net neutrality campaign "included an industry trade group and three companies that are among the biggest players in the United States Internet, phone, and cable market, with more than 65 million American subscribers among them and a combined market value of approximately half a trillion dollars," the report said.

Comcast, Charter, and AT&T are the biggest members of Broadband for America. Comcast has 31.1 million residential customers in the broadband, phone, and TV categories combined. Charter has 29.4 million such customers. AT&T has 14.1 million Internet customers and 15.9 million TV customers, but it's not clear how much overlap there is between those two categories given that many DirecTV users don't live in AT&T's wireline territory.

The AG report mentions Comcast, Charter, and AT&T specifically without naming other providers. The sole mention of those ISPs came in a sentence saying, "Net neutrality refers to the principle that the companies that deliver Internet service to your home, business, and mobile phone, such as AT&T, Comcast, and Charter (often referred to as Internet service providers, ISPs, or broadband providers), should not discriminate among content on the Internet."


No “direct knowledge” of fraud

With broadband companies having used third-party vendors to conduct the campaign, the AG said it found no evidence that ISPs themselves "had direct knowledge" of the fraudulent behavior. The broadband companies spent $8.2 million on their anti-net neutrality campaign, including $4.2 million to submit the 8.5 million comments to the FCC and a half-million letters to Congress, the report said.

"The vast majority of the funding came from three of the nation's largest broadband companies, with one company contributing 47 percent of the budget and two other companies and a trade group contributing 16 percent each," the report said. "Another broadband company and two other trade groups each contributed 1 percent to 2 percent."

Anti-net neutrality comments were supposed to provide "cover" to Pai.

"The broadband group believed this support—in conjunction with press outreach, social media campaigns, and coordinated filings from the broadband industry and free-market economists— would 'give [FCC Chairman Ajit] Pai volume and intellectual cover' for repeal," the AG's report said. "Indeed, one broadband industry executive—himself a former chairman of the FCC—advised members of BFA's executive committee, in an email, that 'we want to make sure Pai can get those comments in so he can talk about the large number of comments supporting his position.'" The NCTA is led by former FCC Chairman Michael Powell. a Republican who opposes net neutrality rules and who led an FCC vote in 2002 that prevented common-carrier regulation of cable Internet service.



18 million comments “were entirely fabricated”

Overall, nearly 18 million out of over 22 million comments "were entirely fabricated and did not reflect people's real viewpoints, with more than 8.5 million of those comments using the names and personal information of real people without their knowledge or consent," the report said.

More than 7.7 million fake comments supporting net neutrality were submitted by "a 19-year-old college student in California pursuing a degree in computer science," the report said. Another 1.6 million fake comments supporting net neutrality were submitted by "an unknown party."

While the numbers of fake comments were roughly equal in "supporting" or "opposing" net neutrality, the NY AG report said the broadband industry's campaign to generate fake comments opposing net neutrality was unique in that the "campaign organizers ignored red flags of fraud and impersonation."

"Fraudulent comments that also impersonate individuals, like the millions of comments submitted by the broadband industry, compound the harm by subverting individuals' policy preferences and control over their own identities," the report said.

The 19-year-old's campaign supporting net neutrality generated fake comments but didn't include impersonation, the report said:

A 19-year old college student who opposed the repeal of net neutrality was able to file over 7.7 million pro-neutrality comments with the FCC. Unlike the broadband industry efforts described above that used the names and addresses of real people without their consent, these comments used fabricated names and addresses generated by software. The FCC had few safeguards in place to detect or prevent millions of submissions from a single source. The OAG [Office of the Attorney General] also identified another group of 1.6 million pro-neutrality comments that were submitted using fictitious identities but has not determined the source of these comments.

The industry's use of third-party vendors apparently shielded them from direct knowledge of illegal behavior, the AG report said:

[T]he conduct of these broadband companies and their lobbying firm raises serious concerns. These companies hid their involvement in a multi-million-dollar campaign that generated what turned out to be millions of fake comments. The OAG's investigation has demonstrated that the broadband companies' campaign organizers ignored several significant red flags as to the authenticity of the comments that were generated and the integrity of the process. Their limited oversight over the lead generators they had engaged, and the campaign as a whole, provided a fertile environment for lead generators to engage in fraud and deception.

Industry campaign faked consent records

The industry plan called for using marketing offers to generate comments. Nearly 80 percent of the broadband-industry comments "were expected to be collected through a type of lead generation known as co-registration. In co-registration, consumers are offered rewards—gift cards, sweepstakes entries, or an e-book of recipes, for example—for providing information about themselves and responding to a series of marketing offers," the report said. "Marketing offers varied widely and included everything from discounted children's movies to free trials of male enhancement products. The broadband industry created solicitations to run alongside these marketing offers, asking consumers to join the campaign opposing net neutrality. Responses would be collected and used to generate comments. The remainder of the comments—roughly 20 percent—were to be generated using online ads placed on websites across the Internet."

A lead generator called Fluent generated "over 5 million digital signatures for its comments," but emails and database records revealed that "Fluent never obtained consent from any individuals to submit a comment on their behalf. In fact, it never asked a single person for their consent," the report said.

Another 2 million names and addresses used in anti-net neutrality comments to the FCC came from five co-registration companies that "fabricated all or nearly all of the records of consent they had provided—1.99 million records out of 2.07 million," the report said. Another company hired by Broadband for America "fabricated all or nearly all of the more than 1.5 million records of consent it claimed to have obtained. The personal information that commenters had purportedly entered had, in fact, merely been copied from other sources, including records that had been stolen in a data breach and dumped online," the report said.


ISPs tried to fake “true grassroots support”

Conservative advocacy groups played a smaller role in the campaign. "To conceal the true source of these comments, the broadband industry created webpages for the conservative-leaning advocacy groups through which visitors could submit comments to the FCC supporting repeal," the report said. "Few comments were submitted through these webpages. But the pages created the impression that comments the FCC received had originated from the advocacy groups' websites and reflected true grassroots support."

Besides the fake comments to the FCC, the "broadband industry also sent more than half a million messages to members of Congress purportedly signed by their constituents," the report said. "Internal emails show that the broadband industry submitted these messages, which voiced support for the FCC's proposal, along with press coverage of the comments the industry had submitted to the FCC, to discourage Congress from interfering with the plan to repeal the rules."



Penalties for lead generators, but not ISPs

The report said there have already been penalties against companies involved in the fake-comment campaign, but not for the Internet providers themselves:

The OAG has been working with law enforcement partners across the country to hold those involved accountable. Three lead generators have already entered into settlements with the OAG: Fluent, Inc., React2Media, Inc., and Opt-Intelligence, Inc. The settlements require the companies to pay $3.7 million, $550,000, and $150,000 respectively, for their misconduct. The settlements also impose comprehensive reforms for any future campaigns to protect consumers and prevent fraudulent comments... Investigations into others that engaged in fraud are ongoing. But prosecution alone will not be enough. Public participation in government, a bedrock of the nation's democracy, is under assault. The identities of millions of Americans have been misused.

The lack of evidence that broadband companies "had direct knowledge of fraud" means that the AG "has not found that they violated New York law," the report said. "That said, red flags were ignored by the campaign organizers and the way that they conducted their campaign—hiding the broadband industry's involvement, relying on lead generators that used commercial incentives to lure people to comment, and paying dubious vendors for volume rather than quality—is troubling and raises important policy questions."

The AG's report urged lawmakers to "strengthen laws to better deter deception and impersonation," and impose "meaningful penalties" for unauthorized comments and impersonation. The report also said that government agencies should "implement technical safeguards against automated submissions," noting that the FCC in mid-2017 had "few, if any, measures in place to prevent people from using automated software to submit comments through its website. As a result, a 19-year-old college student using software was able to single-handedly submit more than 7.7 million fabricated comments in the net neutrality regulatory proceeding." The report acknowledged that "federal agencies have begun to take steps to address the issue" since the net neutrality proceeding.

 

[sandysgeek]

5 Ways to Stop Spam Texts on iPhone

5 ways to stop spam texts on your iPhone or Android phone

If you receive too many spam texts on your phone, you can try a few tricks to stop or reduce them.



Unwanted text messages, while generally not as annoying as telemarketing calls, can be very irritating.

Not only do spam texts clutter your text inbox and distract you with nonsense notifications, but if you don't have unlimited texting with your cellular plan, you might be paying for junk. And some spam messages contain links to potentially dangerous malware.

It pays to try to stop — or at least minimize — spam texts when possible. Here are five steps you can take to filter or block spam texts.


1. Don't respond to unwanted texts

You're probably familiar with the way legitimate sources let you opt out of future text communication by replying "STOP." Many spammers offer you the option to respond with STOP — but don't do it.

Don't text "STOP" unless you know the sender is trustworthy and legitimate.


Spammers use your reply – any reply, including STOP – as a signal that you received your message and are actively engaged in your messages, which can embolden them to send you more messages. Your information can also be sold to other spammers who are looking for "verified active" phone numbers.


2. Report spammers to your cellular provider

One way to counter spam texts is by reporting unwanted texters directly to your phone service provider. For most major carriers — including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon — you can copy the offending message and text it to 7726.

You should receive a reply, which, depending on the carrier, might include a request to send the phone number that the spam came from. This probably won't result in instant results for you, but it will contribute to cleaning up the texting ecosystem for everyone.

You can report potential spam to your phone carrier.


3. Filter potential spammers

Most phones have a setting to automatically filter potential spam texts so they don't appear in the same list with important, legitimate texts from known contacts.

On an iPhone, open the Settings app and tap "Messages." Scroll down and turn on "Filter Unknown Senders" by swiping the button to the right.

On Android, open the Messaging app and tap the three dots at the top right. In the drop-down menu, choose "Settings," and then tap "Spam Protection." Finally, turn on "Enable spam protection" by swiping the button to the right.

4. Block specific spammers

If you get frequent spam from the same phone number, you can use your messaging app to block that number. Don't count on this helping in every situation, though, because most spammers can appear to use a different number each time they reach out to you, so blocking individual numbers may have little effect.

On an iPhone, open the spam text and tap the user icon at the top of the page, then tap "info." On the next page tap "info" again, and then tap "Block this Caller."

5. Use a paid text-blocking app

Hopefully, some combination of the previous tips dramatically reduces the number of spam messages you receive. If you need additional assistance, though, you can turn to an app designed to block spam.

An app like RoboKiller, available for both iPhone and Android, can dramatically reduce the spam you receive, both in the form of phone calls and text messages. These apps aren't free, though. RoboKiller has a 7-day free trial, and then costs either $5 per month or $40 per year.

 

[sandysgeek]

System 7 transformed the Mac on May 13, 1991

When Apple released System 7 three decades ago on May 13, 1991, it was the biggest change to the Mac since the start. While it came with some problems, it also brought us features we still use today.

It was a very different world in 1991. If you were a Mac owner, the release of System 7 was a thrill that had been years in the making. The New York Times even summed up the release by just saying that, "for Macintosh users, a very long wait is over."

This partly because System 7 didn't make a giant impact outside of Mac users, though. It was perhaps seen as more of a catch-up release than Apple would have liked, but if you had been working intensely with System 6, you wanted 7 badly.

And you may have got it badly, too. AppleInsider staff remember the 15 installation floppy disks and very well printed manuals arriving almost as well as we do the problems.


What was wrong with System 7

There were actual bugs, and it was just a few months until an update was released to fix them. But the key issue was that you needed more RAM than you might have.

At the time, that would typically mean that you just couldn't upgrade to a system that required more than you'd got. Except System 7 had a way of using hard disk space as virtual memory, so it allowed you to upgrade. It practically encouraged you.

"There are two basic reasons to upgrade to System 7," said Chris Espinosa, Apple marketing manager, in a video promoting the system to businesses. "One is that you can make every Macintosh in your organization more powerful and easier to use."

Espinosa did then go on to list what "every" Mac should have to make this work. Plus he showed how the upgrade included a compatibility checker that examined your Mac before installation.

This could be the precursor to how today'smacOS will check your system and sideline incompatible apps, leaving them in an "Incompatible Software" or a "Relocated Items" folder. In 1991, the check was done by a HyperCard stack.

Really it was a lookup table based on a list of compatible apps, as reported to Apple by software developers. That was possible back then, three decades ago, as there were somewhat fewer apps for the Mac.

It was such a different world. If your Mac contained software that had not been updated to run under System 7, the HyperCard stack listed it — and included the phone number of the developer.

Introduction to macintosh System 7 July 1991 - 12:07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLO1Oesbo5k



Just as developers have now had to adapt to Apple Silicon — and previously 64-bit apps, Intel and more — so they did have to make some changes to work under System 7. In comparison to whole platform changes, the work was simple, but it still took time for all developers to do it.

Whether people ignored the recommended RAM requirement of 2MB — not a misprint — or whether Apple was optimistic, there were people who installed that should not have done.

Remember that this was before SSDs, so when Apple said System 7 used your hard drive as virtual memory, it meant spinning discs. The result was Macs became very slow as System 7 read and wrote from those hard drives at length.

"And, second, you'll be able to use the great new applications require System 7," continued Espinosa. "And you don't give up much because System 7 is compatible with the Macintosh computers, the networks, the applications and the documents that you use today."


What was great about System 7

In our experience, it was hard to give up System 7 and downgrade back to System 6, and maybe chiefly because of MultiFinder. This was now built into the system and meant that, at last, you could run more than one app at a time.

True, it doesn't sound riveting now. And there's an argument that you're more productive if you stick to one app at a time. But in 1991, it was a relief and a blessing.

So was how System 7 came with the feature that shutting down or restarting your Mac no longer automatically emptied the trash. No one can remember whether it felt important that it was in System 7 that Find first appeared in the File menu, because we now all use Spotlight anyway.

As tiny changes go, though, the very smallest may have been the most surprising to Mac users of the time. System 7 introduced aliases, the way to effectively store one document in more than one place.

What you would do then and can still do now is select a document, an application, or a drive, and make an alias. That's a very small file that when clicked, will open the original.

There was one reason not to — unless you had a powerful enough Mac, System 7 would run slowly



You could copy that alias to a floppy drive and bring it to another Mac. As long as it was on the same AppleTalk network, clicking on the alias there was enough to open the original on this other Mac.

That was partly because System 7 also introduced Personal File Sharing.

And although we were all used to double-clicking on documents to open them, System 7 gave us another tool. It was now possible to drag a document onto the icon for an application and open it.

That was only mildly convenient compared to double-clicking the document to open it, except when you wanted to use a different application. Now you could drag a Word document, say, to WordPerfect for Mac and cross your fingers.

Speaking of word processors, it was in System 7 that we got TrueType fonts on the Mac.

And while it was less visible to most users, this is also the OS release that gave us Apple Events. You'll know of Apple Events to this day if you ever write AppleScript to automate your Mac.


What didn't last

All of these features continue in the Mac today, but there were some elements that got slowly forgotten over time. The most visible of these was Balloon Help.

Turn on Balloon Help and now when you moved your cursor over a control or a window, you would get pop-up information about it. Eventually.

There was also Publish & Subscribe. This let you "publish," say, part of your Excel spreadsheet. Then another user could "subscribe" to that and so when you changed the sheet, they saw the new data.

It was like Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) of the time. And while it scored over OLE for having a name you could comprehend, the feature itself was complex and cumbersome enough that it fade away from lack of use.


The excitement of System 7

The New York Times may have shrugged about it, but for a Mac user in 1991, System 7 was a huge deal. For the first time in some years, it felt as if you had a new Mac.

Of course, in some cases, you did. Because you had to.

But the feel of it was fresh and modern and it seemed as if Apple were doing something right. They were. System 7 became the longest-lasting of the classic Mac OS releases, being current up until System 7.6.1 in 1997.

Even then, there's an argument that Apple only moved on to System 8 because it helped with the clone contracts that Steve Jobs wanted to get out of.

That's not the best ending for an operating system, but overall System 7 is up there with the best of the Mac. And if we can't exactly miss it, three decades on, we can still look back supremely fondly to the days of the Mac SE/30 and the like.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple Stores Keep Mask Mandate as Company Evaluates Measures

A customer wearing a protective mask waits to enter an Apple store in San Francisco



Apple Inc. has informed its U.S. retail stores that a mask mandate and other Covid-19-related procedures remain in place for now, though the company says it continues to evaluate health and safety measures.

The Cupertino, California-based iPhone maker added that its first priority is employee and customer safety. The comments to retail store staff come after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to wear a mask in most public settings.

All of Apple’s retail stores have required the wearing of masks throughout the pandemic, and some locations have been operating on a limited basis, such as by appointment only.

As vaccinations in the U.S. continue and local governments allow for further reopenings, many major retailers are likely to adjust their procedures. Apple, though, didn’t tell staff when it anticipates its procedures will change.

Earlier Friday, other major retailers including Walmart Inc., Trader Joe’s and Costco Wholesale Corp. announced that fully vaccinated shoppers are no longer required to wear masks in their stores, though some said they would follow local government guidance and still recommend masks for higher-risk individuals.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple Music teasing special announcement, as ‘3D lossless’ audio streaming rumored

Apple Music has started teasing a special announcement coming soon, on the main Browse tab in the Music application.

The teaser comes as Apple is rumored to announce a new lossless audio tier for its music subscription service, perhaps with Spatial Audio enhanced 3D music.

We’ve already heard rumors that Apple was planning to launch a new hi-fi music tier imminently, possibly alongside new AirPods on May 18th.

The beta Android version of Apple Music somewhat tipped the hat on the news, with the app readying support for 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/192kHz lossless music streaming. References to Dolby Audio were also spotted in early iOS 14.6 betas.

HiFi tiers are now quite popular features of other music streaming services like Deezer and Tidal. Spotify is also preparing to launch a higher quality tier. Typically, these third party services offer the lossless plan as a more expensive premium option. However, one report indicated Apple Music would offer the HiFi service at no additional charge.

Clicking on the teaser in Apple Music plays a short animation featuring the Apple Music logo. Apple has not yet officially said when it will announce the new initiatives. Based on the rumor mill, we should expect an official unveiling on Tuesday.

 

[LincolnDuncan]

I’ve posted this before but never received any helpful advice so I’m posting again out of desperation.

I’ve been using itunes on a windows pc, downloaded to an ipod. I upgraded my device to an iphone with sufficient memory to store my entire itunes file. I am unable to control synching. Playlists I create on itunes sometimes show up on my phone and sometimes they don’t. Music that has been downloaded to my phone will disappear and re-appear. I’ve spent many hours on the phone with Apple and Microsoft techs. Of course, they blame each other but offer no solution.

 

[sandysgeek]

I’ve posted this before but never received any helpful advice so I’m posting again out of desperation.

I’ve been using itunes on a windows pc, downloaded to an ipod. I upgraded my device to an iphone with sufficient memory to store my entire itunes file. I am unable to control synching. Playlists I create on itunes sometimes show up on my phone and sometimes they don’t. Music that has been downloaded to my phone will disappear and re-appear. I’ve spent many hours on the phone with Apple and Microsoft techs. Of course, they blame each other but offer no solution.

These probably won't give you straight answers, but perhaps point you in the right direction, or an idea to try.


All non-iTunes music is gone on my phone...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250025283


Apple Music library disappeared from iPhone but not on my iPad
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7828953


apple music downloads disappear randomly on my iPhone only
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250613125


4 Best Ways to Fix Down*loaded Songs Not Show*ing on Apple Music
https://www.guidingtech.com/fix-downloaded-songs-not-showing-apple-music/


How to get your missing songs and playlists back on Apple Music
https://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/12/24/music-missing-songs-playlists-back-apple-music/

 

[LincolnDuncan]

These probably won't give you straight answers, but perhaps point you in the right direction, or an idea to try.


All non-iTunes music is gone on my phone...
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250025283


Apple Music library disappeared from iPhone but not on my iPad
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7828953


apple music downloads disappear randomly on my iPhone only
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250613125


4 Best Ways to Fix Down*loaded Songs Not Show*ing on Apple Music
https://www.guidingtech.com/fix-downloaded-songs-not-showing-apple-music/


How to get your missing songs and playlists back on Apple Music
https://www.idownloadblog.com/2018/12/24/music-missing-songs-playlists-back-apple-music/

Thank you

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple unveils two new Apple Watch Pride bands and watch face

Apple has announced new Apple Watch initiatives for Pride Month. The company is releasing two new Apple Watch Pride Edition bands, as well as a new Pride watch face for Apple Watch users. The new watch face will be available via a watchOS software update soon.

First off, there is a new Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop. Here’s how Apple describes this design:

The Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop artfully weaves together the original rainbow colors with those drawn from various Pride flags to represent the breadth of diversity among LGBTQ+ experiences and the history of a movement that has spanned generations. Black and brown symbolize Black and Latinx communities, in addition to those who have passed away from or are living with HIV/AIDS, while light blue, pink, and white represent transgender and nonbinary individuals. The unique band features stretchable recycled yarn interwoven with silicon threads, designed for ultracomfort without buckles or clasps. To ensure the best fit, customers can choose from 12 available lengths of the Braided Solo Loop.

There is also a new Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop:

A new Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop showcases six colors of the original rainbow, and utilizes reflective yarn to aid those engaging in outdoor workouts at night like running, cycling, and walking. The comfortable design is durable, infinitely adjustable for the perfect fit, and pairs nicely with a corresponding Nike watch face.

Here’s how Apple describes the new Apple Watch face:

This year’s special Pride watch face beautifully mirrors the new colors of the band to represent the combined strength and mutual support of the LGBTQ+ movement. With the rotation of the Digital Crown, the threads on the watch face infinitely scroll and animate with a raise of the wrist. For the first time, Apple is also including new App Clip functionality within the band packaging to deliver a simple and convenient way for customers to immediately access the new matching watch face.

The Pride Edition Braided Solo Loop is $99 (US) and the Pride Edition Nike Sport Loop is $49 (US). Both are available to order today from Apple’s website. They will hit stores on May 25.

 

[sandysgeek]

iMac, iPad Pro, and Apple TV 4K in stores Friday

Customers around the globe will begin receiving deliveries on Friday, May 21

Customers can purchase the all-new iMac, the M1-powered iPad Pro, and the next generation of Apple TV 4K at Apple Store locations beginning Friday, May 21.



Beginning May 21, customers can get their hands on the all-new iMac, the M1-powered iPad Pro, and the next generation of Apple TV 4K at Apple Store locations and authorized resellers around the world. Customers who already ordered their new products will begin receiving deliveries Friday.

With more than 99 percent of worldwide Apple Store locations open as of Friday, visitors will be able to experience the full line of new products in person with help from an Apple Specialist.



more at:
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/05/imac-ipad-pro-and-apple-tv-4k-in-stores-friday/

 

[sandysgeek]

How Steve Jobs changed the face of retail 20 years ago

Twenty years ago on May 19, 2001, the very first Apple Stores were opened, changing not only how customers would buy Apple hardware and get service for purchases, but also alter brick-and-mortar retail forever.

"This is our store," Steve Jobs said, as he introduced the Apple Store for the first time. He did it in a video launch on May 15, 2001, just ahead of the first-ever Apple Stores opening the following Saturday. The Apple Store, Apple's first foray into its own retail stores, opened its first two locations on May 19, 2001, in Glendale, Calif. and then in Tysons Corner, Virginia. One AppleInsider staffer was present for the opening of the latter store.

In the two decades since, the Apple Store has grown to more than 500 stores in over 20 countries. It surged in growth during very difficult times for the retail sector as a whole, including in the consumer electronics space. And even the coronavirus hasn't seen Apple Stores going out of business the way so many others have — including Microsoft.

While helping to drive Apple's own growth and playing a key role in the launches of iPod, iPhone, iPad and more, the Apple Store also forever changed the look of computer and electronics retail. And that look has been widely imitated, from Microsoft launching that chain of lookalike stores to Sony attempting the same to actual knockoff Apple Stores in China.

Before the Apple Store

Throughout the 1990s, Apple computers were sold in a combination of chain stores and authorized Apple retailers. Support for customers from the big-box stores was iffy, and related to how often Apple representatives and then later contractors visited, to keep the staff in line.

Starting in 1997, Apple migrated to a "store within a store" concept that it agreed to with CompUSA, shortly after Jobs' return to the company.

At the same time, Apple pulled its products out of most non-CompUSA big box retailers, at a time when Dell was Apple's main competitor and Apple was preparing to launch the original iMac. Apple also revamped its online store.

Jobs decided to open Apple-branded retail stores, and hired executive Ron Johnson, formerly of Target, to run them in early 2000.


The first stores

Apple - Steve Jobs introduces the first Apple Store Retail 2001 - 4:15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJtQeMHGrgc



On May 15, 2001, Apple announced that it would open 25 retail stores that year, including its first two that Saturday.

The first stores, as explained by Jobs in his introductory video, were to feature such products in the front section as iMacs and iBooks, as well as the then-new PowerBook G4 Titanium and Power Macs. The iPod, however, would not be released for another five months, and of course it would be six years before the iPhone showed up.

Children using the Flower Power iMacs at Tyson's Corner, the day it opened


Also featured in the store were music, movies, photos and a kids section, as well as non-Apple digital cameras and camcorders. There was also a great deal of boxed software. Even as Apple changed bricks-and-mortar retail, it was radically changing how software was sold, to the point where boxed applications seem peculiar now.

Another initial selling point that is still around in some form, though, is the original incarnation of the Genius Bar, which back then featured pictures of Albert Einstein and other famous geniuses who had been included in Apple's "Think Different" ads of the time. Jobs positioned the in-store "geniuses" as people who were able to answer customers' questions — and if they couldn't, there was a landline to someone in Cupertino who could.

More than 500 fans lined up at the Tysons store starting at pre-dawn that first day. Over the weekend, Tysons and Glendale hosted over 7500 visitors, and sold a combined $599,000 in products over the first two days.

The Apple Store was an immediate success, but it wasn't as if Apple was the first company to try it. Apple was just the first company to do it right. Dell and Gateway both tiptoed into retail before Apple got to it, for instance, but both of their efforts faded quickly.


Sustained success

The Apple Store's success has never really abated. Its first urban flagship, on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, opened in 2003, with the first international Apple Store arriving in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, later that year. Five years to the day after the first two stores, in 2006, Apple opened its iconic "cube" location on Fifth Avenue in New York.

While the number of Apple Stores worldwide crossed 500 with its first location in Korea, which opened in 2018, the originals haven't been forgotten. The store Apple designated number one in Glendale, remains a popular site for fan pilgrimages. But store number two — Tyson's — was still the first to open.


Hard times

While Apple steadily opened more and more Apple Stores around the world after the first US ones in 2001, it also shut them all in 2020. For months, stores across the globe were closed because of the coronavirus, and only slowly reopened — before sometimes having to close again.

China was the first to see Apple Stores reopening, then later parts of Europe, and next selected ones in the US. At each, there were reduced opening hours, and the whole atmosphere changed as they implemented social distancing and healthcare procedures.

Notably, Apple paid its retail staff during the shut down. It's easy to regard Apple as having limitless funds because it is the biggest company in the world, but when news of this broke, it had been paying the wages of staff for over 500 stores for two months.

Deirdre O'Brien



The company also sent care packages to some employees in the early days of the pandemic, and it also kept every one of them clearly updated with what was happening and what Apple was doing.

In a time when other companies were at best furloughing employees and at worst making massive redundancies, Apple's approach to its Apple Store staff was genuinely praiseworthy.

So too, in a different way, was Apple's balancing of retail and online selling. Right from the start, it was selling boxed software in stores but planning to move applications online.

Then since Angela Ahrendts was running retail and now that Deirdre O'Brien is, the company has managed to keep both its physical and its online stores busy. That will be how Apple was able to keep on selling well even during the lockdowns around the world.

But it is also how it was able to help the millions of people who were suddenly forced to work from home. Even if they couldn't pop out to a local Apple Store, they could order online and get contact-free delivery.

Steve Jobs could not have anticipated the coronavirus pandemic back in 2001, but the steps he took right then with Ron Johnson meant that Apple Stores today can continue to survive even under such pressures.






Remember when Apple began getting into retail. The dark days, actually years, weren't that long ago, they were being blasted for reaching for anything to save the company. Gateway that was in the process of closing their Country Stores and Apple was going to suffer the same fate.

And the iPod wasn't introduced for another five months.

 

[sandysgeek]

Telegram founder calls iPhone users 'digital slave of Apple'

A Telegram founder says developing software for Apple feels like working in the Middle Ages, and calls users "digital slaves" amid Chinese surveillance accusations.

Pavel Durov is Telegram's founder and still works on the app for Apple platforms. He shared comments on the company in response to a New York Times investigation into Apple's relationship with China.

The comments were made on Durov's public Telegram channel and shared by a report from Android Central. His comments pile onto the accusations and negative commentary surrounding Apple during the Epic Games trial.

"Apple is very efficient at pursuing their business model, which is based on selling overpriced, obsolete hardware to customers locked in their ecosystem," Durov wrote. "Every time I have to use an iPhone to test our iOS app I feel like I'm thrown back into the Middle Ages. The iPhone's 60Hz displays can't compete with the 120Hz displays of modern Android phones that support much smoother animations."

It isn't clear what 120Hz versus 60Hz has to do with the Telegram messenger. The "obsolete" claim is questionable as well, as Apple's A-series processor still outperforms anything Android has to offer.

His remarks weren't limited to Apple's hardware.

"You are only allowed to use apps that Apple lets you install via their App Store, and you can only use Apple's iCloud to natively back up your data," he said.

"It's no wonder that Apple's totalitarian approach is so appreciated by the Communist Party of China, which - thanks to Apple - now has complete control over the apps and data of all of its citizens who rely on iPhones," Durov added.

The Telegram founder has plenty of reasons to have a stance against Apple. In 2018, Apple pulled the app from its platforms over concerns surrounding the distribution of child pornography on the platform. In 2020, Telegram opened a complaint with the European Commission over antitrust concerns.

Later, Apple was sued by the Coalition for a Safer Web for not removing Telegram for the same reasons as Parler.

Apple has been under the spotlight for its compliance with some Chinese laws. Many reports have accused Apple of using Chinese manufacturers that utilize Uyghur slaves. Apple has denied all accusations of compromising security of Chinese users and the use of slave labor.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple debuts humorous new ‘Tracked’ ad promoting iPhone privacy [Video]

Following the release of iOS 14.5 with App Tracking Transparency, Apple today released a new video advertisement promoting privacy on the iPhone. The humorous ad aims to visualize what it means when you allow an app to track you across other apps and services.

Regarding the new “Tracked” advertisement, Apple says:

App Tracking Transparency lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites.

The person in the video kicks off their day by buying a cup of coffee. Gradually throughout the day, other people begin following — or “tracking” — the person. “Choose who tracks your information and who doesn’t,” Apple says in the video. The video serves a pretty good representation of tracking in the real world.

App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14.5 requires that applications ask permission from users before tracking them across other apps and websites. For example, when you open the Facebook app, you’ll see a prompt that says the app would like to track you across other apps and services. There are two options from which to choose: “Ask App not to Track” or “Allow.”

Privacy on iPhone | Tracked | Apple - 1:08
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w4qPUSG17Y

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple Is China's 'Pawn' Over Customer Data Access: Lawmakers

4 Republican lawmakers accuse Apple of being 'a pawn in China's malfeasance' over customer data in a letter to CEO Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook



Four US House Representatives have criticized what they call Apple's "gradual and near-total capitulation" to China over access to its customer's data, and called on CEO Tim Cook to reassess Apple's business dealings with the country.

Republicans Ken Buck, Scott Fitzgerald, Burgess Owens, and Dan Bishop said that Apple "continues to concede to the Chinese government's demands," in a letter to Cook sent on Thursday, and later shared on Twitter.

A New York Times investigation published Monday said that Cook had approved the use of servers owned by Chinese state-owned companies to store user data, and had agreed to remove encryption technology from Apple's data server centers, according to current and former Apple employees who spoke to the publication.

Apple also agreed to censor about 50,000 apps from its App Store, and company employees were tasked with identifying apps that might offend the Chinese government, according to the paper's sources.

The congressmen said that the company "has entwined itself with the very rights abuses it claims to oppose."

"We urge you to consider Apple's position as a pawn in China's malfeasance," the letter said.

When contacted for comment, Apple pointed to a statement it made to the NYT responding to its investigation.

The tech giant said that it has "never compromised the security of our users or their data in China or anywhere we operate," in the statement.

"We retain control of the encryption keys for our users' data," the company said in the statement. "Since our Chinese data centers are our newest, they feature our very latest and most sophisticated protections."

Apple said that it had removed apps from its App Store to abide by China's laws.

"These decisions are not always easy, and we may not agree with the laws that shape them," it said in the statement.

 

[sandysgeek]

Apple's new 'Why Mac' page makes the case for switching to Mac

Apple added a new "Why Mac" explainer page to its main Apple.com website, which, as the name suggests, pitches reasons why customers should choose to buy a Mac.

The Mac is "easy to learn," powerful, and equipped with tons of apps and free software updates.

Easy to learn. Astoundingly powerful. And designed to let you work, play, and create in ways you never imagined. It's the computer that comes packed with apps that are ready to go right out of the box. Free, regular software updates keep things up to date and running smoothly. And if you already have an iPhone, it feels familiar from the moment you turn it on.

The mini site features highlights on how easy it is to set up a Mac and migrate info and accounts, the Mac's capabilities, and details on how simple the macOS software is to learn.

Apple points out how well the Mac works with other devices like *iPhone*, iPad, and Apple Watch thanks to continuity features, and the privacy features introduced with the M1 chip and the macOS Big Sur update.






Some people say how Mac's are not just expensive, but over priced. And it is true you pay more for them, and don't subsidize their lower price same as:

HP, Dell, and Lenovo PC’s with Microsoft Windows, that track users on the web, record their activities, and steal their data, all without their knowledge, much less consent.

Also Mac's aren't preloaded with demo, trial, or crippled software. And when they ask me how to free up disk space, give them recent versions of articles:


How to Rid a New PC of Crapware
A new Windows PC typically comes pre-installed with shovels full of crapware you don't want. Here's how to deal with it.
https://uk.pcmag.com/software/40364/how-to-rid-a-new-pc-of-crapware

How to get rid of bloatware and clean your Windows 10 Start menu (without crapware cleanup tools)
Windows is powerful, but it often arrives on your PC as a bloated, crapware-filled mess. Here's how to remove the bloatware and clean it up, without making things worse with more crapware-filled helper apps.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-get-rid-of-bloatware-and-clean-your-windows-10-start-menu-without-questionable-cleanup-tools/

Beat it, bloatware: How to clean Superfish and other crap off your PC
Preloaded software bogs down your hard drive, your start menu, and worse.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2141881/beat-it-bloatware-how-to-clean-the-crap-off-your-pc.html


BTW,
How to remove the dangerous Superfish adware preinstalled on Lenovo PCs
Lenovo’s been caught going a bit too far in its quest for bloatware money, and the results have put its users at risk. The company has been preloading Superfish, a "visual search" tool that includes adware that fakes the encryption certificates for every HTTPS-protected site you visit, on its PCs since at least the middle of 2014. Essentially, the software conducts a man-in-the-middle attack to fill the websites you visit with ads, and leaves you vulnerable to hackers in its wake.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/2886278/how-to-remove-the-dangerous-superfish-adware-presintalled-on-lenovo-pcs.html

 

[LincolnDuncan]

Sandy, the information you provided helped me to fix a problem that I've had for a year.

Thanks again

 

[sandysgeek]

With people commonly don't want to participate, instead lurk, enjoying the fruits of our labor, lauraskitty, B.J. (sandysgeek), and I are curtailing posting in sultrysandy’s threads. We will still post keeping the threads at least somewhat active.

If you're interested, can read all of Karen's post, #3061

 

[sandysgeek]

iOS15 new notification banner UI, iPad multitasking improvements, tighter privacy

Bloomberg: iOS 15 to feature new notification banner UI, iPad multitasking improvements, tighter privacy controls

In a report published this morning, Mark Gurman at Bloomberg says that customers should expect stricter privacy controls, updates to iPad multitasking aimed at attracting advanced users, and new notification modes. The incoming iOS notification banner is said to be redesigned, with more of a focus on auto-reply actions. There will also be interface updates for Apple TV and Apple Watch.

Bloomberg had previously said that the iPadOS 15 update will allow users to place home screen widgets anywhere, like the iOS 14 iPhone behavior …

In regard to privacy, iOS 15 is apparently going to feature a new control panel that will highlight how apps use customer data. This sounds like it will build upon the existing App Tracking Transparency policies rolled out as part of iOS 14.5.
(note - supposedly more privacy and security will be announced, placing Apple on more of a "collision course" with data-harvesting company's apps and websites)

As customers and tech reviewers demand ways to extract more productivity out of their shiny new iPad Pros, Apple is said to be readying a Home Screen revamp and updates to multitasking.

Bloomberg says Apple plans a new design for multitasking that will “make it easier to operate multiple apps at the same time”. Apple intends to make the iPad “more appealing” for advanced uses, according to the report.

iOS 15 notifications will reportedly allow users to set a status (like sleeping, working, driving) and have notification alerts behave differently for each mode. The incoming notification banners will also get a new user interface design on both iPhone and iPad, with a renewed emphasis on auto-reply features.

tvOS for Apple TV and watchOS for Apple Watch are described as getting ‘enhancements’ to user interface and health tracking. Bloomberg says it expects the new version of macOS will be minor, following the UI overhaul that came last year with Big Sur.

Echoing earlier reporting from Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern, Bloomberg says there will also be a focus on new features for the Health and Messages apps.