this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2023
14 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
25 readers
1 users here now
Computers, phones, AI, whatever
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I believe Apple provides a false sense of security which is often worse than no security at all. Edward Snowden showed that privacy policies are useless documents and that is much of what Apple has going for it. They make a big press while fighting with the FBI. When the NSA asks Apple to provide backdoors to iCloud, iOS, and MacOS, they don't amend their privacy policy. They comply.
When a user knows that they are being watched, they will self-censor. When a user thinks they are free on a non-free platform, they will make mistakes that cannot be erased.
You can take control of your DNS. You can encrypt your traffic and communication. You cannot hide your location from your carrier, but you can disable the hardware modem. With the Pine64's PinePhone/PinePhone Pro, you can even take over the user space of the modem. Not all of these steps are necessary for everyone, but every little piece that is improved helps.
The NSA's ability to compel private entities to modify their products is spurious. The FBI famously bullied Lavabit out of existence, but they would have a much more challenging time with a company that has lawyers and throngs of fans. I'm sure you heard of the FBI tried to have Apple develop an exploit and Apple successfully refused. And that's the FBI: the NSA has broad surveillance power, but their ability to tell a private company to modify their products is basically non-existent.
But again, doing something like disabling the hardware modem is just not a realistic step most people would even consider.