None of these really match the scenario we're discussing here. Some are typical big company stuff, some are technical edge cases, but none are "Apple lies about a fundamental security practice consistently and with malice"
That link you provided is a "conspiracy theory," even by the author's own admission. That article is also outdated; OCSP is as dead as a doornail (no doubt in part because it could be used for surveillance) and they fixed the cleartext transmission of hardware identifiers.
Are you expecting perfection here? Or are you just being argumentative?
> That link you provided is a "conspiracy theory," even by the author's own admission.
"Conspiracy theory" is not the same as a crazy, crackhead theory. See: Endward Snowden.
Full quote from the article:
> Mind you, this is definitionally a conspiracy theory; please don’t let the connotations of that phrase bias you, but please feel free to read this (and everything else on the internet) as critically as you wish.
> and they fixed the cleartext transmission of hardware identifiers
Have you got any links for that?
> Are you expecting perfection here? Or are you just being argumentative?
I expect basic things people should expect from a company promoting themselves as respecting privacy. And I don't expect them to be much worse than GNU/Linux in that respect (but they definitely are).
It was noted at the bottom of the article as a follow up.
> I expect basic things people should expect from a company promoting themselves as respecting privacy. And I don't expect them to be much worse than GNU/Linux in that respect (but they definitely are).
The problem with the word “basic” is that it’s entirely subjective. What you consider “basic,” others consider advanced. Plus the floor has shifted over the years as threat actors have become more knowledgeable, threats more sophisticated, and technologies advanced.
Finally, the comparison to Linux doesn’t make a lot of sense. Apple provides a solution of integrated hardware, OS, and services. Linux has a much smaller scope; it’s just a kernel. If you don’t operate services, then by definition, you don’t have any transmitted data to protect. Nevertheless, if you consider the software packages that distros package alongside that kernel, I would encourage you to peruse the CVE databases to see just how many security notices have been filed against them and which remain open. It’s not all sunshine and roses over in Linux land, and never has been.
At the end of the day, it's all about how you weigh the evidence. If those examples are sufficient to tip the scales for you, that's your choice. However, Apple's overall trustworthiness--particular when it comes to protecting people's sensitive data--remains high for in the market. Even the examples you posted aren't especially pertinent to that (except for iCloud Keychain, where the complaint isn't whether Apple is securely storing it, but the fact that it got transmitted to them in the first place, and there exists some unresolved ambiguity about whether it is appropriately deleted on demand).
