Tim Cook says that Apple collects as little of your data as possible, but it's still a lot

Apple CEO Tim Cook focused on privacy practices in the technology sector. In an interview yesterday with Vice News, he said: "The story that some companies will try to make you believe is:" I have to take all your data to improve my services. "Well, do not believe that – the one who tells you that, it's a bunch of bunk beds."

Strong words and a thinly veiled reference to companies such as Google and Facebook. When companies do not bill their services directly, they earn money in another way. Duty. No company is making good wishes.

But the depth of leveraging has increased, with a steady stream of new things that companies are doing to track users and turn their data into pay data for advertisers.

That said, Apple has developed a reputation for privacy. There is a privacy web page that lists the steps that the company takes to protect users' information and what it does not do.

And then there is the Legal Privacy Policy page which lists what Apple can do and does with your information. The reading is enlightening.

This page, updated May 22, 2018, "describes how we collect, use, disclose, transfer and retain your personal information." The details are important.

The main one is the first definition: "Personal information is data that can be used to identify or contact a single person." Is personal information, such as website activity, personal in the sense that it identifies a person? No, but it's associated with personal information to become useful.

As stated on the website from the beginning:

You may be required to provide your personal information whenever you are in contact with Apple or an Apple affiliate. Apple and its affiliates may share this personal information and use it in accordance with this privacy policy. They may also associate it with other information to provide and improve our products, services, content and advertising. You do not have to provide the personal information that we have requested, but if you do not want it, we will often not be able to provide you with our products or services or answer your questions.

It should be noted that Google would pay $ 9 billion a year to Apple. According to this information, Apple would pay $ 9 billion a year to Apple to remain the default search engine of Safari. At the very least, Apple is financially incentivized to allow Google to access all search information. And note that personal information may be combined with other information for various purposes, including to "improve our products, services, content and advertising".

By the way, this last point appears in the section "What personal information we collect" and not "How we use your personal information". Do not assume that everything is as expected, as if you were reading a commercial contract. One section may edit another.

Here is a partial list of "non-personal information" collected by Apple:

• Occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device ID, URL where your browser was previously, your location and your time zone when you used the Apple product Advertising. "
• Apple may "collect and store information about how you use our services, including search queries". Storing search queries is one of the most powerful forms of data collected by Google. The information does not include the IP address, but other information, such as the device name and ID, more than compensate for this.
• Unless you explicitly enable "limited tracking of ads" on a device, Apple provides targeted ads based on information collected, which resemble other reputable technology companies.
• Here is the data stored in the log files: "Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses, Browser Type and Language, Internet Service Provider (ISP), Websites and Return and Exit Applications, Operating System, Timestamp and clickstream data ". Clickstream data is the chain of links that you use to access a particular website. So you have a set of metadata to indicate your interests and activities. As Apple notes, "we use this information to understand and analyze trends, to manage the site, to learn about user behavior on the site, to improve our products and services, and to collect demographic information about the site. Apple can use this information in our marketing and advertising services. "
• Apple and its partners "may collect, use, and share accurate location data, including the real-time geographic location of your computer or Apple device." They can use data from GPS, Bluetooth, your IP address, popular Wi-Fi access points and cell towers, as well as other technologies to determine the approximate location. . "Unless authorized by you, this location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not identify you personally and is used by Apple, our partners, and our licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services." But maybe you have given your consent at some point and have you forgotten?

You can access your personal data online. But then, you can also with Google and Facebook.

Maybe Apple is more concerned about privacy than other companies. Surely, there is no news of a Facebook fiasco. Do not necessarily assume that this means that you are getting real privacy. This practically does not exist in the prosperous technological world, not when there is so much to gain knowledge about individuals.