Apple Collects the Least Amount of User Data Out of Major Tech Companies, Google the Most.

[FFR]

Some new research out on privacy between between different platforms.

“A new analysis has found that out of major tech giants, Apple collects the least amount of private user data from its users, with Google, Twitter, Amazon, and Facebook, collecting much more data from its users than the iPhone maker.

The study measured how many data points each company collects from its users. The study found that Google topped the list, collecting a total of 39 data points for each of its users. Twitter and Amazon follow by collecting 24 and 23 data points for each user, respectively.”

Also

“While Apple collects the least amount of user data from its users, it's making it harder for other companies, such as Google and Facebook, to collect data from *iPhone* users. In 2020, Apple launched App Tracking Transparency (ATT), a prompt that offers users the choice of whether they wish to be tracked across apps and websites owned by other companies. Facebook has vehemently spoken out against ATT, and details last year revealed the prompt change could have cost social media companies $10 billion in revenue for 2021.”

"Most people do not have the time or patience to read privacy policies that can be several pages long for each website they visit," said StockApps.com's Edith Reads. "As a result, users end up allowing Google to harvest all the data they need by agreeing to the privacy policy terms."

 

[Not Quite Right]

I don't believe for a second that FaceBook only collects just a little bit more data than apple. I almost fell out of my chair laughing! ...

 

[Up_And_Away]

There’s a substantial item being left out. And it is a BFD. Recording data anonymously or recording it specific to a name. Google and Facebook are specific to the name right down to every place Google maps has you going. OTOH Apple records mostly anonymously. It is recorded to x y and z demographic in this general location.
I know this to be true as I’ve obtained my copy of my data from both Apple and Google. Google is many many many thousands of pages (I’ve never used hey Google, ever, but there were a few examples in my data). Apple was about 40 pages with quite a big iPhone reporting technical status.

Not all data recording is the same. And no one should be surprised Google is the most recorded personal data. Every scrap of information they can record means more info into the big machines that can guarantee what you will buy or what you can be enticed to buy. That lucrative info! But it markes the motivation for Googleto record as much as possible crystal clear.

 

[EdwinG]

I am really surprised that Facebook collects that little information. With their business model, I would have expected much more data collection.

 

[FFR]

I don't believe for a second that FaceBook only collects just a little bit more data than apple. I almost fell out of my chair laughing! ...

You don’t believe Facebook collects 14 data points of information?


Well one thing is for sure, google collecting 39 data points of information from its users is completely ludicrous……and hilarious .

 

[Annie_M]

Google, Facebook/Meta are all egregious. And yet I use both. What's wrong with me? (That's a purely rhetorical question, btw!).

 

[bakron1]

I have said this a thousand times when asked about data collection and privacy issues! Anytime your on the grid, you are vulnerable to data collection and being hacked. I for one limit myself to certain websites and always used strong passwords.

Last be not least which is most important, I have never downloaded any attachments that I don’t know where they originally came from no matter who sends them, they are automatically deleted.

There is an old saying about opening something your not familiar with, curiosity killed the cat and you be surprised how many folks don’t heed the warning.

 

[FFR]

I have said this a thousand times when asked about data collection and privacy issues! Anytime your on the grid, you are vulnerable to data collection and being hacked. I for one limit myself to certain websites and always used strong passwords.

Last be not least which is most important, I have never downloaded any attachments that I don’t know where they originally came from no matter who sends them, they are automatically deleted.

There is an old saying about opening something your not familiar with, curiosity killed the cat and you be surprised how many folks don’t heed the warning.

Not really.

The research shows that data collection is not equally collected.

You would be more vulnerable depending on the platform and services that you elect to choose.

 

[anon(50597)]

I have said this a thousand times when asked about data collection and privacy issues! Anytime your on the grid, you are vulnerable to data collection and being hacked. I for one limit myself to certain websites and always used strong passwords.

Last be not least which is most important, I have never downloaded any attachments that I don’t know where they originally came from no matter who sends them, they are automatically deleted.

There is an old saying about opening something your not familiar with, curiosity killed the cat and you be surprised how many folks don’t heed the warning.

Well said. It's more about the user than the system or OS. Be smart and, like anything else in life, you will be safe.

 

[Up_And_Away]

No offense but that is the ‘everyone does it’ mantra that feeds the data collection beast. “I can’t avoid it so I shouldn’t try” is how people see your post.
-your smartphone is the Uber best data collector, full stop. Nothing you currently do will allow data collection like your smartphone. How to avoid a very substantial amount? Don’t let any and every app have access to all parts of your smartphone. Easily done, don’t allow you to see my map data and browsing data and contacts, calendar, picture metadata, call log. Don’t use Google maps or Google search engine. Again easy. Presto, You’ve just eliminated many tens thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of “pages” of personal data.
-The email pixel. Essentially a read receipt specific to a user with what email you open, at what time etc. Easy to block. Many out there block this including Apple email (you may need iCloud+).
-VPN or even just a relay. Easy easy, you’ve just again knocked away super massive amounts of data recorded to you.
-on an iPhone there is the app data report. Easy to see what on your phone is calling back to the mother ship cloud the most. Fix.

The article states Google is the most prolific data collector. Anyone surprised by this just isn’t paying attention. But go to Google online, request your personal data report, it’s free. Now See for yourself what the biggest collector has on you. When that shows a greater and greater dearth of recent personal data recorded, you are doing it right (btw, yiu can ask for it to be deleted too).

One other item, you are conflating security and privacy. Not intended toward you but Google and Facebook love to use this media trick. Bring up privacy and they’ll talk about EE2E, tight authentication policy. That’s good but it has little to do with privacy. Security is A while privacy is B.

 

[FFR]

No offense but that is the ‘everyone does it’ mantra that feeds the data collection beast. “I can’t avoid it so I shouldn’t try” is how people see your post.
-your smartphone is the Uber best data collector, full stop. Nothing you currently do will allow data collection like your smartphone. How to avoid a very substantial amount? Don’t let any and every app have access to all parts of your smartphone. Easily done, don’t allow you to see my map data and browsing data and contacts, calendar, picture metadata, call log. Don’t use Google maps or Google search engine. Again easy. Presto, You’ve just eliminated many tens thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of “pages” of personal data.
-The email pixel. Essentially a read receipt specific to a user with what email you open, at what time etc. Easy to block. Many out there block this including Apple email (you may need iCloud+).
-VPN or even just a relay. Easy easy, you’ve just again knocked away super massive amounts of data recorded to you.
-on an iPhone there is the app data report. Easy to see what on your phone is calling back to the mother ship cloud the most. Fix.

The article states Google is the most prolific data collector. Anyone surprised by this just isn’t paying attention. But go to Google online, request your personal data report, it’s free. Now See for yourself what the biggest collector has on you. When that shows a greater and greater dearth of recent personal data recorded, you are doing it right (btw, yiu can ask for it to be deleted too).

One other item, you are conflating security and privacy. Not intended toward you but Google and Facebook love to use this media trick. Bring up privacy and they’ll talk about EE2E, tight authentication policy. That’s good but it has little to do with privacy. Security is A while privacy is B.

TKO

The research is pretty clear. Ignorance will not help.

 

[anon(50597)]

No offense but that is the ‘everyone does it’ mantra that feeds the data collection beast. “I can’t avoid it so I shouldn’t try” is how people see your post.
-your smartphone is the Uber best data collector, full stop. Nothing you currently do will allow data collection like your smartphone. How to avoid a very substantial amount? Don’t let any and every app have access to all parts of your smartphone. Easily done, don’t allow you to see my map data and browsing data and contacts, calendar, picture metadata, call log. Don’t use Google maps or Google search engine. Again easy. Presto, You’ve just eliminated many tens thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of “pages” of personal data.
-The email pixel. Essentially a read receipt specific to a user with what email you open, at what time etc. Easy to block. Many out there block this including Apple email (you may need iCloud+).
-VPN or even just a relay. Easy easy, you’ve just again knocked away super massive amounts of data recorded to you.
-on an iPhone there is the app data report. Easy to see what on your phone is calling back to the mother ship cloud the most. Fix.

The article states Google is the most prolific data collector. Anyone surprised by this just isn’t paying attention. But go to Google online, request your personal data report, it’s free. Now See for yourself what the biggest collector has on you. When that shows a greater and greater dearth of recent personal data recorded, you are doing it right (btw, yiu can ask for it to be deleted too).

One other item, you are conflating security and privacy. Not intended toward you but Google and Facebook love to use this media trick. Bring up privacy and they’ll talk about EE2E, tight authentication policy. That’s good but it has little to do with privacy. Security is A while privacy is B.

Not sure who you're speaking to specifically but you bring up some good points that all of us already know. Not the general public but most of them are willing to share information for the convenience of a smartphone. They do it willingly in Facebook, etc.

If you want total privacy you should not be on the internet or this forum. There is a level where we are not shut off from the world yet also safe. It is obtainable with a little tweaking.

 

[FFR]

No one is talking about total privacy.

 

[Not Quite Right]

You don’t believe Facebook collects 14 data points of information?


Well one thing is for sure, google collecting 39 data points of information from its users is completely ludicrous……and hilarious .

WHAT?! I think Facebook collects just as much if not more data then Google, or Amazon. That company is such a slimy operation they had to change their name just like Comcast did in hopes of drawing off the heat they were attracting. Mark Zuckerberg has no shame!

I have no clue as to who or what digitalinformationworld is, but I do question the validity of their report if only for the lack of a few key players that come to mind when I hear data mining like Samsung, Vizio, and Huawei to name a few. While I'm sure Apple is not completely innocent of harvesting personal information, I would safely bet it's for internal use only and product development rather then selling it off for a quick buck. It's had to believe the worlds first 2 Trillion dollar company would risk getting caught selling user data and tarnishing it's reputation as being a premium, secure, and safe user experience ...

 

[FFR]

WHAT?! I think Facebook collects just as much if not more data then Google, or Amazon. That company is such a slimy operation they had to change their name just like Comcast did in hopes of drawing off the heat they were attracting. Mark Zuckerberg has no shame!

I have no clue as to who or what digitalinformationworld is, but I do question the validity of their report if only for the lack of a few key players that come to mind when I hear data mining like Samsung, Vizio, and Huawei to name a few. While I'm sure Apple is not completely innocent of harvesting personal information, I would safely bet it's for internal use only and product development rather then selling it off for a quick buck. It's had to believe the worlds first 2 Trillion dollar company would risk getting caught selling user data and tarnishing it's reputation as being a premium, secure, and safe user experience ...

You might be right.

Thanks for the info. Didn’t know Samsung and Huawei were data mining their users as well.

Quite true à two trillion dollar company wouldn’t have to.

 

[Up_And_Away]

I was replying to Bakron1. I meant no disrespect in my reply to anyone.
You may be right, FFR, we here are in the know but generally we are the tech savvy few, nerds in paradise . The mass general public isn’t tech savvy though (they say kids today are tech savvy, not IME. They are enthusiastic tech users. A big difference). IME most people think if someone isn’t peeping through their window with a video camera or some dubious looking guy isn’t following them around in their car, everything is peachy. But no sinister car following or hidden camera recorder is needed. The dubious guy tailing you and the hidden camera recording you is made up of your smartphone (more and more heavily meaning an Android phone) and infinite ones and zeros at server farms. I know that sounds conspiracy theory but it is not just a likeky possibility, it is a fact. But to drive home the general public’s non tech savvy reality, when given the easy pop up option to block ‘Super Amazing Fun With Words’ app from tracking you across your phone? Imagine that, wide majority of iPhone users voted don’t track across my phone.

You said “if you want total privacy you should not be on the internet”. That is a red herring. I am not arguing “total” privacy, few do IME. Hey, I have my shades open sometimes, both literally and virtually. It isn’t an all or nothing question. The store database knows I order milk at their store, they know I live at X address. TD Ameritrade knows when I log in, where I live and what corporations my auto payments go. Imore knows when I login and my email address(HideMy address) and what words or keywords. They have some of my privacy. Hopefully that makes them money. But That is not the same as Google recording precisely to my name precisely every single place I go (potentially including in my own house). That is not the same as Facebook or SuperFunCrosswords apps accessing that same location data. Then Google and these apps accessing my browsing history, keywords in my texts, call log, contacts, calendar, pictures, access to my camera, shockingly a number of others. And it is this data collection that has gone FARRR off the rails. Bottom line, the data collection beast can still be fed but with small portions that will make the beast more like a kitten. Or we can say there is no total privacy so just feed the beast everything and let it become a mega beast.

 

[Up_And_Away]

No one is talking about total privacy.

Funny…

 

[FFR]

……And yet so very true.

 

[FFR]

I was replying to Bakron1. I meant no disrespect in my reply to anyone.
You may be right, FFR, we here are in the know but generally we are the tech savvy few, nerds in paradise . The mass general public isn’t tech savvy though (they say kids today are tech savvy, not IME. They are enthusiastic tech users. A big difference). IME most people think if someone isn’t peeping through their window with a video camera or some dubious looking guy isn’t following them around in their car, everything is peachy. But no sinister car following or hidden camera recorder is needed. The dubious guy tailing you and the hidden camera recording you is made up of your smartphone (more and more heavily meaning an Android phone) and infinite ones and zeros at server farms. I know that sounds conspiracy theory but it is not just a likeky possibility, it is a fact. But to drive home the general public’s non tech savvy reality, when given the easy pop up option to block ‘Super Amazing Fun With Words’ app from tracking you across your phone? Imagine that, wide majority of iPhone users voted don’t track across my phone.

You said “if you want total privacy you should not be on the internet”. That is a red herring. I am not arguing “total” privacy, few do IME. Hey, I have my shades open sometimes, both literally and virtually. It isn’t an all or nothing question. The store database knows I order milk at their store, they know I live at X address. TD Ameritrade knows when I log in, where I live and what corporations my auto payments go. Imore knows when I login and my email address(HideMy address) and what words or keywords. They have some of my privacy. Hopefully that makes them money. But That is not the same as Google recording precisely to my name precisely every single place I go (potentially including in my own house). That is not the same as Facebook or SuperFunCrosswords apps accessing that same location data. Then Google and these apps accessing my browsing history, keywords in my texts, call log, contacts, calendar, pictures, access to my camera, shockingly a number of others. And it is this data collection that has gone FARRR off the rails. Bottom line, the data collection beast can still be fed but with small portions that will make the beast more like a kitten. Or we can say there is no total privacy so just feed the beast everything and let it become a mega beast.

You have no idea how right you are, have you heard about Fog data science?

“Fog Data Science was formed by two former high-ranking officials in the Deparment of Homeland Security It purchases raw geolocation data from around 250 million devices collected by tens of thousands of apps, then aggregates it into a searchable database containing "billions of data points.”
…..The company often partners with Venntel, Inc., a data broker that also works with law enforcement. Together, they can work to gain further insight into peoples' lives, such as home addresses "and other clues that help detectives figure out people's identities."


Anybody uses google waze?

Do you know how the company gets away with it?

“Documents reveal that Fog claims its tool uses data willingly given up by people, even though apps collect data most often without consent”

 

[Up_And_Away]

Damn FFR, I pride myself on being aware of the extreme privacy related data collection that goes on. But it’s so much information out there that I learn something else regularly. Thanks for the info. A quick added read on Google’s Waze(I don’t use it, never even heard of it). Their purchase of Waze and why they paid a whopping 9 figures for it? Not so much for how popular the service versus individuals location data collection bonanza. I then tried reading more on Fog Reveal. Nothing but mentions of an Ubisoft game until I whittled the search down. Took a bit but I got to it, That’s ugly on a massive surveillance scale spanning way outside of corporations into governments (fourth amendment protection be damned, apparently).