This headline is ridiculous; I expect better from Ars Technica. You “admit” to things you shouldn’t have done. In this case the government compelled Apple to disclose certain data and simultaneously prohibited Apple from disclosing the disclosure. Thanks to a senator’s letter, Apple is now free to disclose something that they previously wanted to disclose, about something they were forced to do in the first place.
Compare to the Reuters headline: “Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications - US senator.” The emphasis and agency are correctly placed on the bad actors.
Clickbaits need to die
I was hoping moving to Lemmy would get me away from them but I was wrong.
Lemmy isn’t really that different, beside being decentralized and has less restrictions (and downvotes/upvotes don’t mean shit here). People are people and news outlets are the same.
We need a bot that puts a better title in the comments, or an automod bot that physically changes the titles to be plain
To be fair Google was already making this information public via their transparency reports, albeit in aggregate, since 2010 [0].
“Google’s transparency report, Ars confirmed, already documents requests for push notification data in aggregated data of all government requests for user information.”
Apple conveniently played it safe until the coast was clear. Maybe they’d have been allowed to comment on this privacy issue if they published it in aggregate like Google - e.g. not specifically calling out the U.S. Govt? But that wasn’t a risk Apple was willing to take for its users.
A letter from a senator doesn’t carry much legal force. From my understanding of the article, Apple claims they were prohibited from sharing this information, but a simple letter couldn’t overturn something like a legal order or court mandate. The change here doesn’t support the claim.
It reads more like Apple chose not to disclose in order to avoid the ire of the DOJ, even though it would have been morally more correct to tell the public sooner.
What if push messages doesn’t happen on your phone but is somehow “pushed” from somewhere else?
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Governments have been secretly tracking the app activity of an unknown number of people using Apple and Google smartphones, US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) revealed today.
According to Wyden, many app users do not realize that these instant alerts “aren’t sent directly from the app provider to users’ smartphones” but instead “pass through a kind of digital post office run by the phone’s operating system provider” to “ensure timely and efficient delivery of notifications.”
Wyden said his office spent the past year investigating a “tip” received in spring 2022 claiming that “government agencies in foreign countries were demanding smartphone ‘push’ notification records from Google and Apple.”
Ars verified that Apple’s law enforcement guidelines now notes that push notification records “may be obtained with a subpoena or greater legal process.”
It’s unclear if either Apple or Google plans to provide any standalone reporting documenting all past requests for push notification data.
Wyden declined to comment further but wrote in his letter that he is pushing the DOJ to not just end the secrecy but also require even more transparency about these secretive requests.
The original article contains 694 words, the summary contains 182 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
(Also Google, and both by force)
The only push notifications I get are from post mates.
What other, more sensitive information would they be collecting this way?
lol…. No they didn’t. Ars Technica is now among the untrusted/unreliable sources in my book. Bummer, because I used to respect them.
One bad headline brings you to that conclusion? Damn, remind me never to make a mistake in your presence.
How many should we accept?
It’s more than just one. It’s a trend. And I couldn’t care less what you do “in my presence.” You’re a random person on the internet trying to make a pointless point for no purpose other than to stir a pot.
Nah I’m just trying to help you realize not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Not everything is meant to be confrontational.
Their articles have become sensationalistic bullshit.
