Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Are you seriously equating a legal warrant with the realtime harvesting of user data by applications (such as Google/Facebook and others)?


Not really, I am pointing out data privacy means different things to different people. From my experience many are surprised how easily a users data can be obtained. There appears to be a misconception with some that Apple fights legal battles and refuses to comply with law enforcement because Apple believes so strongly in data privacy.

One example: There was a person harassing people on facebook in a small local community. Sending obscene images and making threats. To solve the crime local law enforcement ended up compiling a list of just under 20 possible suspects.

Hoping to match an iCloud photo to a post on facebook a warrant was issued for all 20 users data. Apple sends an. encrypted file with all the data and then another email with the passwords

Long story short the offender was caught however almost 20 people’s data was looked through by local law enforcement. I stress local because this is not some federal agent solving a major crime but just a neighbor police officer who sends his own kids to the same schools as these other innocent people.

Disclaimer: I assisted law enforcement on this case and a couple of others.


If you think Apple is collecting less personal data using iOS than Google is collecting using Android then you'll be disappointed...




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: