One day after Apple confirmed plans for new software that will allow it to detect images of child abuse on users’ iCloud photos, Facebook’s head of WhatsApp says he is “concerned” by the plans. In a thread on Twitter, Will Cathcart called it an “Apple built and operated surveillance system that could very easily be Read more about WhatsApp head says Apple’s child safety update is a ‘surveillance system’[…]
[…] Apple told TechCrunch that the detection of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is one of several new features aimed at better protecting the children who use its services from online harm, including filters to block potentially sexually explicit photos sent and received through a child’s iMessage account. Another feature will intervene when a user Read more about Apple confirms it will begin scanning your iCloud Photos[…]
Apple is about to announce a new technology for scanning individual users’ iPhones for banned content. While it will be billed as a tool for detecting child abuse imagery, its potential for misuse is vast based on details entering the public domain. The neural network-based tool will scan individual users’ iDevices for child sexual abuse Read more about Apple is about to start scanning iPhone users’ photos[…]
Law firm Campbell Conroy & O’Neil has warned of a breach from late February which may have exposed data from the company’s lengthy client list of big-name corporations including Apple and IBM. The breach, which was discovered on 27 February 2021 when a ransomware infection blocked access to selected files on the company’s internal systems, Read more about US legal eagles representing Apple, IBM, and more take 5 months to inform clients of ransomware data breach, will only offer support if social security number was in data[…]
Near the end of the Epic v. Apple trial, Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers had some pointed questions for Tim Cook on the state of Apple’s relationship with its developers. Citing an internal survey of developers, she noted that 39 percent of them indicated they were unhappy with the App Store’s distribution. What incentive, then, she Read more about Apple’s developer problems are much bigger than Epic and ‘Fortnite’[…]
Google and Apple Inc. face a sweeping probe into the “duopoly” power of their mobile ecosystems, in the U.K. antitrust watchdog’s latest attack on Silicon Valley. The increasingly tech-focused Competition and Markets Authority opened a 12-month market study into broad aspects of the iOS and Android systems, saying it feared the companies’ dominance is stifling Read more about Android, Apple Mobile Ecosystems Face UK Antitrust Probe Amid Competition Fears[…]
Lawmakers in the House have introduced five new bills that would place significant limits on major tech companies, including Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon.The proposed legislation is part of a broader effort to step up antitrust enforcement against tech giants.The bills would place new limits on the companies’ ability to acquire new business and change Read more about House introduces five antitrust bills targeting Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon[…]
Apple didn’t know the Department of Justice was requesting metadata of Democratic lawmakers when it complied with a subpoena during a Trump-era leak investigation, CNBC reports. And it wasn’t the only tech giant tapped in these probes: Microsoft confirmed Friday it received a similar subpoena for a congressional staffer’s personal email account. Both companies were under Read more about Apple and Microsoft Say They Had No Idea Trump-Era DOJ Requested Data on Political Rivals[…]
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has long argued it needs to control app distribution on iPhones, otherwise the App Store would turn into “a flea market.” But among the 1.8 million apps on the App Store, scams are hiding in plain sight. Customers for several VPN apps, which allegedly protect users’ data, complained in Apple Read more about Apple’s tightly controlled App Store is teeming with scams[…]
Apple has paid a multimillion-dollar settlement to an unnamed Oregon college student after one of its outsourced repair facilities posted explicit pictures and videos of her to her Facebook page. According to legal documents obtained by The Telegraph, the incident occurred in 2016 at a Pegatron-owned repair centre in Sacramento, California. The student had mailed Read more about Apple settles with student after authorized repair workers leaked her naked pics to her Facebook page. Apple blocks Right to repair for danger by unauthorised parties. Hmm.[…]
Russia said it had fined Apple $12 million for alleged [Note: why the use of this word? If the fine has been issued, then a Russian court has established guilt and there is no allleging about it!] abuse of its dominance in the mobile applications market, in the latest dispute between Moscow and a Western Read more about Russia fines Apple $12m for app market abuse[…]
Epic Games is using its lawsuit against Apple to accuse the iPhone maker of being particularly greedy. As The Verge reports, expert witness Eric Barns testified that Apple supposedly had an App Store operating margin of 77.8 percent in 2019, itself a hike from 74.9 percent in 2018. He also rejected Apple witness’ claims that Read more about Epic witness claims Apple’s App Store profit reaches 78%. Apple disagrees as their overall profit is “only” 42.5%[…]
the European Union has charged Apple with allegedly “abus[ing] its dominant position” in the music streaming market. The charges stem from an initial complaint filed by Spotify in 2019. At the time, Spotify accused Apple of having “an unfair advantage at every turn” by imposing a series of obstacles that favored its own services at Read more about EU Charges Apple With Antitrust Violations in Spotify Case[…]
A study describes the data transmitted to backend servers by the Google/Apple based contact tracing (GAEN) apps in use in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Denmark and finds that the health authority client apps are generally well-behaved from a privacy point of view, although the Irish, Polish, Danish, and Latvian apps could be improved in Read more about Study finds GAEN Google Apple contact tracing apps allow user + contact location tracking. NL stops use of tracking app.[…]
Apple has been hit with a lawsuit alleging that its media services terms and conditions, which permit the company to terminate an Apple ID, are “unlawful” and “unconscionable.” The complaint, filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, goes after an Apple services clause that states a user with Read more about Man sues Apple for terminating Apple ID with $24K worth of content and no reason[…]
Apple’s AirDrop feature is a convenient way to share files between the company’s devices, but security researchers from Technische Universitat Darmstadt in Germany are warning that you might be sharing way more than just a file. According to the researchers, it’s possible for strangers to discover the phone number and email of any nearby AirDrop Read more about Apple AirDrop Security Flaw Exposes iPhone Numbers, Emails: Researchers[…]
Australian security firm Azimuth has been identified as the experts who managed to crack a mass shooter’s iPhone that was at the center of an encryption standoff between the FBI and Apple. Until this week it had largely been assumed that Israeli outfit Cellebrite was hired to forcibly unlock an encrypted iPhone 5C used by Read more about Aussie biz Azimuth cracked San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, ending Apple-FBI privacy standoff in 2015[…]
As part of the ongoing legal battle between Fortnite maker Epic and Apple, some new information has come to light confirming the most annoying thing about Apple’s iMessage app: that Apple could make a cross-platform version of iMessage for Android phones, but it won’t because it would be bad for business. This info comes from Read more about Apple Never Made iMessage for Android to Lock Users In: Epic v Apple[…]
In a recent released research paper, titled “Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple And Google” [PDF], Douglas Leith, chairman of computer systems in the school of computer science and statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, documents how iPhones and Android devices phone home regardless of the wishes of their Read more about Android, iOS beam telemetry to Google, Apple even when you tell them not to[…]
iOS 14.4.2 and iPadOS 14.4.2 Released March 26, 2021 WebKit Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation) Impact: Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to universal cross site scripting. Apple is Read more about Apple Webkit exploited to hack your idevice whilst browsing. Update now![…]
Apple, on its French website, is now publishing repairability scores for its notoriously difficult to repair products, in accordance with a Gallic environmental law enacted a year ago. Cook & Co score themselves on repairability however, and Cupertino kit sometimes fares better under internal interpretation of the criteria [PDF] than it does under ratings awarded Read more about Apple, forced to rate product repair potential in France, gives itself modest marks – still lying, they should be worse[…]
Now that Apple has officially begun the transition to Apple Silicon, so has malware. Security researcher Patrick Wardle published a blog detailing that he’d found a malicious program dubbed GoSearch22, a Safari browser extension that’s been reworked for Apple’s M1 processor. (The extension is a variant of the Pirrit adware family, which is notorious on Read more about Apple new M1 chip specific Malware Has Arrived[…]
[…] Apple only lets you access iPhone apps through its own App Store, which it says keeps everything safe. It appeared to bolster that idea when it announced in 2020 that it would ask app makers to fill out what are essentially privacy nutrition labels. Just like packaged food has to disclose how much sugar Read more about I checked Apple’s new privacy ‘nutrition labels.’ Many were false.[…]
A third class action lawsuit has been filed in Europe against Apple seeking compensation — for what Italy’s Altroconsumo consumer protection agency dubs “planned obsolescence” of a number of iPhone 6 models.The action relates to performance throttling Apple applied several years ago to affected iPhones when the health of the device’s battery had deteriorated — Read more about Apple hit with another European class action over throttled iPhones[…]
You probably don’t need someone to tell you that magnets and life-saving medical devices don’t mix, but Apple wants to make that patently clear. MacRumors has learned that Apple recently updated a support document to warn against keeping the iPhone 12 and MagSafe accessories too close to pacemakers, defibrillators and other implants that might respond Read more about Apple warns against putting an iPhone 12 too close to your pacemaker[…]