Is Apple Actually The Champion of Digital Privacy?

Apple uses many powerful encryption methods to protect the contents of its users’ devices. Following recent headlines regarding Facebook and Google’s privacy issues, Apple has been outspoken about the importance of privacy and how Apple makes your privacy a priority. Marketing messages from Apple have been heavy on privacy as the company looks to distance itself from the privacy failures of the other major tech companies.

Having a company as big as Apple advocating for better data privacy is awesome BUT…Apple is not perfect.

Apple Runs on Big Data Just Like Other Tech Companies

Apple portrays itself as not relying on collecting and monetizing users’ data. Since Apple doesn’t rely on user data to operate an advertising platform like Facebook or Google, this makes sense. However, Apple collects and stores tons of user data. Apple’s iCloud storage manages and stores contacts, calendars and correspondence between iOS devices. They store this data in data centers which are vulnerable to attacks. Because Apple’s software and operating system is proprietary and closed-source, its hard for anyone to know what data Apple is storing about you.

The relationship that consumers have with Apple works in the same way that consumers relate to Google or Facebook…