Apple’s focus on privacy sure looks smart now, doesn’t it
The narratives sure change fast around these parts. Tech pundits have knocked Apple for years for its privacy stance. Apple would get left behind by companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook which are more willing to harvest user data to deliver better products. In this post, I take a look back at some of the tech punditry from a few years ago, and look at where we are today.
APPLE NEWS
2015
The Washington Post: The catch-22 that could hurt Apple down the road
Apple News is distinguishing itself by saying that what happens in News stays in News. In other words, no matter what I do in the Safari browser or buy on the App Store, it’s not looking at either of those things to guess what headlines I would want to see. It’s not using the fact that I will click on any News-curated recipe involving cheese to suggest dairy-related apps to me either.
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And there’s the rub. Great data make great products. One reason Google’s services work so well is because, as an advertiser, it has a vested business interest in your data. It uses one policy to cover all of its services, which all share data with each other. Sign in to your Google account and your searches inform your map results, your e-mails inform your ads, your YouTube history informs your future YouTube searches. All of them can, legally, inform each other. That makes it way easier for Google to give you what you want, faster. It doesn’t have to ask you about what you want all the time. It just knows.
TODAY
USA Today: Apple takes a very un-tech approach to solving fake news: human editors
Apple’s News app is on the front page of every iPhone and iPad, and promises to give users a curated, personalized view of the news, with bigger pictures and fonts than seen when reading stories in apps or on the Safari browser. Apple said in 2016 the News app had over 70 million users, and while it hasn’t updated the numbers, it does say the app has grown substantially since.
At the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas this week, Apple senior vice-president Eddy Cue said his app is differentiated from what we see on Facebook and Twitter in that it’s vetted by human curators and thus, more authentic.
“We want the best articles, we want them to look amazing and we want them to be from trusted sources,” Cue said, per Deadline. “So we don’t have a lot of the issues going around.”
On Apple News, publishers big and small can sign up to have their work included in the app, for free. But unlike on Facebook, on News, would-be publishers need to submit at least three articles to Apple before being approved.
Engadget: YouTube’s Kids app suggested conspiracy theory videos
CNN: Tech’s biggest companies are spreading conspiracy theories. Again.
When Facebook (FB) inadvertently promoted conspiracy theories shared by users following a recent Amtrak crash, the company said it was “going to work to fix the product.”
When Google (GOOGL) shared a conspiracy theory in its search results after a mass shooting last year in Texas, the company said it would “continue to look at ways to improve.”
And when Google’s YouTube spread conspiracy theories in the aftermath of the devastating shooting in Las Vegas, the video service decided to update its algorithm to prevent it from happening again.
But then it did happen again.
On Wednesday, YouTube and Facebook were each forced to issue yet another mea culpa for promoting conspiracy theories about David Hogg, a student who survived the mass shooting at a Florida high school last week.
The top trending video on YouTube early Wednesday suggested in all capital letters that Hogg, who has emerged as a leading voice for gun control since the shooting, was actually an “actor.”
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
2015
In the world of artificial intelligence, one of the year’s biggest coming-out parties is the Neural Information Processing Systems conference. Thousands of researchers from universities and software companies gather to share their work and wrestle with new ways to tailor software to people’s habits. At last year’s conference in Montreal, employees of Google, Microsoft, and IBM presented papers on teaching computers to work faster and smarter, such as by reading the house numbers in a photo to determine an address. But one player was conspicuously absent: Apple. This year, Chinese search giant Baidu and Facebook, along with Google and Microsoft, are slated to present papers. Apple isn’t.
Today
Google Machine Learning
(This is a cheap shot but is Google Lens any different than Google Goggles that came out in 2010?)
Also see the way the algorithm quickly surfaces conspiracy theories after tragedies.
VALUE OF PRIVACY GENERALLY
2014
The Washington Post: People care more about convenience than privacy online
Are you willing to give up privacy for convenience? For most people, the answer is yes, according to a recent survey from Gigya. The company, which allows consumers to use their Facebook or Twitter log-ins to sign in to a wide range of Web sites, found that users fear the worst when it comes to the privacy of their data but still are willing to put convenience above those concerns.
Today
USA Today: Facebook backlash: Failure to disclose political firm’s profile access draws scrutiny
Facebook critics are questioning the social media giant’s commitment to transparency and digital ethics after a political intelligence firm under scrutiny from federal investigators allegedly exploited access to up to 50 million personal profiles.
The episode marks another blow to Facebook’s reputation during a period of growing scrutiny over Russian use of the platform to interfere in American politics.
“Facebook has been on trial in the past 12 months in the court of public opinion,” said Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, chief research officer at the Reputation Institute, which assesses public attitudes. “‘Can I still trust Facebook?’ is the question the general public is asking themselves.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said she would launch an investigation because “residents deserve answers immediately.”
British politician Damian Collins said Facebook had been “misleading” and “deliberately avoided answering straight questions” during an ongoing investigation. He said he’s asking Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg or another leading executive to testify to provide answers.
IN CONCLUSION
At the end of the day, none of these companies are perfect. We got a report this year about how development of Siri was flawed by disagreements among managers and other issues. This came right after Alexa started laughing at people, so I think the voice assistant space is still pretty competitive.
Still, it looks like the chickens are coming home to roost on the data privacy story. The narrative (which I still mostly buy into) has been that Apple is missing out where Google and Facebook are gaining from data collection, and that people generally don’t care about privacy. The narrative is starting to shift, as Google’s algorithms serve conspiracy theories as top news, and Facebook’s data allowed President Trump’s campaign to get exciting access to Facebook users to help win the election.
Hindsight is 20/20, but it’s looking pretty good for Apple that they’re not a part of any of these stories about data being used against folks. Or maybe it wasn’t hindsight. Lots of people warned about how big data and algorithms could be misused. Do you think Apple looked at the dangers and decided to avoid them entirely?
