“This means that Apple knows when you’re at home. When you’re at work. What apps you open there, and how often. They know when you open Premiere over at a friend’s house on their Wi-Fi, and they know when you open Tor Browser in a hotel.” https://sneak.berlin/20201112/your-computer-isnt-yours/

Worth noting the technical reason here. I don’t think Apple is gathering this data because they want to sell it to advertisers (like a Google or Facebook would). Completely believe that the creators of this system thought they were doing right by users. But that’s the conceit...

Apple is late to rendering its actions and intentions through the lens of a two-trillion dollar conglomerate with a proven record of using its systems and dominance for anti-competitive behavior. You can’t simply go on good intentions any more! Don’t think Apple employees realize

“But I never thought my system would be used to [collect data on everyone in a way NSA or law enforcement would tap into/upper management would order used to squash the competition/etc]. I did it to protect people!”. Something-something a road to hell and good intentions.

Anyway, here I go again, reading noble intentions into a bullying monopolistic conglomerate that also happens to be the most valuable company in the world. This is the residue of two decades of goodwill built. They’re spending it at a ferocious rate though!

Shit like this is also just compounded when you embrace the notion of privacy as publicly as Apple has. Which is one of the things I really like about Apple! But you gotta stay congruent. These statements are not compatible with a phone-home scheme on every app launch.