this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2023
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A healthy dose of skepticism is always warranted, but I wouldn't state this as fact when we don't even have evidence of Apple presently doing these kinds of things (i.e. selling the other biometric data their devices collect). They aren't an ad company like Facebook or Google, and it's against their own privacy policy. If Apple were caught doing this, it would be a huge scandal, not business as usual.
The Apple advertising & privacy policy in that menu is pretty short.
I don't see any mention of biometrics in it.
It includes device information like type, OS version, and keyboard language.
It also includes rough geolocation specifically when in the App Store, News, and TV apps, if location services are turned on and these apps are granted permission to use it. They claim this data is not stored.
After that it's account information (things like iTunes download history, other Apple devices owned).
They claim none of this data is shared with third parties.
Like I said, there is always room for skepticism. But I think it would be a pretty big deal if it turned out Apple was flat out lying in their own legalese. It also just doesn't make sense in their business model. Unlike Facebook, for whom 90% of their revenue is derived from data collection and ads, Apple makes all their money selling hardware on huge margins. I don't think they would risk alienating someone who is happy shelling out $1500-$3500 for a new laptop over a few measly dollars. It's probably why the data collection they do engage in is opt-in, rather than opt-out hidden behind dark patterns.
I'm not confusing these two things. I'm firmly of the belief that when it comes to privacy, Apple is a C student doing the bare minimum. They are only notable because they are surrounded almost exclusively by dropouts.
I also work in the field. While this assessment was pretty on point 10 years ago, particularly regarding security, I think the modern reality is a lot more nuanced.
For example, the secure enclave (present since the iPhone 5S, and Macs with a T1 or newer) still hasn't been fully broken. FIrmware has been dumped, and vulnerabilities found, but nothing publicly that is able to decrypt private keys held inside.