In the ever-changing climate of privacy rules and regulations, things can become really slack. There are not a lot of good guys fighting this fight. One company who refuses to stand back is Apple. The Silicon Valley giant is fighting for its users’ privacy.
Apple has expanded its privacy website now. The website informs users that their data can be downloaded on their devices upon request. Apple believes that privacy is a fundamental human right. So, it is doing all in its power to make users feel more safe and secure.
Even the Facetime calls are encrypted from end to end. This means no one, not even Apple can intercept calls. Intelligence tracking protections were also enhanced. The feature allows Apple to recognize which features are the most valuable to users, without being able to identify each individual.
Apple will be able to prioritize the important features that need to be improved security-wise. These privacy protection features are prominent in iOS 12 and macOS Mojave. Apple has updated its privacy pages to reflect these changes.
The most noteworthy change has to be the addition of a portal that allows American users to download their data on their devices. This will show users what data Apple has on them.
Also Read: Australia’s proposed decryption law and why is Apple opposing it
This is the same portal that European users were given to access in May this year. The company decided to implement this feature when European legislators introduced the General Data Protection Regulation aka GDPR.
The aim of GDPR is to give back users control of their data and to streamline the regulatory process for businesses. GDPR’s biggest impact was allowing users to have access to their data kept by companies.
Users from Australia, New Zealand and Canada can also request a copy of their data. Now the service is finally available to US customers. After analyzing much of the data, it can be safely said that Apple doesn’t keep much of their users’ data.
Most of it is just either marketing data and some order and purchase history, very basic stuff. Other data gets deleted after a really short while or is completely encrypted, so Apple can’t make sense of it.
This is a clean slate, compared to other data-hungry companies such as Google and Facebook, which can have gigabytes of users’ data, enough to last a lifetime. Apple has mostly been quite supportive of its users’ data and privacy.
When the FBI wanted Apple to “take a peek” at one of San Bernadino shooter’s phone, Apple stood their ground refusing to assist the FBI as they believed it was a dark path to set foot on.
This was quite a controversial decision considering the circumstances. The company later tightened its security policy even more and became one of the most public and open tech giants to reveal their policies ever.
Apple has been expanding its privacy policy ever since. It has been quite transparent about how it encrypts users’ data, so not even Apple knows what is stored on customers’ phones.
I truly believe this is how it should be for every tech company. These companies should respect users’ privacy more. Hopefully, more of them will follow Apple’s example and improve their privacy policy.
Fazeel Ashraf
