Apple has done its best to deal with congress in a composed manner, after accusations stating that the company is breaching the privacy of its users via their devices. On Tuesday, Apple responded to House energy and commerce committee’s request regarding the information that the company collects from its customers, via its devices.
The response came from Apple via a letter, and this response mainly focused on the sharing of locations that the company’s customer indulge in, as well as the question on whether or not Apple collects information on its customers, without their knowledge or consent. The main point of this question was whether or not Apple uses its devices, in particular, the iPhone to listen to the surroundings of the user.
Apple, in a calm and composed manner stated in the letter that its products do not actively listen to whatever the customers are saying, and provided a clear indication that no data about the customer is collected, without their consent or knowledge. Also,more information was provided by the company as to how ‘Hey, Siri’ works, without listening to or collecting data in the meantime. The company also countered the argument on third party apps, stating that such apps have no power to collect data on their own, and if any data is indeed to be collected, then this is done with full consent given by the customer himself.
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According to the privacy terms laid down by the company, it is clearly stated that no information is to be obtained from the user without their knowledge, and having known that, Apple claims that some developers were in clear obstruction of the privacy terms of iOS, which clearly state that the apps have to get user permission before they can access the microphone,location data, or the camera. Due to this obstruction, the company states that the developers were dealt with, as the apps were removed from the App store. The company has not identified the name of such apps, neither have they identified the developers.
So in contrast, the clear takeaway from such a response letter, which Apple has provided us with via CNET is that the company revolves around the privacy policy laid down, and also the point that while it may acquire some data about the user, it does not actually acquire as much data as possible like some other companies, dare I say like Google?
There is no doubt that in today’s world, no one is really safe because of how the internet works. There may be a million ways in which identity theft, collection of data, and other sorts of frauds might be committed using the internet. And while we can hope that companies respect the privacy of its customers, whether or not that indeed happens, we do not know.
