Category: privacy

Does iOS 14 protect your privacy?

Post author By Yoav Aner
Post date 22 November, 2020

A few months ago I wrote a post: Does Apple care about your privacy?

In the post, I looked at Apple’s IDFA – ID For Advertising, and how it’s abused by companies like Facebook and many more to track you. I believed then, and still believe now, that what Apple is doing is not ethical and also not legal under the European GDPR.

Since then, Apple actually announced that iOS 14 would change the way IDFA was accessible to all apps by default and that it would start “Asking Permission to Track”. This is a welcome change. Sadly, despite iOS 14 rolling out already, and despite Apple’s claims on this page, this change is still not in place.

Luckily, however, I was able to collaborate on this issue with NOYB (None Of Your Business: a privacy organization; please consider donating if you care about your privacy). NOYB brought forward an official complaint against Apple. The complaint was not a GDPR complaint, but rather highlighting an ePrivacy violation. This is another legal framework which explicitly forbids the kind of stuff Apple is doing.

privacy Technology

Sonos is spying on me… (and you)

Post author By Yoav Aner
Post date 4 October, 2020

I recently decided to get a wireless speaker for our Kitchen. Sonos seems like an obvious choice these days. The sound quality and aesthetics were very appealing. So I ordered a Sonos One SL speaker.

In terms of sound quality and looks, I was very pleased. I’m not an audiophile but the sound quality seemed superb and the speaker just looks fantastic. A very clean and unassuming look.

As I later discovered, a dirty beast hides under the cool exterior.

hosting privacy Security Technology

Why is Backblaze tracking me?

Post author By Yoav Aner
Post date 8 August, 2020

This is a follow-up to my previous post: hey.com is onto something with its tracking-pixel blocker. I mentioned contacting Backblaze about their email tracking there.

I didn’t think too much of it at the time, and honestly (or naively?) was expecting some kind of a “Oh, yes, you’re right, there’s no need to track those emails”… But it didn’t unfold in quite the same way.

TL;DR

This is my own interpretation, obviously. Backblaze seems to think that tracking emails is totally fine, even under the GDPR. They’re not going to stop doing it until further notice.

marketing privacy Technology Uncategorized

Who’s sharing my data? … and who the hell is Dave M. Rogenmoser?

Post author By Yoav Aner
Post date 26 July, 2020

I’m no longer active on Facebook, but at the moment, oddly, it’s my main goto option to find out at least some of the companies that share my data.

Facebook lets you see who shared your data with them. There are two interesting pages, buried and well-hidden, worth checking: Off Facebook activity and Businesses who uploaded and used a list.

Want to see which companies are sharing your data? continue reading.

marketing privacy

hey.com is onto something with its tracking-pixel blocker

Post author By Yoav Aner
Post date 21 June, 2020

When I first saw the tracking pixel blocking feature of hey.com I didn’t think too much of it. In fact, I thought it was making it into something more than it really was.

I typically block all images on my emails, and that’s good enough. I also have an ad-blocker (both via DNS and in the browser), so I can eliminate the issue right there without too much fanfare.

But I was wrong. It’s not just about blocking them.

marketing privacy Technology

Bunq freeloading: joint accounts now cost at least 59.9% more, your privacy doesn’t matter either

Post author By Yoav Aner
Post date 4 April, 2020

My wife and I joined Bunq a couple of months ago. Bunq is a fairly new European bank, based in the Netherlands. It’s one of the new breed of mobile-first banks that offer a more modern experience. It has a neat mobile app with some clever features like dynamic sub-accounts, spend tracking, better credit card control and more.

Their slogan is “bank of the free”. Whilst other banks might not charge you to open an account or use it, Bunq actually does charge for its account. However, the “free” part, as far as I understood it, is that by paying bunq, they can provide a service to you, rather than find ways to monetize you (e.g. by advertising, selling your data).

As you can see from the marketing spiel, they value transparency and don’t do any dirty business.

Until they do…

privacy Security Technology

Does Apple care about your privacy?

Post author By Yoav Aner
Post date 23 February, 2020

I’ve been an Apple user since 2005 or so. Well, unless you consider my Apple IIc, in which case I guess I was a customer since 1987. I managed to negotiate with my parents to bundle two birthdays (my 12th and my Bar Mitzvah, that’s a big one) to get one of those. It was a turning point in my life… But I digress.

I really admire Apple’s push for security without compromising convenience, with Touch ID and Face ID making things safer. Apple’s touting their efforts to reduce web tracking, and Tim Cook publicly stated that “We at Apple believe that privacy is a fundamental human right”.

But when it comes to their own backyard, does Apple even meet the requirements of the GDPR? (The European privacy directive). I don’t think so.