Beware of Apple Spyware! - Macintosh Garden

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2011, July 11 - 10:30am

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Joined: 2009 Aug 7

Beware of Apple Spyware!

According to Forbes and Guardian, Apple cooperates with the U.S. secret service. For all who already supected this, this is now for sure:
http://blogs.forbes.com/seanlawson/2011/02/22/hbgary-hearts-apple/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social...
One more reason to use old Macs not connected to the web, for the technology of the new Macs does not ensure you that are not spyed out even if you are not connected to the web.

Never forget that the main customer of the NeXt operating system was the CIA.

Comments

2011, July 11 - 3:10pm

wlewisiii

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Joined: 2011 Jun 4

Meh, no news here.

If you want to pretend you have any privacy, use TOR or Freenet. That will only slow them down, however. and everything you do or say on clearnet is government accessible anyway.

Even if you do use those options, who is to say they're actually secure? See Ken Thompson's classic "Reflections on Trusting Trust" for the real world.

http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html

Only those who are never online, never use a phone and only live on cash have any privacy. Get used to it.

2011, July 11 - 7:49pm

bertyboy

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Joined: 2009 Jun 14

wow, THE Ken Thompson - if you're a real Unix bod from the 80's he was a great read.

2011, July 12 - 1:51am

Balrog

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Joined: 2009 Apr 24

Okay:

The first article suggests that HBGary tried to get business from Apple.
The second article speaks about a "California corporation" — there are many California corporations other than Apple.

I wouldn't say this confirms anything at all. From working with OS X (and using software like Little Snitch to monitor what goes on), Apple is not monitoring usage on new computers. Of course, they do collaborate with authorities and answer requests for information related to their online services (including iTunes and iCloud) — just as do Google and other companies.

2011, July 12 - 2:00am

allanrob_22

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Joined: 2009 Aug 24

Err, yea. A little too much of the Alex Jones brand of paranoia for me to take seriously.

2011, July 12 - 9:08pm

Temporary Joe

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Joined: 2009 Nov 14

With all the terrorists and real threats out there, you think that they would go after people who download 15-year-old software? :/

2011, July 13 - 10:25am

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Joined: 2009 Aug 7

No, that's why using abandonware instead of Mac OS X is a good thing.

2011, July 14 - 6:05am

Balrog

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Joined: 2009 Apr 24

@xy:

Abandonware is not quite as well tested as OS X, and has plenty of exploitable bugs. Watch out.

If you're using OS X and are paranoid, I recommend Little Snitch from obdev.at . It tells you whenever a program tries to access the Internet.

2011, July 18 - 1:30pm

iig

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Joined: 2009 Jul 16

Wow . You guys seem a little paranoid .

Just don't play any pangea software games while running little snitch - it causes their games to crash!