undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmrtksn2y ago0 comments

As I said, it's a valid concern. However the author forget the mention that you need to apply and get approved to use this API. I find it dishonest and alarmist.

Here's the request form that you fill up for it: https://developer.apple.com/contact/request/hotspot-helper/

0 comments

wwtrv2y ago

> However the author forget the mention that you need to apply and get approved to use this API.

And? How is this any better? e.g. if I'm a dissident/etc. in China I would be much concerned about government affiliated large corporations being able to track my location than some random private developer (not that this specific API really matters that much if you're using those apps anyway).

> I find it dishonest and alarmist.

I find it a magnitude or two less dishonest than Apple (a company supposedly focused on user private) not informing their users that this is happening and directly requesting their consent.

mrtksnOP2y ago

Your government can track you all the time you have your phone with you, they have authority over the infrastructure. They can also make device manufacturer to track you for them, later you will be a single digit increase in their transparency stats.

If you don't want the government track you, you will have to do much better than using mainstream consumer devices. Apple is not your spycraft supplier.

redwall_hp2y ago

You would also have to not use a phone in general, since your carrier always knows where you are, by the nature of how cellular networks work. Your phone has a unique hardware identifier that is linked to your identity, and every tower knows which phones pinged it recently. Two towers are two points in a triangle, and you're the third.

Carriers constantly perform triangulation and keep records of phones' coordinates, which of course can be subpoenaed, and may be available more freely to government agencies, depending on how much abusive surveillance your local government does. Carriers have also sold this information to data brokers in the past.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse