Italy’s Competition and Market Authority is opening a competition probe into cloud storage services run by Apple, Dropbox, and Google.
Andrew Orr
Since 2015 Andrew has been writing about Apple, privacy, security, and at one point even Android. You can find him most places online under the username @andrewornot.
Articles by Andrew Orr
Prison Phone Service ‘Telmate’ Leaks Data of Inmates
Telmate, owned by Global Tel Link, makes an app for prisoners to send messages and calls to friends and family. It exposed a database of private messages, call logs, and personal information numbers in the tens of millions. Why? The database wasn’t secured with a password.
Comparitech security researcher Bob Diachenko on August 13, 2020 discovered the unsecured database and immediately reported it to Global Tel Link, the company that owns and operates Telmate. The company, to its credit, responded within two hours and secured the database an hour later, but it’s possible that other unauthorized parties accessed it prior to Diachenko’s disclosure.
Apple Seeds iOS 14 Public Beta 7 for Testers
A day after releasing it for developers, Apple has seeded iOS 14 public beta 7 for iPhone and iPad users.
Former Apple Employee Jon Callas Joins EFF as Technology Projects Director
Jon Callas, formerly of Apple, PGP Corp, Blackphone, and Silent Circle, has joined the EFF as its Technology Projects Director.
Apple Publishes Human Rights Policy in Response to Shareholders
Apple has published a human rights policy in response to a campaign from SumOfUs, an international consumer group and an Apple shareholder.
Big Tech Sues Patent Office Over Legal-Related Rule
Apple, Cisco, Intel, and Google have sued the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office over it’s recent rule that it can refuse to adjudicate patent claims while litigation about them is pending in court.
The rule, which was introduced by the USPTO in March and became final in May, deals with the agency’s obligations around inter partes review (IPR) — a sort of expert-court process for assessing whether patent claims are valid. USPTO says deferring to an ongoing court case is more efficient than setting up a parallel review internally.
Apple Gives Developers More Time to Comply With iOS 14 Privacy
Apple is giving developers more time to comply with the iOS 14 anti-tracking feature that empowers users to consent to be tracked (or not).
Apple Shares Details to Address iOS 14 App Privacy Questions
Apple shared an update on Thursday giving developers more information to address iOS 14 app privacy questions when it’s released.
Apple Shares New Privacy Video About Over-Sharing
Apple uploaded a funny privacy ad for the iPhone on Thursday. With the song “Diamonds Cutting Diamonds” by Lydia Ainsworth in the background, the commercial follows various people as they share private information to strangers, like their credit card number, “I browsed eight sites for divorce attorneys today,” and “I hate Lee, puke emoji” (As he sits right behind her). Apple includes a link to its privacy page in the video description.
US Court Rules NSA Mass Surveillance Program Illegal
Seven years after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the agency’s mass surveillance of Americans, a U.S. appeals court has deemed it illegal.
The ruling will not affect the convictions of Moalin and his fellow defendants; the court ruled the illegal surveillance did not taint the evidence introduced at their trial. Nevertheless, watchdog groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped bring the case to appeal, welcomed the judges’ verdict on the NSA’s spy program.
Apple Updates Apple Support With Wallet Passes
The Apple Support app was updated on Wednesday with a major feature: When you make a Genius Bar appointment you’ll see a button to add a pass to Wallet for faster check-in. Other updates included with version 4.1: Easier to find Advisors in your preferred language in regions with multiple languages; Accessibility improvements for VoiceOver, including Search navigation, labels, and more; Performance enhancements and bug fixes.
iOS 14: How to Add Captions to Photos to Add Context
iOS 14 lets you add captions to photos and it’s a great way to add more information to them to save your memories.
How Jodie Deinhammer Uses iPads to Bring Students Closer to Nature
Apple shared the story of Jodie Deinhammer, an Apple Distinguished Educator and how she uses iPads in teaching to get students closer to nature.
300,000 Jobs Created With iOS During COVID-19 Pandemic
Apple shared an update saying that its iOS app economy led to the creation of almost 300,000 new jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
News Publishers Consider Abandoning iOS Over Privacy Feature
Over at The Verge, Casey Newton wrote about the increasingly heated battle between Apple and advertisers. There are a couple of tidbits I wanted to comment on.
If you believe that free, ad-supported news is beneficial to a healthy democracy, it’s worth noting that all these pro-privacy changes come at a cost.
Free is great, free news is greater, and transparency is greatest. I believe discussing a healthy democracy involves advocating for open source software, which would necessitate a stance against Apple. So I don’t disagree, and as Mr. Newton notes, we need strong privacy laws as well. He also shares an interesting link to Vox, in which some news publishers are considering abandoning iOS if they can’t monetize their users.
Russia Law Wants to Cap App Store Commissions at 20%
Russian lawmaker Fedora Tumusov introduced draft legislation on Tuesday that would cap the app fees at 20% for mobile app sellers.
Mophie Releases Two 15W Wireless Chargers
On Tuesday mophie announced the release of two 15W wireless chargers, including a pad and a stand. Each one is available on mophie.com today and will come to other retailers in the future. The wireless charging pad is US$49.95 and the wireless charging stand is US$59.95. Charlie Quong, vice president of product, power at ZAGG Brands:
Wireless charging adoption has picked up quickly in the last few years. It makes the process of topping off your smartphone battery throughout the day, like in your home or office, completely uncomplicated. mophie wireless charging accessories are designed to simplify power, particularly for those who dislike carrying numerous charging cables and adapters for different mobile devices.
Apple Releases iOS 13.7 With Exposure Notifications Express
Apple released iOS 13.7 on Tuesday and a major feature is a new express version of exposure notifications.
FBI Worries That Doorbell Cameras Could Give Early Warning of Police Searches
A leaked FBI bulletin reveals that doorbell cameras like Ring are being used to alert people when police show up for searches. It’s a funny turn of events since law enforcement agencies actively encourage people to install these cameras.
Subjects likely use IoT devices to hinder LE [law enforcement] investigations and possibly monitor LE activity. If used during the execution of a search, potential subjects could learn of LE’s presence nearby, and LE personnel could have their images captured, thereby presenting a risk to their present and future safety.
‘Five Days at Memorial’ from John Ridley, Carlton Cuse Coming to Apple TV+
Apple has landed a limited series called “Five Days at Memorial” from Academy Award winner John Ridley and Emmy Award winner Carlton Cuse.
Google, Facebook Drop Plans to Connect Hong Kong With Pacific Light Cable Network
Facebook and Google are cancelling plans to connect the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) to Hong Kong after fears were raised over China.
JuneCloud Prepares ‘Deliveries’ 9 With a Subscription
JuneCloud is preparing to deliver the ninth update to its Deliveries app, and like many developers it will move to a subscription model. Pricing will be announced in the future. Major features coming with Deliveries 9 include Dark Mode, full tracking history, faster ways to add shipments, archive/share multiple deliveries at once, drag a delivery to Files to save a copy of it, and more.
If you previously purchased Deliveries, you can continue using most features without a subscription. You’ll be able to add new Deliveries and sync with iCloud. You will need a subscription to sync with Junecloud, and we may add other features in the future that require a subscription. However, you’ll also receive a complimentary subscription based on your purchase date […]
Apple Watch Notes App ‘Watch Notes’ Goes Free
Watch Notes by Flicktype is an Apple Watch notes app and it recently went on sale. It used to be US$2.99 and now it’s free, although for an unknown time. The app lets you compose and manage your notes directly on your Apple Watch. Notes are stored in your iCloud and sync between your Apple Watch and iPhone. You can change the note color by long-pressing on the plus button. The popular FlickType Keyboard is built into the app and doesn’t require a separate purchase.
ProtonDrive’s End-to-End Encryption Security Revealed
ProtonDrive (from the makers of ProtonMail and ProtonVPN) is in the final stages of development before it gets a beta launch later in 2020. The team revealed its end-to-end encryption security in a blog post.
Files and folders are arranged in a tree structure. Therefore, there is a recurring pattern where a file or folder’s asymmetric key is locked with a passphrase, which in turn is encrypted with the asymmetric key of their parent folder. All passphrases are signed with the address key of the user, without which a malicious server could forge the contents of the tree.