I guess I am a bit jaded. I have been working in cyber professionally for over 17 years now and I probably feel the same way most people with real experience in their field feel about big news....
What do I mean? I am very rarely surprised, and typically what I see is "old news" by any standard.
This story from Bleeping Computer details a $95,000,000 settlement Apple has agreed to pay for violations of consumer privacy.
What were they doing? Listening to you of course. Is that really surprising? I guess still to some people.
However, it should not be. It is intentional. Purposeful. Planned, nay required. Let me explain....
Following the horrific attacks on September 11th 2001 the United States government found itself scrambling to respond. (no we don't have time to get into this...I know I know). One of the biggest legislative responses to the attacks was the famous and now infamous PATRIOT Act (yes so named to fool you...) which required amongst other things, telecommunications providers to be increasingly friendly to federal agencies seeking access to their data for "surveillance purposes." That legislation along with an update to CALEA (another far reaching surveillance law) in 2005 gave the federal government and its various agencies nearly unlimited power and influence to wield on communications companies in pursuit of "safety".
Now I know it may be hard to imagine all of that power and control being misused or somehow leveraged in a negative and dangerous way....but it has been and it is.
Over the past few months Chinese state sponsored hackers (Salt Typhoon) have been caught infiltrating ALL major US telecoms (hacks going back years). How did they gain access? The backdoors that the telecoms were obliged to build for US federal agencies were compromised (oh no!).
So, why did I tell you all of that in a seemingly pointless (although interesting) sidebar?
To illustrate the reason I am NOT surprised that Apple was listening to you without your consent. I am also NOT surprised that the penalty is pennies. Why? because they were compelled to create this problem. You don't think they reminded the US government lawyers of this in a not so friendly way?
US DOJ: "Hey, you guys are spying on customers"
Apple: "Yes, you told us too"
US DOJ: "Well...yes but only if we ask...."
Apple: ......
US DOJ: ......
Apple: ........
US DOJ: "Ok well we have to act like we are protecting the citizens, so how about 95 million? We can offset the cost with a contract or tax cuts on the back end..."
Apple: "Sounds fine, see you at lunch on Tuesday"
...and that my friends is a small peak into the world of muck that Netflix, social media, and Amazon attempt to distract you from 24/7.
Happy New Year!
