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How exactly does a headphone app have access to your alcohol use and menstruation history? Where is it pulling this data from?

wbkang 6y ago
It's one of the data types apple health can collect. The headphones app probably asked for all possible types of healthkit data.
- lrnStats 6y ago
  If that stock takes a tumble, you can bet their marketing is going to drop the privacy branding. Everyone knows their customers are highly susceptible to marketing, it would be a gold mine.
caymanjim 6y ago
They don't. The app may ask for it, and there may be some benefit to the user if they provide it, but it's not like the headphones magically acquire any of the data the author is complaining about. If people want to give their personal information out, that's up to them. I personally limit what information I share, and I get annoyed when devices or apps try to sneakily get more information than I'm willing to intentionally provide, but this article is silly. The younger generation has grown up without a sense of personal privacy, and they're largely ok with it. They will happily give away personal details in exchange for a "free" app or product, and they bend over backwards to expose their entire lives via images and videos on social media. There's always mock outrage when someone "discovers" that the reason the Internet is free is because someone is selling personal data to drive advertising, but everyone knows that. Most people just don't care.
- saurik 6y ago
  They care. It exudes as a cynicism about the world and continual jokes about talking to the FBI agent assigned to watch them. They (as are we) are just powerless to prevent it as every single service and every single platform and apparently every single product is collecting data on us. And since the value of services and platforms and, sadly, even products goes up as more people are using them, the arguments of "don't use these products and vote with your dollars" that people constantly push are nonsensical: you can value your privacy but also value having a romantic partner, and most people these days use dating apps to date; you can value your privacy but also value getting invited to the birthday party, and most people these days invite everyone to their party on a social network; you can value your privacy but also value being able to travel, and so unless you want to be the one insane person in your friend group who doesn't use Lyft/Uber and never knows when the public transportation is running late and takes forever to book hotels (and always ends up spending a lot more when you do)... well, you are going to use a bunch of apps that do a bunch of data collection. People care. They have no choice.
  - jjcon 6y ago
    I dunno... when it comes to the tiny things this article is talking about I really don’t care. This all seems like outrage in the name of a few clicks. That annoys me way more than my headphones asking to know how long I use them each day.
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. In a world where this wasn't allowed, presumably you'd be forced to spend more money. So you can inhabit that world right now if you want.
    - La1n 6y ago
      >That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. This is not an option for everyone. Don't poor people deserve privacy too?
      - renewiltord 6y ago
        Sure, but they deserve to be able to make the choice too. So if you move to a world where selling your data for services isn't available, then you're forcing them to pay and since we've determined they can't pay, all you're doing is removing the choice from them and forcing them in to the no-service option. And I know how it is because I was once affected by this. All these "but the poor people" folks disappear when the poor actually ask for help. It's like this: Poor people: Hey, can we get the right to work for a living in a dignified way and use the same services as everyone else? The Privileged Protectors: Okay, how about I make it so you can't work for more than 20 hrs and umm... I'll throw in some privacy Poor people:... You can't eat privacy.
        La1n 6y ago
        >So if you move to a world where selling your data for services isn't available, then you're forcing them to pay and since we've determined they can't pay, all you're doing is removing the choice from them and forcing them in to the no-service option. Like this is the only option... We already see a lot of services that sell multiple tiers of their products, with power users or larger companies paying significantly more.

wbkang 6y ago

It's one of the data types apple health can collect. The headphones app probably asked for all possible types of healthkit data.

lrnStats 6y ago
If that stock takes a tumble, you can bet their marketing is going to drop the privacy branding. Everyone knows their customers are highly susceptible to marketing, it would be a gold mine.

caymanjim 6y ago

They don't. The app may ask for it, and there may be some benefit to the user if they provide it, but it's not like the headphones magically acquire any of the data the author is complaining about. If people want to give their personal information out, that's up to them. I personally limit what information I share, and I get annoyed when devices or apps try to sneakily get more information than I'm willing to intentionally provide, but this article is silly. The younger generation has grown up without a sense of personal privacy, and they're largely ok with it. They will happily give away personal details in exchange for a "free" app or product, and they bend over backwards to expose their entire lives via images and videos on social media. There's always mock outrage when someone "discovers" that the reason the Internet is free is because someone is selling personal data to drive advertising, but everyone knows that. Most people just don't care.

saurik 6y ago
They care. It exudes as a cynicism about the world and continual jokes about talking to the FBI agent assigned to watch them. They (as are we) are just powerless to prevent it as every single service and every single platform and apparently every single product is collecting data on us. And since the value of services and platforms and, sadly, even products goes up as more people are using them, the arguments of "don't use these products and vote with your dollars" that people constantly push are nonsensical: you can value your privacy but also value having a romantic partner, and most people these days use dating apps to date; you can value your privacy but also value getting invited to the birthday party, and most people these days invite everyone to their party on a social network; you can value your privacy but also value being able to travel, and so unless you want to be the one insane person in your friend group who doesn't use Lyft/Uber and never knows when the public transportation is running late and takes forever to book hotels (and always ends up spending a lot more when you do)... well, you are going to use a bunch of apps that do a bunch of data collection. People care. They have no choice.
- jjcon 6y ago
  I dunno... when it comes to the tiny things this article is talking about I really don’t care. This all seems like outrage in the name of a few clicks. That annoys me way more than my headphones asking to know how long I use them each day.
- renewiltord 6y ago
  That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. In a world where this wasn't allowed, presumably you'd be forced to spend more money. So you can inhabit that world right now if you want.
  - La1n 6y ago
    >That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. This is not an option for everyone. Don't poor people deserve privacy too?
    - renewiltord 6y ago
      Sure, but they deserve to be able to make the choice too. So if you move to a world where selling your data for services isn't available, then you're forcing them to pay and since we've determined they can't pay, all you're doing is removing the choice from them and forcing them in to the no-service option. And I know how it is because I was once affected by this. All these "but the poor people" folks disappear when the poor actually ask for help. It's like this: Poor people: Hey, can we get the right to work for a living in a dignified way and use the same services as everyone else? The Privileged Protectors: Okay, how about I make it so you can't work for more than 20 hrs and umm... I'll throw in some privacy Poor people:... You can't eat privacy.
      - La1n 6y ago
        >So if you move to a world where selling your data for services isn't available, then you're forcing them to pay and since we've determined they can't pay, all you're doing is removing the choice from them and forcing them in to the no-service option. Like this is the only option... We already see a lot of services that sell multiple tiers of their products, with power users or larger companies paying significantly more.