Privacy: Apple collecting User Content through Pages, Numbers, Keynote... But what info exactly?

[Joe's kitchen]

Hi. This is a question about privacy issues on MacOS app created by Apple.

According to Apple's data collection policy, which is open to the public, Apple is collecting various personal information (including "Data linked to the user") when you use their original app like Pages, Numbers and Keynote (and so on).

"Data linked to the user" including ID and User Content. And "User Content" has various meanings, including "user-generated content" according to Apple.

But what information exactly is Apple collecting from their users? Every single word they type on Pages? Every single jpeg photo they put on Numbers?

If so it's very scary. The files I'm making with Pages on Mac are for my personal use only and I'm not willing to share with anyone else.

Does anybody know what information they collect exactly and how to prevent it?

I'm currently using a third-party firewall app and prohibiting outbound transmission from Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Is this really effective? Perhaps, Apple is bypassing the firewall rules and collecting what they want anyway.

 

[bogdanw]

You don’t have to use them, use LibreOffice https://www.libreoffice.org

 

[SteveJawbs]

Every word you type on any device is stored and saved, tracked and retained. We can’t escape this reality. Palantir is the harvester of all of it. Trust me. They have it.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

Post a link to this "data collection policy", I would like to read it myself.

 

[Joe's kitchen]

Here are three links for you to review:

1. App privacy details on the App Store
(https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/#linked-data)

Check "Types of data" section
User Content / Other User Content: "Any other user-generated content"


2. App Privacy for Pages (macOS version)
(https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pages/id409201541)

Data Linked to You:
- Contact Info
- Identifiers
- Diagnostics
- User Content
- Usage Data


3. Apple Privacy Policy Updated October 27, 2021
(https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/)

Check "Personal Data Apple Collects from You"

Usage Data: "Data about your activity on and use of our offerings, such as app launches within our services, including browsing history; search history; product interaction; crash data, performance and other diagnostic data; and OTHER USAGE DATA"

(User Content not mentioned in this page)

 

[Tagbert]

The problem with legal disclaimers like this is that they have to be written so broadly that they can be interpreted as covering behavior that is beyond what is actually happening.

Apple has an interest in how their users are using their software so that they can determine what people are using and valuing and what is not being used. They want to know when things break, crash, or otherwise fail. That may require looking at diagnostic logs. It can be difficult to prevent meta information about user activity from creeping into those logs. Apple doesn’t have any interest in the actual content of our files.

 

[Ruggy]

I don't see a link to this above and maybe this only applies if you are in the EU but you can request the data they collect on you if you sign in at this link

Data & Privacy

privacy.apple.com

I did it once and it was a tiny amount of data and impossible to see anything of importance because it just ends up as a a string of numbers.
I was really surprised at how little it was.

 

[KaliYoni]

I was really surprised at how little it was.

Especially when compared to what both major companies, such as Amazon, and smaller companies, especially political targeting databases and payment services, reveal they seek, collect, analyze, and store when you request a copy of your dossier.

 

[mw360]

Hi. This is a question about privacy issues on MacOS app created by Apple.

According to Apple's data collection policy, which is open to the public, Apple is collecting various personal information (including "Data linked to the user") when you use their original app like Pages, Numbers and Keynote (and so on).

"Data linked to the user" including ID and User Content. And "User Content" has various meanings, including "user-generated content" according to Apple.

But what information exactly is Apple collecting from their users? Every single word they type on Pages? Every single jpeg photo they put on Numbers?

If so it's very scary. The files I'm making with Pages on Mac are for my personal use only and I'm not willing to share with anyone else.

Does anybody know what information they collect exactly and how to prevent it?

I'm currently using a third-party firewall app and prohibiting outbound transmission from Pages, Numbers and Keynote. Is this really effective? Perhaps, Apple is bypassing the firewall rules and collecting what they want anyway.

All those products allow you to store and edit your documents in the cloud, so obviously they need the ability to collect your Apple ID and whatever content you add into your documents. You don’t have to use the cloud features, and if you don’t then Apple don’t have any need to collect your stuff. In which case maybe they do, maybe they don’t.

 

[Joe's kitchen]

I think iCloud coordination is a reasonable answer.
Thank you all.

 

[MacBH928]

Every word you type on any device is stored and saved, tracked and retained. We can’t escape this reality. Palantir is the harvester of all of it. Trust me. They have it.

Not if you use FOSS

 

[zakarhino]

Not if you use FOSS

No. It's over... Palantir know when your last bowel movement was. Thiel won. Karp won. Ontology OS won.

 

[DestructoTim]

A few pieces of misinformation I saw in the comments.

#1. Using iCloud has nothing to do with data collection, nor does using iCloud require Apple to collect data on you. Cloud services can be end to end encrypted with no data collection possible. Storing data for you, and collecting your data for their own use are two completely different things. You can use a pay phone without a phone company listening in on your call.. it's up to the phone company to decide if they will collect the data going over their lines.

#2. "It's not really that much data, it couldn't be anything important, just a string of numbers.". Many people who don't want to share their data are not concerned that their personal lives will leak out to the world or that their identity will be stolen. They are concerned about little bits of data here and there that leads to a total of masses of data stolen from every corner of the world, that lead to evil things like we saw a preview of with Cambridge Analytica. Corporations and shady governments or even small groups within militaries or government departments, can use these masses of data piles to literally control the world. No identifiers to specific people or individual personal details needed.

#3. "The problem with legal disclaimers is they have to be written broadly to cover everything, just in case, even though companies aren't really collecting all that data they put in their disclaimers.". In the real world it is constantly being revealed that the opposite is happening with companies and their disclaimers. They are being caught collecting data they specifically said they don't collect, or data it is implied they don't collect, or data they collect that they don't mention at all in their disclaimers. There have been little or no consequences every time these things are discovered, so the companies have no incentive to reveal what they are actually doing, as the profits from the data far out score the tiny financial hits they take when these things are revealed in little tech blogs that the general public shrugs at.

Now it's clear that there are different levels to this. Apple is by far the least evil of the major companies taking part in this. But none of the major companies are innocent. The best bet for the non tech enthusiast average person, is to stick with Apple services and products. But there are smaller software distributers that do a much better job than Apple at respecting the end user. I switched to Apple in 2020, because I just don't have the time to tinker with and study up on all the more private software, nor do I have them time to deal with smaller vendors that may have buggy unreliable software, or have time to manage software that is not all contained within a nice compatible ecosystem. I do however take some steps to secure data on my Apple products a little better than things comes straight out of the box.