Apple is very much part of many of our daily lives. We are reminded to close our exercise rings, get to sleep, and are alerted when our heart rate surges. Now we can expect to be reminded to quarantine if we’ve recently been to an airport or travelled internationally. When does a helpful reminder become “Big Brother” watching over our every move? Is an Apple quarantine alert one step too far?
A New Quarantine Notification Alert From Apple Maps
Kyle Gray noticed a message popped up after recently visiting an airport:
Apple Maps now sends you a notification if you’ve recently been to an airport pic.twitter.com/BJSs2c6CQM
— Kyle Seth Gray (@kylesethgray) July 24, 2020
Gray is a health care technology professional.
9to5Mac claims this is “likely using on-device intelligence due to Apple’s stringent privacy-preserving approach to features like this.” While I hope that is the case, Apple provided movement data to authorities earlier on in the pandemic that showed how many were walking, driving, or using public transport in areas that were under lockdown. While individual user data was masked, Apple still had it.
As another datapoint, I visited Los Angeles International (LAX), San Francisco International (SFO), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), and Newark (EWR) this week and did NOT receive any notifications. Perhaps the app only alerts you if you have been outside the country? I do not use the app, preferring to use Google Maps for my navigation, so that could also be the reason.
CONCLUSION
I’m resigned to the fact that there are no more secrets in this world. There’s a record for everything I say, every website I visit, every street I walk down, and every post I wrote. Privacy is a but a figment of our imagination; a relic of a bygone era. Thus, I’m not sure why this is even newsworthy, but the whole idea of, say, my devices suddenly locking down if I do not quarantine does give me pause…
Are you comfortable with Apple reminding you to quarantine after a trip to the airport?
For the same reason I left Facebook several years ago, I opted for a non-Apple platform for my phone. Certain techs are becoming too intrusive for my personal tastes. Fortunately my professional/personal life does not require me to plugged into the “Borg” 24/7/365. Disconnecting from time to time is a psychological necessity these days, IMHO.
If you seriously think Screwgle is going to protect your privacy any better, you’re sadly mistaken. The only way to escape Big Brother is to disconnect from the grid entirely.
IKR. People can be so naive.
I have to admit I got a laugh out of the Screwgle term. Never heard that one before.
While I would love to take credit for it, props go to their arch rival Microshaft for that one. I stole it off an old commercial for one of their products. Their competitor to the Chromebook I think.
I mean, you track IP addresses from this site. Is that any worse? Not criticizing it, as I could care less. Unless I log in from a brothel in Bangkok of course.
Lol. WordPress does, nothing special LALF does.
Flew from LGA to DEN yesterday. Got the message as I was exiting the DEN airport. But then I realize how many apps (Facebook, Yelp, google maps, uber, all the airline and hotel apps,etc) already have my location anyway.
Totally ridiculous and there should be an investigation and charges . What a huge privacy violation. This is why fines should be levied as a % of a companies market cap value and beyond this CEO’s and board members should not be shielded under a corporate envelope against personal liability if they knew of bad decisions like this.
With an attitude of acceptance the surveillance side always wins. Dystopian world.
It’s not going to shut off your device, Matthew. It would tell you if it would do that. I’m not worried. Plus, if it really did what you are suggesting, we would file suit on Apple for violating our first amendment rights.
You are 100% Alan concerning lawsuits and outrage…I was just dreaming about a potential dystopian future.
Of course the phone knows your are at the airport, it has location turned on.
Not sure what the privacy issue is here, isn’t this all local to your phone? I seriously doubt Apple is sending this information to a server. Apple is good about keeping our information private.
Unlike the Android ecosystem, where you are the product and your information is shared.
This is obnoxious. Honestly, Matthew, have you considered moving to Germany for a year or two until this is over? I think the situation in the U.S. is going to be unending purgatory — with Trumpers insisting there’s no problem and liberals refusing to recognize any progress. And our dysfunctional public health “system” — if you can even call it that — means we’ll never really know where we stand. I have an EU passport and am now thinking about leaving permanently, at least for the short-term, because life in the U.S. is a mix of unsafe and unpleasant. You don’t feel the same way?
OOC – what is the “progress” you’d like liberals to recognize exactly? I’m quite curious with the “both hands” equivalency of the Trump Nightmare.
Don’t Chicago and NJ have quarantine rules? Did you quarantine for 14 days before any face-to-face business meetings?
I didn’t conduct any business meetings on this trip and never even left the airport in Newark. As I mentioned yesterday, I was unaware of any quarantine order in Chicago and did interact with people there, although I was wearing a mask the entire time.
Did you fly more? I think you are criminal and should be jailed for flying unnecessarily. I told you to stop walla flying and listen to me. Don’t be a fool walla. Allah is going to strike you down.
Its not BigBrother but other forces that are outside of what we consider the norm. The Government has no control over it and the reasoning for pining a “tell on the doneKey”, is to either clone your device or install mirror. Either way, limit apl!ication times for built in apps and check any laptops or CPUs for bogus ornew files. All it takes is a ringtone to tap in to your devices. Easiest bet wouod be to delete all certificates and find suitable replafements that hwve recently been updated and note the year 2021.
Curious about nore?? Check PrivPolicie on websites like TransEquiFExperia. Some are not updated and violates consumers icredit info, which should mame everyones credit info held bytne 3Burros, should be wiped clean of all information, rendering everyone debt free but most importantly, stress free.
And someone who can code, p!ease tell the devices that our ” aphaset ” not alphabet ends in” Xx, Yy ,Zz”. And the lower case “L” or “l” is not a numeral 1 or an upper case “i”.
Time to wake ppl up.