This is interesting:
Bruce Lawson’s personal site : On the CMA’s interim report on mobile ecosystems
Our provisional findings suggest Apple and Google’s substantial market power across mobile operating systems, apps stores and browsers could be negatively affecting consumers. People aren’t seeing the full benefit of innovative new products and services such as cloud gaming and web apps. Our provisional findings also suggest customers could be facing higher prices than they would in a more competitive market. Apple and Google take many decisions on behalf of their users to protect their security and privacy online – in some cases this has an impact on a user’s ability to make their own choices.
This is an interesting snippet on the “progressive-web-apps”:
n addition to potentially harming the functionality of competing browsers within Apple’s ecosystem, we consider that the WebKit restriction may also serve to support Apple’s highly profitable position in the distribution of native apps through its App Store, and in parallel the market power of its operating system… web apps could in principle also serve to undermine the indirect network effects of native app distribution
It is exactly what I have been saying, in effect – you don’t need “native applications”. You just need the “progressive web application” that helps you gain efficiency and synergy. Most users are attuned to the idea of downloading everything from the app store, and that cements the monopoly of the big tech. I am not surprised by the conclusion of the report from a UK based standards body. I am surprised by the fact that it actually came into existence!
This is laughable:
In its responses to our questions, Apple raised a number of concerns that introducing third-party browser engines, or increasing the interoperability of WebKit, could introduce privacy and security risks. Apple submitted that Webkit offers the best level of security, and has cautioned that ‘mandating use of third-party rendering engines on iOS would break the integrated privacy, security, and performance model of iOS devices’. Apple considers that by requiring apps to use WebKit, it is able to address security and privacy issues across all browsers on the iPhone for all iPhone users, quickly and effectively, and that ‘this is especially true when it comes to security vulnerabilities that have to be fixed as soon as possible in order to mitigate potential exploits by bad actors’.
They are forgetting Pegasus
Takeaways from the Pegasus Project – The Washington Post
Apple iPhone shown to be vulnerable: The discovery on a list of phone numbers of 37 smartphones that had been either penetrated or attacked with Pegasus spyware fuels the debate over whether Apple has done enough to ensure the security of its devices, popular the world over for their reputation for resisting hacking attempts. Thirty-four of the 37 were iPhones. In September, Apple released a software update to fix the iMessage security flaw exploited by NSO Group’s Pegasus surveillance tool. In the months since, Apple has sued NSO Group in federal court, asking that NSO be prohibited from abusing Apple’s software.
Inside Apple’s Compromises in China: A Times Investigation – The New York Times
Apple’s iCloud service allows customers to store some of their most sensitive data — things like personal contacts, photos and emails — in the company’s data centers. The service can back up everything stored on an iPhone or Mac computer, and can reveal the current location of a user’s Apple devices. Most of that data for Chinese customers was stored on servers outside China.
Compare and contrast with the claims, and you’d know it’s steaming “horse-s%^&”. This hypocrisy is unexplainable.
It is precisely this reason why we must not let the big-tech put their paws on the healthcare data. Let’s see what comes of the UK regulator’s submissions.
RadOncNotes 