Apple participates in data colonialism despite its privacy-branded marketing

Evidence

Yet Apple tracks its users for many purposes and so does not contradict the trend of data colonialism, except that its business model does not generally depend on the sale of this data. Indeed, Apple receives substantial sums from Google for allowing it privileged access to iPhone users. A controversy developed when Apple’s iOS and MacOS systems were shown to collect information on user location and search activity. Apple’s subsequent Privacy Policy states that collected data “will not be associated with [a user’s] IP address,” yet iPhone features still support the surveillance needs of marketers. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 81

Categorization

• XREF: Contradicts the reader-visible Apple privacy narrative; connects to the broader surveillance-school critique that consumer privacy branding masks extraction. — connects to: Privacy remains indispensable despite data colonialism’s corrosive effects — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 546; Resistance to data colonialism must confront global capitalism, not just platforms — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 650; Data colonialism is jointly driven by corporate and state power — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 162 (+2 more)
• SHARE: Good specific tidbit for someone following tech ethics or platform critique: Apple’s privacy stance is compatible with surveillance-market participation.

Broader Connections

• Privacy remains indispensable despite data colonialism’s corrosive effects #qualifies (0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 546
• Data colonialism is jointly driven by corporate and state power #expands (0.80) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 162
• Resistance to data colonialism must confront global capitalism, not just platforms #complicates (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 650