Apple CEO Tim Cook: Sideloading Apps Would 'Destroy the Security' of the iPhone

CyberTech

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Nov 10, 2017
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Apple CEO Tim Cook this morning participated in a virtual interview at the VivaTech conference, which is described as Europe's biggest startup and tech event. Cook was interviewed by Guillaume Lacroix, CEO and founder of Brut, a media company that creates short-form video content.

Much of the discussion centered on privacy, as it often does in interviews that Cook participates in. He reiterated once again how important privacy is to Apple.

We've been focused on privacy for over a decade. We see it as a basic human right. A fundamental human right. And we've been focused on privacy for decades. Steve used to say privacy was stating in plain language what people are signing up for and getting their permission. And that permission should be asked repeatedly. We've always tried to live up to that. [...]
If everyone is worried someone else is watching them, they begin to do less, think less. And no one wants to live in a world where freedom of expression narrows. Privacy goes to the heart of just one of the key values of Apple.

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ForgottenSeer 85179

Apple has just published a new user guide that details what life would be like for iOS users if Apple were forced to allow the sideloading of third-party apps. The report, which was published this morning, is called Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps and describes Apple’s view on the importance of having a curated and managed App Store be the only way that iOS devices can download new apps.

Report: https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/Building_a_Trusted_Ecosystem_for_Millions_of_Apps.pdf
 

MacDefender

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Oct 13, 2019
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As much as I'd like to be able to side load, I don't think the argument is entirely wrong. Take a look at desktop OS'es that do allow side loading and how much technology (antimalware, SmartScreen, behavior blockers, etc) we've had to invent to come close to providing security from users being tricked into doing something.... And that's still not quite enough -- we still mostly believe that even the best AV software cannot protect a user from downloading a malicious app and granting it privileges.

With that said, the part that I disagree with is that Apple seems to spend as much, if not more, effort on self-serving interests via their App Store, like bullying apps into using their payment system so that Apple gets a 30% cut of Netflix subscriptions, or enforcing seemingly arbitrary rules that aren't there for the protection of the user. When you do that, you erode a lot of your trust and integrity and it makes this argument a distraction from the truth.
 

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