{"id":44334,"date":"2024-08-05T14:37:42","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=44334"},"modified":"2024-08-05T14:37:42","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T18:37:42","slug":"find-my-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/05\/find-my-privacy\/","title":{"rendered":"“Find My” Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tim Sweeney<\/a> (MacRumors<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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This feature is super creepy surveillance tech and shouldn’t exist. Years ago, a kid stole a Mac laptop out of my car. Years later, I was checking out Find My and it showed a map with the house where the kid who stole my Mac lived. WTF Apple? How is that okay?!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Thieves deserve privacy too<\/em> is quite the take.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Rosyna Keller<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Sweeney is seriously angry that Find My, a service for tracking lost or stolen items, can track stolen items…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Tim Sweeney<\/a>:<\/p>\n

To state a thesis explicitly: if a device one person owns ultimately ends up in the possession of another person, then any process of detection and recovery should be mediated by due process of law and not exposed to the owner in vigilante fashion; and no sort of surveillance mesh network in these devices should be activated without a user’s clear and specific consent.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

I can respect the consistency of the view that everyone deserves privacy, though in this case it would seem to infringe on the rights of the device’s owner. Involving the law is a high burden, and by the time it’s done the device may no longer be trackable. And how would Apple even know to switch the device from “lost” to “stolen”? His thesis just seems unworkable.<\/p>\n\n

The other interesting thing about Sweeney’s comment is that it inspired a Twitter community note saying:<\/p>\n

The location of Apple devices on the Find My\nnetwork can’t be accessed by Apple. “The Find My network uses end-to-end encryption so that Apple cannot see the location\nof any offline device or reporting device.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Mysk<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The community note is inaccurate. The claim “Find My is end-to-end encrypted” generally is misleading. Online devices report their location to Apple without end-to-end encryption even with Advanced Data Protection is on. This makes it possible to look up a device’s location through Find My by logging in to icloud[.]com. We intercepted the HTTPS traffic of Find My on icloud[.]com, and it clearly shows that Apple can see the location of every online device.<\/p>

End-to-end encryption only applies when offline devices report their location through the Find My network, which relies on other nearby devices reporting their own location.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Find My is not even listed on the iCloud page<\/a> about protecting your information.<\/p>\n\n

I still don’t recommend enabling Find My Mac because then anyone who breaks into your Apple ID account can remotely wipe your Mac. Whereas, if you use FileVault and elect not to store the info with your Apple ID, your data is safe even if the Mac gets stolen. So I think this collection of features is not designed properly. I wish I could find my Mac without putting my data at risk.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n