Apple says it is changing its macOS privacy settings to stop third-party app developers from misusing them to access message histories.

Friday’s announcement comes two weeks after tech columnist Jason Aten said that Meta’s new general-purpose AI agent Muse sent him an unsolicited notification referencing a thread between him and a co-worker over Apple Messages. Aten said he never granted Muse permissions to read his messages and had assumed they were off-limits. Social media last week blew up with masses of people who agreed and said the incident showed that AI assistants given access to calendars, emails, messages, shopping accounts, and other resources are akin to a skill saw or other power tool. While potentially useful, they can do real damage if not used carefully.

  • bedwyr@piefed.ca
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    8 hours ago

    Referring to those ai agents taking over sites, I smell a rat, and planted stories for PR.

  • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    This is the first time we’ve noticed an application doing this, but if it has been possible all along then how many other applications have been doing this quietly over the years.

    • theham@lemmy.wtf
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      19 hours ago

      I just don’t understand the appeal of big tech. It is a game of cat and mouse. This tech was designed to be insacure. Mine as well be couragous and go opensource.

      • heartSagan5@lemmy.zip
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        16 hours ago

        Oh? Isn’t the landscape just Android or iOS? I guess GrapheneOS, maybe, but I’ve never heard of that running on an Apple phone. Are there any options for Apple device holders? iOS is it, right?

      • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        Apple is an utterly evil company and should be boycotted. But it’s easy to understand the appeal if you understand people.

          • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.world
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            8 hours ago

            Because of the environmental vandalism they participate in, the human rights abuses in Congoas they look the other way, the ass kissing to fascists, the corporate atmosphere of racism, the anti-competitive practises, the matched funding to the biggest institutional abusers on the planet. I could go on but I’m surprised that anyone doesn’t know any of this.

            • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              2 hours ago

              Well, I knew about the ass kissing to fascists part. I could say “that was the last CEO” but I’m willing to bet Ternus does more of the same. I think he is a little different in that he’s more of an engineer and less of a people pleaser, but Cook chose him for a reason.

              The alternative is a phone that sells your personal information to advertisers. I’d rather have the iPhone as a daily driver. That said, iPhone has been stale for a while, and there are some interesting Android phones out there. I just don’t dig the defeatist “well I’m not gonna use an iPhone so I’m fine with Google selling my personal information.”

              • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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                59 minutes ago

                Dude Apple spies on its phone users as well. Pretending they don’t because they did some marketing as “the privacy oriented” option is taking their marketing as truth.

                But I don’t blame you because there aren’t a lot of good options when it comes to tech. Or anything. Cuz we live in late stage capitalist hell.

              • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.world
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                1 hour ago

                I’m sure it’s unintentional on your part, but you’ve moved the goalposts. I never mentioned Google either.

                I’m simply saying that Apple are a company worthy of boycotting. So are Google, and I find the binary choice defeatist, in fact.

        • Tyrq@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          9 hours ago

          Is it for people who think they are different and special, just like everyone else? That’s the vibe I always got…

          E: why y’all butthurt at a joke, is the mirror too hard to look into lol

          • Séimhe (sé / é)@lemmy.world
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            16 hours ago

            I’d say that’s very reductive. Macs are great cross-discipline work horses. And a lot of people who champion Linux don’t do those kinds of tasks.

            I do run Linux on my laptop and spend more time there, but a turnkey solution with phone support and some top class applications isn’t cosmetic. These days when clients are waiting, I’ll use whichever I can complete the task quickest with and spend the time I get back with my family. (Edit: I’m not justifying this, just describing it).

            That said, these companies are environmental and societal poison. We should be making FOSS as accessible as possible to make that happen.