Privacy in 2013: A Odd but Very True Experience

[TotallyOz]

I have a friend of mine in Rome that checks my writing and makes changes to it as I am dyslexic and can't see when I make spelling mistakes.

 

I have been working on Berlin, Germany city guides for http://www.boytoy.com I had over 40 of them and I sent them to her from my Gmail account.

 

She checked things and went back and edited for spelling, etc and she also added the German addresses.

 

She sends me my documents back to 3 different email addresses. One of them is me.com and one is gmail.com

 

I noticed she had sent me the edited version to my gmail account but not to my Mobile Me account. I assumed she had forgotten and I forwarded it to my Me account but again, it was not there. I did this about 5 times before I assumed that my server for the Mobile Me was down.

 

I called them and told them what I was experiencing and that I was attaching a .doc called Berlin_Listings.doc The man was very kind and he walked me though several things and all the sudden I had sent a test from my gmail and it worked but it was not the forwarded document. This means that my Mobile Me was working but not for forwards.

 

I attempted to forward another message. It worked fine.

 

I was on the line with the Apple guy for over an hour and we finally decided that the document must have some characters that were not acceptable.

 

Now, this was not inside my email in a copy and paste job but it was attached in a document. Together the Apple Support Tech and I tested this with .doc .docx .txt .pages and a few others.

 

Guess what? Not once would it go through to Mobile Me. So, I started testing it page by page. It was 6 pages long and I copied each page and pasted into a document and sent from gmail to Mobile Me. All the pages worked but Page 4.

 

He had to get off the phone and talk to a supervisor and when he did, I tested Page 4 paragraph by paragraph and all worked except for one. It was one listing for a gay club in Berlin. I was never able to send it to my Mobile Me account.

 

When he returned, he asked that I send him page 4 and I did. He got his at apple.com and said, "see, it works here." I said, OK, how about I sent to your @me.com account and he said he could not give that to me as it was his personal account.

 

I said, "OK. so forward it to yourself." He did but guess what? It didn't work. He was shocked but I wasn't.

 

I had already determined what the issue was. He went to another supervisor and he was gone for a long time and when he returned he said it must be some odd character from German in the page. I told him yes, but I tested that and the other pages had all the same characters.

 

He was the supervisor of the first guy I talked to. I spent 2 hours with them. My issue was not resolved.

 

So, in other words, Apple has a filter that not only reads emails but reads INSIDE attached documents. It does this so fast that one second (from gmail to Mobile Me) it reads it and determines that a document was not acceptable to be sent.

 

Now, I didn't say it went to my junk folder. I said it was never received. In other words, to this day, 4 days ago, I have yet to receive any of the 20 emails I tested this with.

 

The main supervisor came on and said there must be a glitch somehow. When I asked if Apple read my document, he said that it did not. But, he said that some thing in the document set off a trigger. In other words, does this not mean that Apple had the technology to read inside my document?

 

Also, what happens, as I tested this, is that Apple not only reads the documents but it does so and decides to block it within one sec. Can you imagine the power behind this?

 

I go to bed that night a bit worried that someone had the power to read inside my mail in less than one sec and I was a bit pissed that the technology was there and being used against me for a gay listing of sex clubs in Berlin.

 

I woke up the next morning and went to check my mail. Guess what? There was a sign in Red Letters from Gmail that a suspicious attempt to read my email at Gmail was blocked. I have had this account at gmail for 10 years and not once did this ever occur. I do not to this day know why this happened to my Gmail account but I do know that someone from some group tried to read the mail in that account. As I keep passwords different, for every account, I wasn't too worried.

 

But, I cannot imagine why anyone would care about a bar/club in Berlin so much that all this happened to me.

 

I am also at a point where I have about decided to remove all my email accounts that are in the "cloud" and use my own email that is a pop account that no one can access without my computer.

 

Yes, this did scare me. Yes, I know something fishy went on. Yes, I lost a lot of trust and faith in Apple that night.

[Guest jomtien]

Uhhhhh........ummmmm.........errrrrrrrrr........

 

Michael?

 

What year is it in the universe you are living in?

 

Just curious. 

[Guest]

Yes, I lost a lot of trust and faith in Apple that night.

Isn't this the same organisation that censored the Gay Romeo app?    So I'm not surprised about your problem.

Time to dump Apple.

[Rogie]

A tale of two cities:

 

 

[TotallyOz]

Uhhhhh........ummmmm.........errrrrrrrrr........

 

Michael?

 

What year is it in the universe you are living in?

 

Just curious. 

 

Now, now, my friend. Don't get your panties in a wad. I know the year and the universe. I have always said I would never put things in an email that I didn't want the gov't to know about. I have always known emails were checked. I did not know however, that inside every document in any format (I tried over 14) and all were read and banned. IMHO, this is pretty amazing.

 

 

Isn't this the same organisation that censored the Gay Romeo app?    So I'm not surprised about your problem.

Time to dump Apple.

I don't think it was because of the gay. I have had literally 10,000 emails over the years with hard core gay subjects, documents, etc. sent to this account and never was it banned. I think this was more than Apple banning something but a government censor. That is just my opinion.

 

But, Apple is clear for its App store that they don't want XXX sites. That is their right. This was not in the App Store. It was through a personal email I have. There is a big difference.

 

Any company should be able to decide what they wish to have on their devices. I don't begrudge Apple for not allowing porn any more than I would Fox News for not allowing it.

[Guest jomtien]

 

Now, now, my friend. Don't get your panties in a wad. I know the year and the universe. I have always said I would never put things in an email that I didn't want the gov't to know about. I have always known emails were checked. I did not know however, that inside every document in any format (I tried over 14) and all were read and banned. IMHO, this is pretty amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

My panties are fine, thank you!  I wasn't questioning the substance of your post.  I was questioning the TITLE of your post.

 

"Privacy in 2012".

 

Again, I ask.   What year is it in your universe?  

[TotallyOz]

My panties are fine, thank you!  I wasn't questioning the substance of your post.  I was questioning the TITLE of your post.

 

"Privacy in 2012".

 

Again, I ask.   What year is it in your universe?  

LOL Damm. You need to be clearer. I have a hard time understanding my own humor much less trying to get your subtle hints.

[Guest scottishguy]

I'm sure there are people around who have always refused to use email and even telephones and who still conduct all their transactions and social intercourse face to face or by letter.

 

Maybe it's time to stop calling them eccentric..

[Guest jomtien]

I'm sure there are people around who have always refused to use email and even telephones and who still conduct all their transactions and social intercourse face to face or by letter.

 

Maybe it's time to stop calling them eccentric..

 

My social intercourse is usually face to back-of-head.  

[TotallyOz]

My social intercourse is usually face to back-of-head.  

My Intercourse is also usually face to back of head.

[ChristianPFC]

Did you find out which words triggered the blocking?

 

Computers can be strange, my previous computer had a version of word that crashed when I wrote the Thai letter ภ in a word document. So I wrote X and replaced it on another computer with a different word version.

 

I have read many bad things about apple, and my very limited experience with apple products was poor.

 

I had a similar case when I could not receive emails from ebay on my university email account in France. It took me a while to find out what's going on (I still have no explanation, but at least I know I didn't confuse anything).

[bkkguy]

Also, what happens, as I tested this, is that Apple not only reads the documents but it does so and decides to block it within one sec. Can you imagine the power behind this?

 

I go to bed that night a bit worried that someone had the power to read inside my mail in less than one sec and I was a bit pissed that the technology was there and being used against me for a gay listing of sex clubs in Berlin.

 

Apple does not "read" your documents to block them any more than Google "reads" your  gmail emails to place ads next to them or most mail servers "read" emails to block spam - but I doubt there would have been a piece of regular email delivered last year or this year to just about anyone anywhere in the world that had not been scanned and selectively passed or blocked by some server somewhere! email is the postcard of the Internet - use encryption, the same as you would use an envelope on a letter, if you don't want others reading it!

 

"the power of this" is more when the NSA et al gets easy access to all of this - if you don't like one mail provider's filtering choose another but it is hard to choose another government!

 

 

Isn't this the same organisation that censored the Gay Romeo app?    So I'm not surprised about your problem.

Time to dump Apple.

 

Google blocked the Gay Romeo app in the Android Play store as well - I don't think the app is available for Blackberry or Windows Phone so who is your preferred choice now?

 

At least Gay Romeo eventually released an uncensored app that could be installed from other sources for Android (an option not available for Apple devices) so I suppose Google is still an option?

 

bkkguy

[Guest]

Any company should be able to decide what they wish to have on their devices. I don't begrudge Apple for not allowing porn any more than I would Fox News for not allowing it.

Apple no longer own the device once it's sold to the customer.   They create a dominant app store, then start censoring content.

The PC market seem much more open in comparison.   Well done to Microsoft, shame on Apple.

[bkkguy]

Apple no longer own the device once it's sold to the customer.  

 

who "owns" and who can control "use" of the "device" are not simple issues -  buying a phone is not like buying a toaster!

 

there are many parties that may be able to assert some control over your use of the "device", and while Apple may or may not "own" the hardware they do still "own" the iOS operating system - you only have a (fairly restricting) license to "use" it!

 

 

They create a dominant app store, then start censoring content.

 

to be fair they created an app store - customers liked their hardware and the app store and it became popular, others created competing app stores that have not become as popular for a number of mostly technical - not marketing - reasons

 

and Apple did not suddenly start censoring content when they perceived that had achieved market dominance - while their review guidelines for apps have evolved over time they were there from day one!

 

 

The PC market seem much more open in comparison.   Well done to Microsoft, shame on Apple.

 

this Microsoft you refer to is the same one that has faced numerous government and other legal challenges in the USA and Europe for abuse of their monopoly position on the PC with Windows, IE and Office?

 

and more specifically relating to app stores have you actually read Microsoft's Windows 8 app certification requirements for placing apps in the Windows Store and compared it to Apple's App Store Review Guidelines? I don't think you would be pleased with the comparison!

 

I am no Apple, Microsoft or Google fanboi - there are a number of good reasons to be critical of all of their hardware and software licensing, app store, privacy and marketing policies, but you really seem to have it in for Apple without any consideration for the reality of the alternatives - a classic fanboi failing, or do you just have shares to defend?

 

bkkguy

[ChristianPFC]

I have a problem on one of my email accounts: I delete several emails, there is a message "emails successfully deleted", they are gone, but when I go to a different folder and back to my inbox, there are there again! Then I delete again, go to dustbin, empty dustbin, and then they are gone. It's simply a programming error (although I never had this before and don't have this with other email accounts with the same provider)!