macOS has checked app signatures online for over 2 years
Security and privacy are not parallel concerns, they’re orthogonal. Strong security absolutely does not imply utmost privacy. I find this to be the most dangerous misconception of the late privacy trend. You can’t just turn security and privacy dials to 11. They’re actually two ends of the same dial, or opposing poles of the same sphere. To increase privacy you must move away from perfect security.<p>Why? Because security is all about who you trust (and who you don’t). Privacy is about concealing things from people you trust (and especially from those you don’t). Security is best served with strong identity and periodic integrity checks&#x2F;monitoring. Privacy is best served via anonymity and opacity. If something is private, by definition there lacks the transparency to audit its integrity.<p>So what I lament is not that a company is trying to achieve both, but rather that as a consumer I’m not educated on the topic and able to make a choice as to where I want to set the dial.<p>You will continue to see “headlines” like this so long as socially we’re obsessed with trying to implement both security and privacy and fall subject to marketing suggesting some service provides the maximum of both.<p>If you trust Apple to verify the integrity of apps on your devices and secure your system from unwanted software, then you trust Apple to maintain the privacy around the data needed to achieve such. That’s the whole value prop of their platform and ecosystem. It’s a walled garden with abundant privacy koolaid fountains.<p>The only reason this is news is because people don’t understand the privacy vs security dichotomy. And because Apple does not provide a way for consumers to choose just how much security they’re comfortable with.<p>If you don’t trust Apple then stop pretending you do by using their hardware&#x2F;ecosystem.