There seems to be a lot of this willful misinformation being posted around this article. I wonder why HN is now getting inundated with this anti-Apple nonsense.
You can create a bogus iTunes account by using gift cards and creating an anonymous account with that. At that point, yes the device is linked back to an account, but it's just as opaque as say, Reddit is.
Beyond that, Apple doesn't even require you to sign into use the device. You can take photos and use Maps, and even surf the web all without any kind of account.
“This is when I reseted it and decided to return it” - I respect this. I’m honestly very curious what you’ve decided on in its place.
Me too. I'm looking for something with good privacy and good security, including things like anti-imaging or timely security updates for at least 3 years (don't change my phone very often). Seems like I could either buy Apple, maybe flash LineageOS (what a pain), or not use a smartphone.
A personal anecdote - last year I tried to (for the first time) use an iPhone. First of all, why do we need to "activate" it? What's wrong with just turning it on and using?
Then comes data collection, they wouldn't allow me to use my smartphone without a SIM card (I couldn't use my old SIM in that moment because it was not in the micro format). So, you can't "activate" your iPhone and use it as wifi-only device, they want your SIM card's data first.
OK, trying again with an old inactive SIM card from the drawer, now they want my full name, my email, my telephone, my birthday and my address. Why though? I decided to play their game and entered bogus data and a temporary email address. Now they want me to confirm the email and the telephone. Just let me use it already! I managed to confirm the email (the unconfirmed telephone number was nagging in the notifications area), and hooray, I already could use some of my phone and get online.
Next comes the iTunes account. If you want to install any app from the store you must have an iTunes account. Again, full name, telephone, address, zip code, etc.. In the end it refused to register (maybe some algo detected my bogus data which I didn't even try to make it look legit) and it just suggested to contact their support.
This is when I reseted it and decided to return it.