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Apple Sued Because Two-Factor Authentication is Too Inconvenient

Andrew Orr ·

Apple is being sued because two-factor authentication is too disruptive, takes too much time, and can’t be turned off after two weeks.

The suit, filed by Jay Brodsky in California alleges that Apple doesn’t get user consent to enable two-factor authentication. Furthermore, once enabled, two-factor authentication “imposes an extraneous logging in procedure that requires a user to both remember password; and have access to a trusted device or trusted phone number” when a device is enabled.

It’s only Monday and this is already the dumbest thing I’ve read this week.

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Backblaze: The Least Reliable Hard Drives

John Martellaro ·

Cult of Mac writes about the experience Backblaze has had with its many thousands of hard drives. “Statistics on hard drive reliability just released by data-storage company Backblaze would seem to indicate it’s not a good idea to buy a Seagate hard drive. Of the 104,954 drives it uses, Seagate’s are the least reliable by a wide margin.” But there was one brand that was much more reliable.

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Apple Doesn't Treat Roger Stone Any Differently

Andrew Orr ·

During Robert Mueller’s investigation they discovered Paul Manafort had tampered with witnesses. How was this discovered? Unencrypted WhatsApp messages that were backed up to iCloud. Apple handed over Roger Stone’s iCloud data, and apparently some people are angry. Stephen Silver breaks the issue down and says there is no double standard.

The argument went that Apple had refused to create a backdoor for the iPhone in the case of the one of the San Bernardino shooters following the December 2015 shooting. Yet, they were perfectly willing to easily hand over Manafort’s iCloud data. Why protect the privacy of terrorists, when they won’t do it for everybody?

TMO Deals

ENEGARM Wireless Car Charger: $34.95

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on the ENEGARM Wireless Car Charger. This car mount charger offers 720 degrees of movements (as in multiple axis), with charging for Qi-enabled devices including iPhone 8/X and later. It’s $34.99 through our deal.

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Spotify to Suspend or Terminate Accounts that Use Ad Blockers

Charlotte Henry ·

Spotify updated its user guidelines to take a tougher approach against listeners who use ad blockers. TechCrunch reported that the new guidelines said that those using ad blockers will be immediately suspended from the service or have their account terminated. In an email to users, the company said that “all types of ad blockers, bots and fraudulent streaming activities are not permitted.”  The new guidelines will come into force on March 1st, 2019.

Ad blockers have long been a headache for Spotify. The company disclosed in March 2018 while preparing for its initial public offering that it discovered two million users, or about 1.3 percent of its total user base at the time, had been using ad blockers on the free version of Spotify, enough to force it to restate usage metrics.

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Germany Forces Facebook to Get User Consent Before Messaging Merger

Andrew Orr ·

Yesterday Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, the country’s antitrust regulator, says that Facebook needs user consent before it merges data from Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

In future, Facebook will no longer be allowed to force its users to agree to the practically unrestricted collection and assigning of non-Facebook data to their Facebook user accounts.

Kudos to Germany, but it’s disappointing that another country should step in to do the job of the United States. We should be regulating Facebook.