Apple's Safari Browser Is Sending Some Users' IP Addresses To China's Tencent

'"Apple, which often positions itself as a champion of privacy and
human rights, is sending some IP addresses from users of its Safari
browser on iOS to Chinese conglomerate Tencent -- a company with close
ties to the Chinese Communist Party," reports the Reclaim the Net
blog:

Apple admits that it sends some user IP addresses to Tencent in the
"About Safari & Privacy" section of its Safari settings.... The
"Fraudulent Website Warning" setting is toggled on by default which
means that unless iPhone or iPad users dive two levels deep into their
settings and toggle it off, their IP addresses may be logged by
Tencent or Google when they use the Safari browser. However, doing
this makes browsing sessions less secure and leaves users vulnerable
to accessing fraudulent websites...

Even if people install a third-party browser on their iOS device,
viewing web pages inside apps still opens them in an integrated form
of Safari called Safari View Controller instead of the third-party
browser. Tapping links inside apps also opens them in Safari rather
than a third-party browser. These behaviors that force people back
into Safari make it difficult for people to avoid the Safari browser
completely when using an iPhone or iPad.

Engadget adds that it's "not clear" whether or not Tencent is actually
collecting IP addresses from users outside of China. ("You'll see
mention of the collection in the U.S. disclaimer, but that doesn't
mean it's scooping up info from American web surfers.")

But Reclaim the Net points out that the possibility is troubling, in
part because Safari is the #1 most popular mobile internet browser in
America, with a market share of over 50%.'

-- source: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/19/10/14/033225

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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