A big reason I often stick with Apple stuff is that the entire tech industry is racing to see who can treat us with the least respect. The latest challenger is Sonos with its new “give us your data or your stuff stops working” privacy threat policy.
I don’t always want to stick with Apple stuff just because it’s Apple. I may like Apple, and most of my career is based in Apple’s ecosystem. But we also have a couple Sonos speakers, I generally like them, and there are all sorts of great companies and products out there not made by Apple. My problem is that this trend of treating us like data batteries from The Matrix deeply disturbs me. It increasingly gives me pause about trusting many new companies and products.
For example, now I’m thinking about selling our Sonos for an alternative. To be fair, the thought crossed my mind a little while ago because I don’t like being limited to apps and services Sonos directly supports. The announcement mostly compels me to consider it more seriously. Maybe I could go with a HomePod or something else AirPlay compatible. I don’t know, but now I have to spend real time on researching a new product I can (hopefully) trust instead of… just about everything else I’d rather spend time on.
I don’t like companies that believe they have some kind of right to every single little thing I do. They don’t. They especially don’t when they sell premium products, then suddenly decide to further cash in by violating my privacy and selling my data to an already woefully corrupt data brokerage industry.