An option to pre-load new devices with the users data won’t be available, but Gurman says it was in the works for a while.
He says it would have been called a “white-glove component,” and if the user opted into it, it would have arrived “preloaded with all of your data via your iCloud backup.”
Since the title doesn't mention the feature in question, it's having a device delivered to you with your iCloud data preloaded with it.
I can't confirm this, but I remember reading that Amazon will ship you devices with your wifi password already entered if you purchase a device from another Amazon device that is signed in.
Sorta similar. And equally creepy.
Maybe 'end to end' means different things to different companies
That doesn’t sound so sinister.
This post bears the marks of manufactured outrage. Not required; we have plenty of real outrage.
To be fair, every time I've had to setup a new iPhone for a relative the transfer data feature just freezes up the phone and I have to force restart things and try again.
Tldr they'd post you a new phone with all your personal data pre loaded
I mean, if they restore a backup containing encrypted data and required the user to enter their info to decrypt it, I don’t see the problem.
Oh no they’d back up my phone and restore it on a new model, just like i do. It’s 1984 all over again. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria!
This author is either:
Either way, we shouldn’t give them any further attention.
TLDR They were considering shipping a phone that had already been restored from a backup via their cloud servers.
IIRC iCloud backups have already been the target of both hackers and law enforcement activity before.
But more generally, if whatever service you use for backup isn’t end to end encrypted, then whoever has your backup could sift through it if they wanted.
Note that Apple does allow “Advanced Data Protection” which includes end-to-end encrypted backups along with the warning that Apple cannot help you if you lose your password.
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