macOS 11.2 Network Privacy

I have documented and published, for the first time, my personal code style guide. It is a living document (which is why it’s in git) that I will update periodically as I consciously notice more of my longstanding habits and techniques. I estimate it’s 70-80% complete (at least for Go) presently; the other languages included are just stuff that’s...

I have a theory that I believe is supported by enough evidence for you to believe it, as well.

Preface: I don’t use iCloud. I don’t use an Apple ID. I don’t use the Mac App Store. I don’t store photos in the macOS “Photos” application, even locally. I never opted in to Apple network services of any kind - I use macOS software on Apple hardware.

In the current version of macOS, Monterey, on every system update on a system containing an M1 chip, such as all the new shiny/fast ARM (“Apple Silicon”) macs, the update process phones home to Apple to obtain a special boot signature, known in Apple jargon as a “ticket”.

Unstoppable payments are coming. Society must integrate this inconvenient fact.