Raising the Bar on Security and Privacy
Last Friday, Apple announced plans to improve how requests to grant Full Disk Access are made. Initially I was a bit wary about how that might affect the CCC installation workflow; I still remember the challenge of coaching users through the initial rollout of privacy controls in macOS Mojave. After having some time to digest Apple's words, I'm now enthusiastic about changes to the procedure of granting Full Disk Access – primarily as a user, but also as a developer. Asking the user to grant Full Disk Access to CCC is a huge responsibility. That's a responsibility that we take very seriously, and it's something that I think some companies have been far too casual about. Apps or businesses that have an economic interest in your private data should never "need" Full Disk Access.
Apple's announcement seems likely to be related to the rise of AI agents, and recent reports of agents gaining access to private user data, and other malfeasances. If you're not familiar with AI agents, these are AI models that go beyond answering questions in a web browser; they live on your Mac and can do real things on your Mac at your behest....