Yes, Apple (and it’s not just Apple) wants to sell access to your home and your head to the highest bidder, and their product is deteriorating relentlessly as a result.
I dunno, The Wall Street Journal critiques Apple as having promoted user privacy as its priority, then falling behind Google because Google hoovers up your personal preferences by invading your privacy - thereby, Google is better able to predict what you want and anticipate your requests.If you do not establish an iCloud account (I haven’t), I don’t suppose Apple will gratuitously create one for me to offload my local storage. But certainly I favor having the OS help me ID likely candidates to delete if my storage is tight. I’m sure there is plenty of trash lying around.
OTOH if I actually do run tight on HD space, my first thought would be to buy a new HD as expensive as the old one - thereby doubling or quadrupling my available space, and obviating the need to actually (gasp!) think.
No, Apple has stated that YOU are their customer, not their product, unlike Alphabet/Google. They do not sell your data to third parties. They are not going to sell access to your home (or your head) to third parties.
"A few years ago, users of Internet services began to realize that when an online service is free, you’re not the customer. You’re the product. But at Apple, we believe a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the expense of your privacy.Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple." — excerpted from CEO Tim Cook's "Apple’s commitment to your privacy" — open letter to Customers posted on Apple's Website.
Apple is a hardware, software, and services sales company, NOT an information sales company as you and ImJustAnotherOkie want readers on FR to believe.