Apple trolled Google again by erecting a giant billboard next to its controversial data hungry smart neighborhood

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Apple placed a similar ad at CES this year.

• Apple erected a billboard boasting about its privacy record across the street from Google's sister company Sidewalk Labs in Toronto, Canada.
• Sidewalk Labs has received pushback over the smart neighborhood it plans to build along Toronto's eastern waterfront, which will be loaded with sensors collecting data about people.
• Apple similarly mocked Google with a billboard in January at CES.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Apple has trolled Google with an artfully placed billboard for the second time in seven months.

CTV News Toronto reported that Apple erected a billboard across the road from Sidewalk Labs, the smart city sister company to Google whose planned smart neighbourhood in Toronto has prompted major privacy concerns.

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"We're in the business of staying out of yours," the billboard reads. Here is an image of it next to Sidewalk Labs:

And from another angle:

Alphabet-owned Sidewalk Labs plans to install sensors in the 12-acre waterfront neighborhood, which it's calling Quayside. The sensors will monitor the movements and behaviors of people walking through the area.

Sidewalk has called for the creation of an independent trust to stop companies - including itself - from selling that data on to third parties without consent.

Read more: Sidewalk Labs shared its $900 million plan to remake Toronto's waterfront. Local activists said it deepened their concerns.

Some Toronto residents remain unconvinced, however. "Sidewalk Labs proposing the laws that will regulate their behavior is like the fox proposing the design of the hen house," Toronto resident Melissa Goldstein told Business Insider.

Earlier this year at tech conference CES, Apple pulled a similar stunt, putting up a billboard next to Las Vegas' monorail system - which was emblazoned with "Hey Google" slogans. "What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone," the ad read.

Apple has long touted its approach to privacy over other tech companies like Google because its business model doesn't rely on amassing user data. However, this doesn't mean iPhones are impenetrable - especially since most iPhone owners use Google apps.

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