The key detail for me is that if you delete the call from the log on any device, the next sync will delete it in iCloud.
So the probably-good-enough-for-most-folks way to deal with this is to just delete calls from your log that you don't want to get archived in iCloud for 4 months.
The sure way is to disable iCloud entirely, but that reduces convenience in all sorts of ways (syncing iTunes music, for instance).
The ideal would be for Apple to figure out how to provide the services of iCloud in such a manner that they don't have access to user data. Apparently they are working on that but it would obviously be a major change, and risky too.
Most people don't care that Apple has to see their data in order to sync, but boy will they be pissed if Apple makes their data permanently unreadable. Most people want to be able to go into an Apple store and get problems fixed. Imagine being an Apple retail tech and explaining to some 50-something lawyer that because they lost their password there is absolutely nothing you can do. "Sorry man--encryption."
> The key detail for me is that if you delete the call from the log on any device, the next sync will delete it in iCloud.
I highly doubt that it is a hard deletion of data. My guess is that it would be a soft delete, so your call log won't show up on your iPhone, but the data will be retained on Apple's servers.
> One way call logs will disappear from the cloud is if a user deletes a particular call record from the log on their device; then it will also get deleted from their iCloud account during the next automatic synchronization.
So the probably-good-enough-for-most-folks way to deal with this is to just delete calls from your log that you don't want to get archived in iCloud for 4 months.
The sure way is to disable iCloud entirely, but that reduces convenience in all sorts of ways (syncing iTunes music, for instance).
The ideal would be for Apple to figure out how to provide the services of iCloud in such a manner that they don't have access to user data. Apparently they are working on that but it would obviously be a major change, and risky too.
Most people don't care that Apple has to see their data in order to sync, but boy will they be pissed if Apple makes their data permanently unreadable. Most people want to be able to go into an Apple store and get problems fixed. Imagine being an Apple retail tech and explaining to some 50-something lawyer that because they lost their password there is absolutely nothing you can do. "Sorry man--encryption."