Re:Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry...
by mcintyre1994 on Thursday February 18, 2016 @01:01PM
(#11127758)
> The only thing you get to go off of is the Advertising Identifier and the user can change/reset that at any moment effectively not tying them to any specific targeting.
People say this a lot, but Apple disagree: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205223
Highlights: name, address, age, iTunes/app etc. purchases, offers in Wallet, news read.
There is an opt out of those ("Limit ad tracking") but by default Apple will target on those things.
Probably semi-irrelevant because of Apple stepping away from iAd but Apple clearly use the Apple ID to target advertising.
Re:Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry...
by AngrySkillzz on Thursday February 18, 2016 @01:22PM
(#11127952)
Google has a lot to lose in this debate though. If government encroachment on security/privacy online becomes enough to worry people, they'll be less willing to share data. Less data means less effective advertising and lower rates, killing Google's business model.
Re:Apple Letter on iPhone Security Draws Muted Tech Industry...
by curt15 on Thursday February 18, 2016 @01:44PM
(#11128161)
Regardless of whether Apple profits from iCloud user data, the key question how well they protect the data on iCloud. Do they encrypt the data at rest? Are the links between data centers encrypted?
Apple doesn't do that. Their iAds are nothing in comparison to Google/FB's data mining. The only thing you get to go off of is the Advertising Identifier and the user can change/reset that at any moment effectively not tying them to any specific targeting.
I'm not sure what could be said of iCloud, but Apple itself isn't a big player in the ad-selling market unlike Google and Facebook. So unless Apple is straight selling off iCloud user data, it's a different ballgame.
edit: you also have to take into account Google and FB's ability to track you across the (near)-ENTIRE internet. Every FB/G-Plus share button, every video, image, asset loaded from FB/Google can track you via cookies. You could be reading a blog about pregnancies and how to prepare for a newborn on a cute little blog and Facebook may then target you for pregnancy/newborn products and services, etc. Unlike Apple, Google and Facebook aren't limited to their own properties in terms of info harvesting and ad-targeting.