Difference between revisions of "Apple's App Tracking Transparency"

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Apple discloses a few ways in which user data is transported or sent to other sources without requiring permissions through App Tracking Transparency. These situations include, transferring data locally, passing along information relevant to fraud and security purposes, and through sharing data regarding creditworthiness. <ref>Apple Inc. (n.d.). User Privacy and Data Use - App Store. Apple Store. Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/</ref> Additionally, users that opt out of the IDFA are still submitting data to Apple’s SKAdNetwork. SKAdNetwork is a collection of data surrounding ads presented on Apple products. This data is not specific per user, but is rather aggregated to ensure group anonymity. Advertisers then receive this grouped feedback, allowing them to measure the success of their ads in a way that more strictly conceals the identities of users. <ref>SKAdNetwork. Apple Developer Documentation. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/skadnetwork </ref>
 
Apple discloses a few ways in which user data is transported or sent to other sources without requiring permissions through App Tracking Transparency. These situations include, transferring data locally, passing along information relevant to fraud and security purposes, and through sharing data regarding creditworthiness. <ref>Apple Inc. (n.d.). User Privacy and Data Use - App Store. Apple Store. Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/</ref> Additionally, users that opt out of the IDFA are still submitting data to Apple’s SKAdNetwork. SKAdNetwork is a collection of data surrounding ads presented on Apple products. This data is not specific per user, but is rather aggregated to ensure group anonymity. Advertisers then receive this grouped feedback, allowing them to measure the success of their ads in a way that more strictly conceals the identities of users. <ref>SKAdNetwork. Apple Developer Documentation. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/skadnetwork </ref>
  
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However, some developers claim they have found ways to work around the ATT system to continue to gather first-party data from users, which would in turn render ATT not successful in truly protecting the privacy of Apple users. <ref>O'Flaherty, K. (2022, November 8). Apple's privacy features will cost facebook $12 billion. Forbes. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2022/04/23/apple-just-issued-stunning-12-billion-blow-to-facebook/?sh=25f6b5561907 </ref> ATT would instead become a false face of privacy protection while data remains collected.
  
 
== References ==
 
== References ==

Revision as of 02:56, 9 February 2023

Apple's App Tracking Transparency pop-up

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency is a privacy feature released in iOS 14 requiring apps to obtain permission from a user before collecting information from their activity across other apps. This feature changes user data collection from being automatically opted-in to being automatically opted-out. Users also have the option to disable apps from asking if they are able to track, automatically opting out users from tracking instead. [1] This new feature is one of many steps Apple has taken to increase user privacy and trust across their devices. Other measures include social widget tracking prevention, privacy reports, intelligent tracking prevention, and fingerprinting defense.[2] Many believe that this step has been a good step in reducing classification and increasing privacy. Others, however, argue that targeting and classification will still occur, just without tracking of specific user data. [3]

Activating and Deactivating Tracking

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency is automatically turned on when first updating a device to iOS 14 or higher. To turn off the pop-ups, Apple users can turn off ATT by going to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Tracking, and turning off the option Allow Apps to Request to Track. By disabling this feature, ATT automatically opts users out of tracking without sending a pop-up notification on future apps.

If a user chooses to allow an app to track their data but later decides they wish to opt out of sharing, they can navigate to the specific app within the Tracking portion of settings and turn the slider to the off position.

Identifier For Advertisers (IDFA)

Every Apple device contains a unique identifier called an Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) that collects information from its given user without disclosing personal identification information about the user themself. [4] By tracking information about the actions and behaviors of the user across the device rather than the personal information provided by the user, Apple is able to uphold a level of anonymity about the specific identity of the user of each device.

Even with the identity of the user anonymized, advertisers are still able to gain mass amounts of information through the IDFA to produce customized advertising to the user. Companies are not able to learn specific information regarding the user, but they are able to aggregate the data to still directly market towards each user. This practice protects an individual’s privacy by reinforcing anonymous categorization.

When the IDFA was originally created, Apple automatically opted users into sharing their collected app data with the IDFA. Users could choose to opt out of sharing their information by going into settings and turning off this sharing option. With the new iOS 14 update, App Tracking Transparency automatically opts users out of sharing this information rather than automatically opting them into the IDFA. This feature was always technically optional, but the new release requires users to choose to share their data, rather than requiring users to choose not to share their data. [5]

Impact of ATT on Companies

Facebook

Experts predict that the introduction of ATT will end up costing Facebook around $12 billion due to the reliance of the company on their agreements with advertisers. [6] Facebook is largely in opposition of this new feature, claiming that Apple adapted this feature to increase revenue rather than to actually increase the privacy for their users. Facebook has stated that this new feature will greatly impact smaller companies with apps on the app store by taking away their main source of revenue: ads. [7]

History of Apple Privacy

On September 15, 2015, Apple released iOS 9 which included the ability to introduce Content Blockers on Safari. Users are now able to block advertisements appearing within Safari, allowing for a more streamlined and less distracted browsing experience. [8]

June 5, 2017 introduced Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) on iOS 11, which disabled the use of third-party cookies, helping to prevent tracking of users across the web. [9] ITP received many updates, including releases of ITP 1.1, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 from 2017 to 2019.

Apple had released the IDFA in 2012, but many experts speculate that the release of ATT will be the start of disintegration of the IDFA. [10] Currently, with only a small percentage of users opting in to submit data to the IDFA, the database is being filled with empty data, rather than useful figures for advertisers.

The Future of Apple's User Data Tracking

After the introduction of ATT, only about 20% of users have opted in to share their data to the IDFA. [11] The amount of information collected and stored within the IDFA has dramatically decreased since iOS 14. Although the introduction of this feature is meant to aid in reducing privacy concerns for users, there are still some ways in which Apple collects user data.

Apple discloses a few ways in which user data is transported or sent to other sources without requiring permissions through App Tracking Transparency. These situations include, transferring data locally, passing along information relevant to fraud and security purposes, and through sharing data regarding creditworthiness. [12] Additionally, users that opt out of the IDFA are still submitting data to Apple’s SKAdNetwork. SKAdNetwork is a collection of data surrounding ads presented on Apple products. This data is not specific per user, but is rather aggregated to ensure group anonymity. Advertisers then receive this grouped feedback, allowing them to measure the success of their ads in a way that more strictly conceals the identities of users. [13]

However, some developers claim they have found ways to work around the ATT system to continue to gather first-party data from users, which would in turn render ATT not successful in truly protecting the privacy of Apple users. [14] ATT would instead become a false face of privacy protection while data remains collected.

References

  1. ↑ If an app asks to track your activity. Apple Support. (2022, May 10). Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212025#:~:text=App%20Tracking%20Transparency%20allows%20you,or%20sharing%20with%20data%20brokers.
  2. ↑ Privacy - features. Apple. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://www.apple.com/privacy/features/
  3. ↑ Koetsier, J. (2022, October 12). Apple's att burned facebook bad. google's privacy sandbox is a kiss in comparison. Forbes. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2022/02/19/apples-att-burned-facebook-bad-googles-privacy-sandbox-is-a-kiss-in-comparison/?sh=3f7cec8f382d
  4. ↑ What is IDFA and Apple IDFA is important? Adjust. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://www.adjust.com/glossary/idfa/
  5. ↑ What IDFA Privacy Changes Mean for Digital Advertising on IOS Devices Epsilon. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://www.epsilon.com/us/insights/trends/idfa
  6. ↑ Kif Leswing. (2022, February 3). Facebook says Apple IOS privacy change will result in $10 billion revenue hit this year. CNBC. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/02/facebook-says-apple-ios-privacy-change-will-cost-10-billion-this-year.html
  7. ↑ Megan Graham. (2020, December 17). Facebook blasts Apple in new ads over iphone privacy change. CNBC. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/16/facebook-blasts-apple-in-new-ads-over-iphone-privacy-change-.html
  8. ↑ Kelion, L. (2015, September 8). Apple brings ad-blocker extensions to Safari on iPhones. BBC News. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34173732
  9. ↑ Apple Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) 2.X. How Does Target Handle Apple ITP Support? (n.d.). Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://developer.adobe.com/target/before-implement/privacy/apple-itp-2x/
  10. ↑ Koetsier, J. (2021, June 28). Apple just crippled IDFA, sending an $80 billion industry into upheaval. Forbes. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/06/24/apple-just-made-idfa-opt-in-sending-an-80-billion-industry-into-upheaval/?sh=4a235e57712c
  11. ↑ What is IDFA and Apple IDFA is important? Adjust. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://www.adjust.com/glossary/idfa/
  12. ↑ Apple Inc. (n.d.). User Privacy and Data Use - App Store. Apple Store. Retrieved January 22, 2023, from https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/
  13. ↑ SKAdNetwork. Apple Developer Documentation. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2023, from https://developer.apple.com/documentation/storekit/skadnetwork
  14. ↑ O'Flaherty, K. (2022, November 8). Apple's privacy features will cost facebook $12 billion. Forbes. Retrieved January 27, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2022/04/23/apple-just-issued-stunning-12-billion-blow-to-facebook/?sh=25f6b5561907
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