User Tracking Back On iOS 6

First time accepted submitter connor4312 writes "Apple got caught with its hand in the cookie jar when privacy experts protested the use of a universal device identifier, or UDID, to track the online preferences of iPhone and iPad users. Enough is enough, right? Well, maybe not. It looks like device tracking is back with iOS 6, courtesy of a new tracking technology: IDFA, or identifier for advertisers."

Comments

Oh no!

[Kenja]

They know I'm at Starbucks! Now how will I write my screen play in peace?

Re:Oh no!

[_xeno_]

Before anyone dismisses that as just a joke, it's literally true in iOS 6 if you use the new "Passbook" feature. Every time you pull up the lock screen with Passbook enabled, Passbook does a GPS fix and checks in with Apple to find out if it should display one of the little Passbook cards.

So, yeah. Apple really does know every time you're at Starbucks - if you use the Starbucks app and iOS 6's Passbook.

Oh, and note I said "lock screen," not "unlock the phone." Just pressing the "hold" button to display the lock screen checks in with Apple.

Unlike before, now you can turn it off

[Sez Zero]

If you want to turn off device tracking using the IDFA on your iOS6 device, do the following:

1) Click on Settings.
2) Click on General to access the General Settings.
3) Click About
4) Scroll down and click on Advertising.
5) Set Limit Ad Tracking to "ON".

Default On. This seems like the mobile version of Do Not Track, and we all know how that is turning out.

Re:Unlike before, now you can turn it off

[Kenja]

Mine defaulted to off... But in truth the process of getting to it reminds me of "It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying 'Beware of the Leopard'". They dont exactly put it in an easy to find location or draw any attention to it.

Re:Unlike before, now you can turn it off

[Em Adespoton]

Mine was off as well, and I don't think I've ever seen that setting before. I got the "default on" from TFA, so maybe that isn't correct?

The TFA says "default off" -- that's kind of what the article was all about, other than discussing the fact that Apple is fostering confusion by making you "enable" the feature to disable a feature.

Re:Unlike before, now you can turn it off

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

If you want to turn off device tracking using the IDFA on your iOS6 device, do the following:

1) Click on Settings.

2) Click on General to access the General Settings.

3) Click About

4) Scroll down and click on Advertising.

5) Set Limit Ad Tracking to "ON".

Default On. This seems like the mobile version of Do Not Track, and we all know how that is turning out.

Just to note, in case anybody mistakes this for good faith on Apple's part, that the "Settings" application also has a tab called 'Privacy', where you will notfind any mention of this new feature. Instead, it goes under 'General', for reasons that I'm certain aren't cynical in the slightest.

Re:Unlike before, now you can turn it off

[manaway]

Yes it's a good option to have, but parsing it is difficult. If I don't want ad tracking, I must turn it off, but "on" turns ad tracking off, right? How confusing! While programmers are used to thinking in negatives, mixed with yes/no and true/false, that is not the norm. Compare:

[yes] [no] Allow ad tracking
[off] [on] Limit ad tracking

Both are logical and equivalent, but the first is far easier to comprehend and mark according to your preference. Apple, and other corporate software, likely does this intentionally. Of the small percentage of people who will find this setting, even fewer will mark it correctly. Result? Far more monitoring while getting kudos for providing the option. And that is how marketing experts earn their money.

Re:Unlike before, now you can turn it off

[eth1]

Mine was off as well, and I don't think I've ever seen that setting before. I got the "default on" from TFA, so maybe that isn't correct?

The TFA says "default off" -- that's kind of what the article was all about, other than discussing the fact that Apple is fostering confusion by making you "enable" the feature to disable a feature.

Not to mention the setting itself is weasel-worded. "Limit" ad tracking, not "disable."

Does this really shock anyone?

[JustAnotherIdiot]

Tech companies as a whole value your privacy almost as much as a fat kid values vegetables.

IDFA?

[BobNET]

Full armor, full ammo, all weapons, but no keys.

I think I'll wait for IDKFA.

Re:Really?

[wierd_w]

Apple: "we need to uniquely identify our users to maximize our advertising revinue stream, and to positively lock individual devices to individual users for the sake of our media partners. Not doing this means we will make less money, and since becomeing a houshold name, our share holders are more fickle than ever!"

Users: "look, do I follow YOU everywhere you go? When you go in the bathroom, do I give YOU targeted adverts for toilet paper, sanitary wipes, tampons and condoms? No? Does that sound at all like something you would like? No? Then DON'T TRACK ME."

Apple: "your concerns have been noted, and your opinion is important to us." [Delivered in robot answering machine voice.]

User: "I will contact an advocacy group if you can't take this seriously."

Apple: "we are dedicated to workmanship and quality, and the opinions of our customers are important to us."

(User contacts advocacy group. Advocacy group raises a stink)

AG: "you are aware I am sure, that pervasive user tracking violates the user's privacy in unacceptible ways, and clues about facts a user would like to keep private, such a club affiliations, sexual preferences, past relationships, and even prior citations for minor legal offenses can be publicly exposed through such tracking and directed advertisements, right? Let alone the serious safety implications, like pedophiles tracking underage children, rapists stalking women, and muggers stalking people with expensive iDevices using tracking apps right? You honestly think that these serious implications are warranted to further your financial bottom line?"

Apple: "oh, we hadn't thought about that second part!"

AG: "so you will stop mandatory tracking?"

Apple: "yes of course! We don't want to (increase our legal liabilities because we) track our customers in such a way that they could be physically or emotionally harmed!"

AG: "Good on you apple. We are glad you understand the value of privacy."

(6 months pass)

Apple: "we have devised a compromise that still let's us make money by selling compromising infrmation to snoopy advertizers, without the legal liabilities! We will offer a NEW tracking feature, that is obfuscated, and obscured such that the user doesn't know its there, and that could theoretically be turned off if they knew how, absolving us of culpability when/if it gets misused!"

User: "do you comprehend the meaning of "I DO NOT WANT TO BE TRACKED."? Does the concept even make sense to you?

Apple: "the opinions of our customers are important to us!"

Re:no, not literally true

[spire3661]

And im supposed to believe that the software is going to honor those flags in a way most humans would deem reasonable, right? There is no action you can take on your iphone that Apple cannot override. I own one, and at first i was really enjoyed the tech of it. Airplay, facetime etc all in a nice package. But as i dive deeper into iOS the entire thing is about control from end to end. It is impossible to gain absolute positive control over the device, even with jailbreaking. The entirety of the device is a big ass life sensor.

Re:no, not literally true

[JuicyBrain]

I don't know why, but I'm suddenly reminded of an ad Apple did in 1984. There was a girl throwing a hammer at a big screen...