[HN Gopher] iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut locat... ___________________________________________________________________ iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry Author : clairity Score : 52 points Date : 2020-01-13 20:16 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (appleinsider.com) (TXT) w3m dump (appleinsider.com) | mikestew wrote: | And it's not just location data. I am amazed at how many apps | want Bluetooth, too. Umm, there isn't a single listed feature | that indicates a need for BT, why are you asking? Oh, so you can | use that as a tracking vector, too. Well, not only do you not get | BT, you don't get to live on my phone anymore, either. | | As for the advertisers, boo-hoo. You raised a finger (or two, | depending on locale) to "do not track", you think there wasn't a | hammer that was going to fall after you were asked politely? | novok wrote: | The alert is annoying although for apps you want to have always | on location tracking although, like some life logging apps. (Arc, | etc) | | It's like OS doesn't want to accept there are apps you want | always on location tracking on and for it to stop annoying you | about it. | duskwuff wrote: | Yeah, I'm a little annoyed that there isn't an option for "no | really, always allow". I understand that there's good privacy | reasons to keep asking -- but I'm quite aware that a weather | app will need access to my location, and I'm okay with that. | hinkley wrote: | The thing is... we still do adaptations of Shakespeare, because | human behavior hasn't changed all that profoundly in 600 years. | | By the time we actually have privacy again, there will be enough | information out there to mine about how people reacted five, ten | years ago for the old data to continue to retain value. It'll | just be repackaged and re-interpreted over and over again. | | The coffee shop may no longer know that you also like kayaks, or | bulldogs, but they might not need information like that to peg | your preferences based on what stereotypes you fit with the | information they do have. | Despegar wrote: | ITP and these location changes are all great, but Apple can do | more for privacy with their policy team and lobbyists than with | their software engineers. Getting Congress and state legislatures | to pass privacy laws (that look like GDPR, not CCPA) is a | scalable solution that covers the situations Apple can't control | with technical design. Like when a legitimate weather app that | gets your consent for location but then also shares that data | with a third party SDK that sells it to a hedge fund. | dpkonofa wrote: | My favorite thing about these features is the number of apps that | it's reminded me to uninstall completely from my devices. The | number of apps that I initially installed months ago that didn't | have any of this that suddenly developed tracking notifications | is staggering. I never would have known either since the updates | happen silently in the background. | | Great features. | mesozoic wrote: | Great step in the right direction. | lalos wrote: | Next step is to download Lockdown, open source and on device | firewall. It also offers a VPN with an in-app purchase (kinda | confusing when you are setting it up), but for free you get the | firewall only. Easy to enable and block known ad-trackers | (including FB sdk and Google Ads). Highly recommend. It's also | made by ex Apple engineers, in case that helps for building | trustworthiness. | | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lockdown-apps/id1469783711 | | https://github.com/confirmedcode/lockdown-ios | cremp wrote: | Maybe I'm just skeptical and a cynic, but... | | > VPN with an in-app purchase | | Lets pay for a product, and they have the ability to sell that | data. | | I get, acting like a pi-hole and what-not but, a VPN for that | task seems overkill. | Karupan wrote: | > a VPN for that task seems overkill | | I think that's the only way to perform certain tasks on iOS. | tehlike wrote: | Vpn is the ux reason. It is the only way to have a way to | inspect network traffic on android without rooting. And | likely on ios. | | Disclaimer: never used lockdown, not endorsing the product. | Cynddl wrote: | iOS requires a VPN profile (even a local VPN) for ruled-based | adblocking. This is what AdGuard Pro [0] does for adblocking. | | This does not mean that your data goes through a VPN server. | | [0] https://adguard.com/en/adguard-ios-pro/overview.html | uyuioi wrote: | Just downloaded this to see. It has a log which within a minute | blocked 6 ad networks. Great. | scarface74 wrote: | So if I care about privacy, why in the heck would I trust yet | another party with access to all of my internet communication? ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2020-01-13 23:00 UTC)