Apple changes privacy rules on iPhone, what does this mean?

The introduction of iOS 14.5, the latest update to the iPhone operating system, provides the ability to prevent tracking of user behavior on sites. Facebook does not like this change, but is appreciated by digital rights advocates. Find out what this change means.

Apple introduced the latest changes to iOS this week, the iPhone operating system, this time similar to 14.5. In general, when there are news of updates on this product, the company introduces a completely new version: from 12 to 13, when there is a jump from 13 to 14. It is very common to talk about a medium way update. Still, in this case it is more than necessary.

Except for Siri and some updates Facial recognition is suitable for faces with masks, The fundamental change in this update relates to privacy.

To some, this term, read in the context of digital life, seems like a luxury from the past. The change introduced by iOS 14.5 at a time when personal data is understood as something that is not the case and fees for free services puts a little balance of the equation in the hands of users: it is possible to say “no”, and rightly so.

Ideally, Apple offers the option to iPhone users Choose whether or not to monitor the performance of an application Through other services and sites. This is an important change, mainly because it returns power to consumers through the data generated by their interactions on the network.

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The changes Apple is making to this update are not miraculous and will not fix the use (and misuse) of personal information for user tracking or business purposes, but according to Jenny Kebart and Bennett, “This is a definite step in the right direction. Cyphers of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the largest digital rights advocacy organizations in the world.

How does all this work? The best way to understand it is with an example that has already become a classic: when a user reviews a product on a particular platform, an ad related to that product appears when they log into another application. This technique is called targeted advertising, and for brands, it provides the opportunity to deliver the most relevant business information to consumers.; In other words, the promise for companies is that only the person looking for their product can find and reach them with advertising.

A good portion of the internet economy (because someone pays for everything a user enjoys for free) is built on the possibility of making purchases with accurate business information to reach the right groups of personalized and segregated audiences. In a way, it is making the Facebook machine swallow the advertising markets around the world.

Facebook has been one of the harshest critics of the change Apple has implemented, which was announced in mid-last year and will go live at the end of 2020. The social network has gone against this move under the text it hurts small businesses. An interesting concern, so to speak, has been the subject of constant criticism from lawmakers and civil society organizations over the years for issues related to privacy and security, from an institution that is being investigated for monopoly practices. Personal information of its users.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that the change introduced by Apple will not affect its business model. However, according to media reports such as the Wall Street Journal or the Wired Magazine, privacy issues and changes to iOS have been highlighted as a concern by Facebook’s financial head, Dave Wehner.

What does this change mean to users? In principle, they will see the same pop-up and the same question over and over again: Allow an app to track me or ask me not to. In other words, the user can determine the application by app, which allows cross-site monitoring. This, to begin with, provides granular control celebrated by privacy professionals.

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On the other hand, it also shows how many apps monitor user behavior, and the result is scary if you like it.

Basically, when a user asks an app not to track them, Apple prevents them from using the identifier attached to the device (called IDFA) which allows them to accurately track a user between sites. The same communication, the option of not being monitored, is reported to the application in question.

This approach to the problem, in question, follows a somewhat perspective Steve Jobs Around user information. In a 2010 interview, the late Apple founder said: “Privacy is about letting people know in simple language what they are targeting. (2) And some people want to share more data than others: ask them, ask them every time ”.

In January of this year, Tim Cook, Apple’s current CEO, reiterated Jobs’ words, “If a company is built on confusing users, exploiting data, non-electoral elections, it is our undeserved admiration, it needs to be reformed.” He also defended Apple’s privacy initiative (known as ADT) “It gives users control over who can tell how their data is being handled.”

Apple Initiative does not resolve scams that monitor network users. As Geebard and Cyphers of EFF point out, “It does nothing about monitoring an application on the same platform. If users become too accustomed to the notification, the system can also create a ‘notification fatigue’, leaving them with no choice but to choose. “

The other problem with the change that Apple presents is that it shifts some tensions to unexplored areas. In other words, as described by Kebert and Cyphers, “the game of cat and mouse between observers and those who seek to control them.”

But, at the end of the story, the change is welcome and more than a change State Right direction: User can not tell for change, thank you.