iPhone apps harvest data when they send you notifications, researchers find • Hacker News Board

Re: iPhone apps harvest data when they send you notifications, researchers find

#71

Post by zadokshi » Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 5:18 AM UTC

NotYourLawyer wrote: post #28

zadokshi wrote: post #6

Not saying some companies aren’t up to no-good. But, collecting timezone (or ip to infer timezone), as long as it’s done with user consent in the privacy policy and or notifications setup process is actually helpful for end users. Most of us want (for example) our exercise reminder or our news update to arrive at breakfast even when we travel across Timezone boundaries. I don’t want to have to sign in to an app or go…

Not clear why the app needs location info for this. Notifications should just be relative to the current local time.

Spoken like someone who has never implemented a push notification system.

How does a server know when to send a push notification to a client if the server doesn’t know the users local Timezone.

Want a wake up call at 7am? How does the server know when to make the call? Want to avoid sending a study reminder at 3am, how does the server know when it is 3am? Most websites do some kind of location detection to show times back to the user that are likely in their current Timezone.

Re: iPhone apps harvest data when they send you notifications, researchers find

#72

Post by barrysteve » Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 5:57 AM UTC

saintfire wrote: post #33

wackget wrote: post #13

How much data is Gizmodo harvesting from you when you read this article? uBlock Origin shows 16 domains connected; most of them loading JavaScript. The real number is probably far higher when no ad-blocker is used.

This is how I feel every time I see any mainstream news outlet copy-pasting any privacy related piece. All the outrage companies and people have is posturing in almost every case, in my opinion.

You want to push it, until we are forced to return the favour?

When one side doesn't listen, then these conversations are nonsense. The concept of having a conversation is coming to a close.

Re: iPhone apps harvest data when they send you notifications, researchers find

#73

Post by fennecfoxy » Fri, Jan 26, 2024, 12:04 PM UTC

function_seven wrote: post #10

drewg123 wrote: post #7

How much information do app devs get when customers disable app notifications from their app entirely? Some apps (especially food delivery.. doordash, i'm looking at you) have such spammy notifications, I tend to disable notifications from the app entirely unless I'm actively using it (eg, an order is pending).

My feature request for iOS: Allow me to disable notifications from an app unless I have opened it within the last X hours. I’d set it to a couple hours. My food apps could then tell me the order is ready, but can’t spam me with “Special Offers For You” days later. Maybe I can do this with an automation?

Or just fix the root problem so that the notification is just a notification and not a way to harvest data, I guess.

Re: iPhone apps harvest data when they send you notifications, researchers find

#74

Post by NotYourLawyer » Sun, Jan 28, 2024, 10:59 PM UTC

zadokshi wrote: post #71

NotYourLawyer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not clear why the app needs location info for this. Notifications should just be relative to the current local time.

Spoken like someone who has never implemented a push notification system. How does a server know when to send a push notification to a client if the server doesn’t know the users local Timezone. Want a wake up call at 7am? How does the server know when to make the call? Want to avoid sending a study reminder at 3am, how does the server know when it is 3am? Most websites do some kind of location detection to show time…

Oops good point.