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Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

theregister.co.uk

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Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#11

Post by als0 »

gingerlime wrote: post #10
greglindahl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's identifier can't be turned off; you can manually change it as often as you like, but it involves enough clicks that I bet few people do.

It can be turned off (although I think under the hood they just send zeros). But it’s on by default. https://blog.gingerlime.com/2020/does-apple-care-about-your-... EDIT also https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074

I don't interpret "Limit Ad Tracking" as "off".

As another comment mentioned, the only effective mechanism is to reset the identifier periodically. That's not a disable mechanism, though.

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#12

Post by greglindahl »

gingerlime wrote: post #10
greglindahl wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple's identifier can't be turned off; you can manually change it as often as you like, but it involves enough clicks that I bet few people do.

It can be turned off (although I think under the hood they just send zeros). But it’s on by default. https://blog.gingerlime.com/2020/does-apple-care-about-your-... EDIT also https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074

I looked at your link and I did not see how it could be turned off. It doesn't really say what Limit Ad Tracking does. You'd think that if it caused your advertising ID to be zeroes, then Reset Advertising Identifier would be greyed out if you turned on Limit Ad Tracking.

OK, so your new link @ Apple is more clear, and I do vaguely recall seeing this years ago: for all modern iOS versions, Limit Ad Tracking does set the Ad ID to all zeroes.

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#13

Post by gingerlime »

greglindahl wrote: post #12
gingerlime wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be turned off (although I think under the hood they just send zeros). But it’s on by default. https://blog.gingerlime.com/2020/does-apple-care-about-your-... EDIT also https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074

I looked at your link and I did not see how it could be turned off. It doesn't really say what Limit Ad Tracking does. You'd think that if it caused your advertising ID to be zeroes, then Reset Advertising Identifier would be greyed out if you turned on Limit Ad Tracking. OK, so your new link @ Apple is more clear, and I do vaguely recall seeing this years ago: for all modern iOS versions, Limit Ad Tracking does set…

I think they are deliberately making things confusing. Also the double negative thing which is not very typical for other settings.

I added a link to an Apple support doc which to me suggests that limit = off (or it’s an even bigger conspiracy than I thought, but I’m not that paranoid)

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#14

Post by [deleted] »

gingerlime wrote: post #13
greglindahl wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked at your link and I did not see how it could be turned off. It doesn't really say what Limit Ad Tracking does. You'd think that if it caused your advertising ID to be zeroes, then Reset Advertising Identifier would be greyed out if you turned on Limit Ad Tracking. OK, so your new link @ Apple is more clear, and I do vaguely recall seeing this years ago: for all modern iOS versions, Limit Ad Tracking does set…

I think they are deliberately making things confusing. Also the double negative thing which is not very typical for other settings. I added a link to an Apple support doc which to me suggests that limit = off (or it’s an even bigger conspiracy than I thought, but I’m not that paranoid)

[deleted]

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#15

Post by Nextgrid »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #7

For anyone complaining about this: the advertising ID is a very good thing for us tech people Nobody know how to change it or turn it off. That means a lot of developers and advertisers assume it is actually a good way to track users. So if you go in and reset/disable it, you'll be in such a small minority that you'd become an edge case and they'd lose the historical data on you. Obviously this isn't true 100% of the…

There's no reason they can't do both especially considering privacy-conscious people and those adverse to advertising are the very people advertisers would pay a lot of money to reach.

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#16

Post by fredski »

greglindahl wrote: post #12
gingerlime wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can be turned off (although I think under the hood they just send zeros). But it’s on by default. https://blog.gingerlime.com/2020/does-apple-care-about-your-... EDIT also https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074

I looked at your link and I did not see how it could be turned off. It doesn't really say what Limit Ad Tracking does. You'd think that if it caused your advertising ID to be zeroes, then Reset Advertising Identifier would be greyed out if you turned on Limit Ad Tracking. OK, so your new link @ Apple is more clear, and I do vaguely recall seeing this years ago: for all modern iOS versions, Limit Ad Tracking does set…

Here is how it works in more detail: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205223

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#17

Post by kiplkipl »

Nextgrid wrote: post #15
chipperyman573 wrote: post #7

For anyone complaining about this: the advertising ID is a very good thing for us tech people Nobody know how to change it or turn it off. That means a lot of developers and advertisers assume it is actually a good way to track users. So if you go in and reset/disable it, you'll be in such a small minority that you'd become an edge case and they'd lose the historical data on you. Obviously this isn't true 100% of the…

There's no reason they can't do both especially considering privacy-conscious people and those adverse to advertising are the very people advertisers would pay a lot of money to reach.

They've shown a reluctance to do that with adblockers that work by blacklisting IPs, an easier fix.

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#18

Post by ckastner »

The title should have mentioned the person by name: it's Max Schrems [1].

He has a legal background, and has fought a number of high-profile privacy cases in Europe.

The day the GDPR came into effect, he filed violations complaints against Facebook and Google in four different jurisdictions. He's a spearhead figure in this regard.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#19

Post by qlmr »

chipperyman573 wrote: post #7

For anyone complaining about this: the advertising ID is a very good thing for us tech people Nobody know how to change it or turn it off. That means a lot of developers and advertisers assume it is actually a good way to track users. So if you go in and reset/disable it, you'll be in such a small minority that you'd become an edge case and they'd lose the historical data on you. Obviously this isn't true 100% of the…

Do I understand your comment correctly? If you turn this off, you vanish into the crowd? Or are you saying you become that much more unique?

Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID

#20

Post by ivanfon »

Nextgrid wrote: post #15
chipperyman573 wrote: post #7

For anyone complaining about this: the advertising ID is a very good thing for us tech people Nobody know how to change it or turn it off. That means a lot of developers and advertisers assume it is actually a good way to track users. So if you go in and reset/disable it, you'll be in such a small minority that you'd become an edge case and they'd lose the historical data on you. Obviously this isn't true 100% of the…

There's no reason they can't do both especially considering privacy-conscious people and those adverse to advertising are the very people advertisers would pay a lot of money to reach.

> privacy-conscious people and those adverse to advertising are the very people advertisers would pay a lot of money to reach.

Why? Not trying to be snarky, just genuinely curious, I'd expect that those people would generally be less susceptible to advertising.

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