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Privacy: Is That iPhone?

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Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#61

Post by jonas21 »

lonelappde wrote: post #52
ogre_codes wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android phones pump tons of location info and usage info direct to one of the biggest advertising companies in the world. On top of that, a fair number of Android phones ship with third party spyware and outright malware which cannot be uninstalled. The iPhone is a lot better for privacy by default. It's just not as good as it should be, and I do agree it's not as good as their claims suggest.

Question is, does it matter if my barn comes with a door that only closes half way, and your barn comes with a door that closes most of the way?

It depends how on how wide your horses are.

In other words, it depends on whether the difference in information leakage is information you actually care about.

Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#62

Post by ThrowAway54769 »

jonplackett wrote: post #17
gorgoiler wrote: post #5

Finding the settings mentioned in the article is the sole dark pattern I can think of in iOS — when you find them it’s like finding a secret level in Super Mario Land. They are under Settings...Privacy...Advertising https://imgur.com/a/EOvUzCS The Advertising and Analytics options are only visible below the fold, if one scrolls down the privacy page. The fold itself is disguised as the bottom of the page to put you o…

Do you really think it's a dark pattern? What does Apple have to gain?

That would be an excellent question to ask Apple.

Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#63

Post by nvrspyx »

eddieh wrote: post #55
gorgoiler wrote: post #5

Finding the settings mentioned in the article is the sole dark pattern I can think of in iOS — when you find them it’s like finding a secret level in Super Mario Land. They are under Settings...Privacy...Advertising https://imgur.com/a/EOvUzCS The Advertising and Analytics options are only visible below the fold, if one scrolls down the privacy page. The fold itself is disguised as the bottom of the page to put you o…

If you swipe down, type "advertising", the very first Settings link takes you to "Reset Advertising Identifier...". It is the same for swiping down from the home screen or in the Settings app. I don't think I'd call that a dark pattern.

Searching requires that you know what you’re searching for. So, 1) I doubt most people use the settings search in general and 2) I doubt most people know there are settings related specifically to advertising to search for.

Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#65

Post by saagarjha »

nvrspyx wrote: post #63
eddieh wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you swipe down, type "advertising", the very first Settings link takes you to "Reset Advertising Identifier...". It is the same for swiping down from the home screen or in the Settings app. I don't think I'd call that a dark pattern.

Searching requires that you know what you’re searching for. So, 1) I doubt most people use the settings search in general and 2) I doubt most people know there are settings related specifically to advertising to search for.

Also search in Settings is generally hit-or-miss.

Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#66

Post by mobjack »

varenc wrote: post #40

Mozilla suggests resetting the IDFA once per month...but that seems pretty trivial to workaround? If an app you used previously starts up and sees that your IDFA changed, it's easy for that app to know that the old IDFA and the new IDFA refer to the same user! This tracking is all possible because iOS gives every app on the device the same IDFA (advertising identifier [1]). They can then correlate all your activity a…

You don't need an IDFA to track someone in the same app. You can generate your own UUID to use.

The value of the IDFA comes from coordinating user behavior across apps.

Targeting ads is one use case, but it is also used in conversion tracking, which is very valuable to advertisers. They can know if ads in one app resulted in people buying things in another app.

Edit: fixed typo

Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#68

Post by godelski »

COGlory wrote: post #60
godelski wrote: post #46

> Phone users can currently disable the IDFA, but have to do so manually; Android users aren’t even given this option This actually false. You can change your Ad ID on Android. I just looked (and checked)If you go to Settings > Privacy > Ads you can see this IDFA. At the top (it looks like a header and not an option, so I will not fully fault Mozilla because this is a dark pattern) it says "Reset advertising ID". If…

My Android 8 Pixel 2 XL has no privacy option in the settings. Upgrading would unfortunately come at the cost of losing root and AdAway (for the moment). I wonder which is more beneficial to have.

Well I'm also using a Pixel 2. So the good news is that this exists if you upgrade. I didn't realize root was not available on 10 (this is the first phone I haven't rooted and so I haven't been keeping up)

Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#69

Post by [deleted] »

mobjack wrote: post #66
varenc wrote: post #40

Mozilla suggests resetting the IDFA once per month...but that seems pretty trivial to workaround? If an app you used previously starts up and sees that your IDFA changed, it's easy for that app to know that the old IDFA and the new IDFA refer to the same user! This tracking is all possible because iOS gives every app on the device the same IDFA (advertising identifier [1]). They can then correlate all your activity a…

You don't need an IDFA to track someone in the same app. You can generate your own UUID to use. The value of the IDFA comes from coordinating user behavior across apps. Targeting ads is one use case, but it is also used in conversion tracking, which is very valuable to advertisers. They can know if ads in one app resulted in people buying things in another app. Edit: fixed typo

[deleted]

Re: Privacy: Is That iPhone?

#70

Post by [deleted] »

mobjack wrote: post #66
varenc wrote: post #40

Mozilla suggests resetting the IDFA once per month...but that seems pretty trivial to workaround? If an app you used previously starts up and sees that your IDFA changed, it's easy for that app to know that the old IDFA and the new IDFA refer to the same user! This tracking is all possible because iOS gives every app on the device the same IDFA (advertising identifier [1]). They can then correlate all your activity a…

You don't need an IDFA to track someone in the same app. You can generate your own UUID to use. The value of the IDFA comes from coordinating user behavior across apps. Targeting ads is one use case, but it is also used in conversion tracking, which is very valuable to advertisers. They can know if ads in one app resulted in people buying things in another app. Edit: fixed typo

[deleted]
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