Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
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Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#2Surprised that Google didn't take proper pre-cautions here to not run into this.
If there is indeed such an identifier, enabled by default its pretty obvious that its technically possible to track a user. And with all the other data Google has, they also can link to the actual identity pretty easily.
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#3Surprised that Google didn't take proper pre-cautions here to not run into this. If there is indeed such an identifier, enabled by default its pretty obvious that its technically possible to track a user. And with all the other data Google has, they also can link to the actual identity pretty easily.
Surely it's easier for Google to ask forgiveness than permission. Why wouldn't they do this if they want to track you, especially if they can muster even a shred of plausible deniability to allow them to keep it in place longer?
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#4Surprised that Google didn't take proper pre-cautions here to not run into this. If there is indeed such an identifier, enabled by default its pretty obvious that its technically possible to track a user. And with all the other data Google has, they also can link to the actual identity pretty easily.
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#5Surprised that Google didn't take proper pre-cautions here to not run into this. If there is indeed such an identifier, enabled by default its pretty obvious that its technically possible to track a user. And with all the other data Google has, they also can link to the actual identity pretty easily.
The identifier itself it made to track the user by 3rd party apps, so it's pretty clear why its there :)
Apple provides the exact same API - https://developer.apple.com/documentation/adsupport/asidenti... although IIRC it manages it better (users can revoke it, but it's on by default). I wonder why Google is singled out here though - if Apple is also mining our data, they should also be on the hook.
I wonder if all other OS vendors could be fined as well because the OSes are full of tracking identifiers - device MACs, device install identifiers, serial numbers, etc. There's plenty of apps out there that use those identifiers to track user behaviour.
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#6Surprised that Google didn't take proper pre-cautions here to not run into this. If there is indeed such an identifier, enabled by default its pretty obvious that its technically possible to track a user. And with all the other data Google has, they also can link to the actual identity pretty easily.
Surely it's easier for Google to ask forgiveness than permission. Why wouldn't they do this if they want to track you, especially if they can muster even a shred of plausible deniability to allow them to keep it in place longer?
Plausible deniability? They put it there so you can be tracked - that is what it is for.
Have you confirmed that the click through agreements and privacy policies don't mention anything like this?
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#7For 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 time but if it didn't exist then advertisers would use a hardware fingerprint probably, which is a lot harder to spoof
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#8Surprised that Google didn't take proper pre-cautions here to not run into this. If there is indeed such an identifier, enabled by default its pretty obvious that its technically possible to track a user. And with all the other data Google has, they also can link to the actual identity pretty easily.
The identifier itself it made to track the user by 3rd party apps, so it's pretty clear why its there :) Apple provides the exact same API - https://developer.apple.com/documentation/adsupport/asidenti... although IIRC it manages it better (users can revoke it, but it's on by default). I wonder why Google is singled out here though - if Apple is also mining our data, they should also be on the hook. I wonder if all o…
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.
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surely it's easier for Google to ask forgiveness than permission. Why wouldn't they do this if they want to track you, especially if they can muster even a shred of plausible deniability to allow them to keep it in place longer?
Plausible deniability? They put it there so you can be tracked - that is what it is for. Have you confirmed that the click through agreements and privacy policies don't mention anything like this?
> Have you confirmed that the click through agreements and privacy policies don't mention anything like this?
No …? I'm not sure why I would have; I was just responding to @kerng's surprise at its presence (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23180801).
Re: Stop tracking me: Austrian citizen files complaint over Android Advertising ID
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
The identifier itself it made to track the user by 3rd party apps, so it's pretty clear why its there :) Apple provides the exact same API - https://developer.apple.com/documentation/adsupport/asidenti... although IIRC it manages it better (users can revoke it, but it's on by default). I wonder why Google is singled out here though - if Apple is also mining our data, they should also be on the hook. I wonder if all o…
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