Only 13% of iPhone users are opting to allow their data to be tracked

[frauenfelder]

Originally published at: Only 13% of iPhone users are opting to allow their data to be tracked | Boing Boing

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[Thrull1]

This data is shocking! How is it possible that 13% of people miss-clicked to allow tracking? This is the only answer because I can’t imagine even 1 person in 20 actually choosing to allow tracking.

[AnthonyI]

[VeronicaConnor]

This is great, and I’m glad Apple is doing this. I’m certainly clicking “no” on all those pop ups. One small clarification though:

…apps like Facebook track their online activity even when they aren’t using Facebook

Apps can’t actually do that. They only gather data when they are running, and iOS doesn’t allow full time background running except in specific special cases like playing audio. The data gathering is done with third party SDKs like Flurry and MoPub which can only run their code when the app is running. I’m not trying to minimize the evil that is advertiser data gathering. It’s terrible, but it’s also good to have accurate information on what these tools can and can’t do.

[Bunbain]

@Thrull1

How is it possible that 13% of people miss-clicked to allow tracking?

My guess:

[anothernewbbaccount]

My iPhone 6 won’t run a version of iOS that has this option, and even though I have absolutely zero social media apps (and certainly not Facebook) on my phone, I’m almost tempted* to upgrade my iPhone just so I can click on
NO!

* I’m not, obviously.

[p96]

Maybe alcohol was involved in that 13 percent?

[p96]

@anothernewbbaccount

a version of iOS that has this option, and even though I have absolutely zero social media apps (and certainly not Facebook) on my phone

None of my apps have asked me about tracking yet (I deleted Facebook years ago but have a couple other social media apps).

[Papasan]

I have nothing to add to this but laughter, big belly ha ha laughter.

[AdmFubar]

However, all of this tracking is available if you pay apple, they need their cut of your revenue!

[bobtato]

I assumed he meant, if you let the Facebook app use the unique advertising ID for your phone, then your hemmorhoid-monitoring app could use the same ID to rat you out to Facebook, if its developer chose to.

But yes, it’s an important distinction – it was never possible for an app to spy on you in the background. In fact, I’ll bet one of the reasons Apple struggled so much with releasing this feature was a fear that people would wrongly infer something like that.

[VeronicaConnor]

@bobtato

then your hemmorhoid-monitoring app could use the same ID to rat you out to Facebook, if its developer chose to.

Apps can’t do that either. They cannot share data like that. Apple assigns a unique advertising ID to each app and only when requested through their APIs. The only way the scenario you describe can happen is if the hemorrhoid app had a Facebook login interface, which would allow it to share your Facebook ID with Zuck. The hemorrhoid app’s ad ID is a random GUID that means nothing to Facebook and can’t be mapped to your device or identity by itself.

Much of what I’ve said in only true on iOS, for what it’s worth. Android, especially versions pre-version-10 are a security and privacy dumpster fire. It’s better now, but still years behind. Google’s business model is built on taking your data, so they aren’t very motivated to fix this stuff. Apple’s business is making hardware and they’ve never been interested in dats collection like this. Both companies have plenty to dislike about them, but if security and privacy are your primary concern, use an iPhone.