A Day in the Life of Your Data: Apple Details How Companies Can Track You Across Apps and Websites

[MacRumors]

Thursday is Data Privacy Day, and Apple is marking the occasion in a few ways, including sharing a new "A Day in the Life of Your Data" document that details how third-party companies can track user data across websites and apps.

Apple says that, on average, mobile apps include six "trackers" from third-party companies for the "sole purpose of collecting and tracking people and their personal information," fueling an industry valued at $227 billion per year. "A Day in the Life of Your Data" aims to show what advertisers, data brokers, social media companies, and other entities can learn about a father and daughter who spend a pleasant day at the park.

One example is the father and daughter taking a selfie at the park, editing the photo with a filter app, and sharing it on social media, a seemingly innocent series of actions that still resulted in data being collected and tracked across multiple apps:

Later at the playground, John and Emma take a selfie. They play with a photo filter app, settling on adding bunny ears to the photo. The filtering app, however, is able to access all the photos on the device and the attached metadata, rather than only the playground selfie. John posts the picture on a social media app. The app links John's current online activity to a trove of data collected by other apps, such as his demographic information and purchasing habits, using an email address, a phone number or an advertising identifier.

The document goes on to list various Apple privacy features that would have given the father and daughter more transparency and control over their data, including the choice to give the filter app access to only their selfie, instead of the entire photo library.

The document also highlights Apple's four key privacy principles and provides more information about App Tracking Transparency, a privacy measure that will require apps to request permission to track users starting with the next iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 betas. Apple says the software updates will be released in the early spring.

"Privacy means peace of mind, it means security, and it means you are in the driver's seat when it comes to your own data," said Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi, in a statement shared today. "Our goal is to create technology that keeps people's information safe and protected. We believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and our teams work every day to embed it in everything we make."

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be speaking on data privacy today at the Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection conference, based in Brussels. Cook is scheduled to speak at 8:15 a.m. Pacific Time, and a live stream will be available on YouTube.

Article Link: A Day in the Life of Your Data: Apple Details How Companies Can Track You Across Apps and Websites

 

[macfacts]

Sounds like apple is bitter they didn't patent this first.

 

[1rottenapple]

I bet you most people will be ok with data tracking over convenience.

 

[QCassidy352]

I bet you most people will be ok with data tracking over convenience.

Which is fine, if they want to make that choice. But it should be a (transparent) choice.

 

[ghanwani]

Is Data Privacy Day the day that Facebook and Google stop tracking everyone for a day?

 

[AmazeSE]

I just read the document and it was very nice. They showed how an average person is tracked in a simple but easily understandable way. This can be shown to non tech enthusiastic people who do not know or care about Privacy.

 

[ghanwani]

I just read the document and it was very nice. They showed how an average person is tracked in a simple but easily understandable way. This can be shown to non tech enthusiastic people who do not know or care about Privacy.

The average person doesn't care about being tracked. They will only wake up when that information is used against them in a really bad way. Today that is happening with a tiny fraction of the population. Over time that will grow and by then it will be too late for the average person to do anything about it.

 

[BWhaler]

Excellent PDF; but should be a video series.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Reading this, it sounds like IDFA is basically like third party cookies (which Apple recently disabled in Safari).

But IDFA, unless I am missing something, was implemented by Apple.

So all of the horrible things they are telling you about are built on Apple technology.

And Apple is who drove people from web apps to App Store apps saying they were protecting us.

Why not just shut down IDFA? Why did they ever offer it? Why do they still now?

 

[subjonas]

I just read the document and it was very nice. They showed how an average person is tracked in a simple but easily understandable way. This can be shown to non tech enthusiastic people who do not know or care about Privacy.

Excellent PDF; but should be a video series.

Agreed, it’s a great document, but a video series or something would be more effective at getting this information out. I’m trying to think of people to share this document with but honestly I don’t know that many people who would actually read it, though I’m sure many of them would be interested in the information if they found out. Unfortunately, information has to be spoon-fed to people, and sadly sometimes it has to be disguised as entertainment.

Reading this, it sounds like IDFA is basically like third party cookies (which Apple recently disabled in Safari).

But IDFA, unless I am missing something, was implemented by Apple.

So all of the horrible things they are telling you about are built on Apple technology.

And Apple is who drove people from web apps to App Store apps saying they were protecting us.

Why not just shut down IDFA? Why did they ever offer it? Why do they still now?

I don’t think it’s about doing away with tracking completely, it’s about being transparent about tracking. Tracking is a legitimate business strategy, only the secrecy around it is not.

 

[BimBamSmash]

I respect what Apple claims they are doing/valuing, and I do believe they are doing relatively better than most in the industry. But if data from Little Snitch is anything to go by, they aren't exactly knights in shining armor either - not since the later days of High Sierra at the very least. I mean, the list goes on and on but at the most basic level, why should iTunes on Mojave need to send "something" to Apple servers each time I play a cue, or skip a cue, or seek through the same cue?

 

[bollman]

This is all fine and dandy while Apple being the richest company in the world.
But, they day social media apps costs hundreds of dollars, the little filter app for selfies 200 dollars and so on, the silver lining may fade.

For now, apps and social media is dead cheap, if not for free, because it's actually an advertising platform. Nobody watches linear TV anymore, or commercial radio, which means that way is not so appealing to advertisers. Environment concerns and cost prohibit the use of postal SPAM, while email SPAM is not that effective, and scorned upon by most people.

Advertisers will find new ways, but it will be at the cost of all the cheap apps and services.
Imagine Google charging by the search. Sure, there might be free alternatives, but not as good. YouTube charing $50 a month for unlimited views, FaceBook, Instagram, "whatever's IN this week-social media app" costs $20 with a $10 recurring fee for usage.

I can't say I'd be bothered, at all, since I exist on no social media platform, or use Google, or whatever. But, I expect a lot the now very vocal privacy advocates and FaceBook-haters will be unpleasantly surprised when the services they rely on and the apps they want raises their monthly "internet-services-bill" a couple of hundred dollars a month.

 

[1rottenapple]

I respect what Apple claims they are doing/valuing, and I do believe they are doing relatively better than most in the industry. But if data from Little Snitch is anything to go by, they aren't exactly knights in shining armor either - not since the later days of High Sierra at the very least. I mean, the list goes on and on but at the most basic level, why should iTunes on Mojave need to send "something" to Apple servers each time I play a cue, or skip a cue, or seek through the same cue?

Really? Interesting 🤨

 

[subjonas]

This is all fine and dandy while Apple being the richest company in the world.
But, they day social media apps costs hundreds of dollars, the little filter app for selfies 200 dollars and so on, the silver lining may fade.

For now, apps and social media is dead cheap, if not for free, because it's actually an advertising platform. Nobody watches linear TV anymore, or commercial radio, which means that way is not so appealing to advertisers. Environment concerns and cost prohibit the use of postal SPAM, while email SPAM is not that effective, and scorned upon by most people.

Advertisers will find new ways, but it will be at the cost of all the cheap apps and services.
Imagine Google charging by the search. Sure, there might be free alternatives, but not as good. YouTube charing $50 a month for unlimited views, FaceBook, Instagram, "whatever's IN this week-social media app" costs $20 with a $10 recurring fee for usage.

I can't say I'd be bothered, at all, since I exist on no social media platform, or use Google, or whatever. But, I expect a lot the now very vocal privacy advocates and FaceBook-haters will be unpleasantly surprised when the services they rely on and the apps they want raises their monthly "internet-services-bill" a couple of hundred dollars a month.

I totally agree it will be an unpleasant surprise, but it’s long been coming. The simple fact is the public has been living in a fantasy land, getting mostly free apps, not asking what the true cost is and who’s paying it (because everything has a cost). Now the cost is (hopefully) being made known, so people will finally have to come to terms with whether they want to continue paying for it with their personal data, or pay the actual money cost, or just do without it. I see it as simply an overdue wake up call to the real world.

 

[1rottenapple]

This is all fine and dandy while Apple being the richest company in the world.
But, they day social media apps costs hundreds of dollars, the little filter app for selfies 200 dollars and so on, the silver lining may fade.

For now, apps and social media is dead cheap, if not for free, because it's actually an advertising platform. Nobody watches linear TV anymore, or commercial radio, which means that way is not so appealing to advertisers. Environment concerns and cost prohibit the use of postal SPAM, while email SPAM is not that effective, and scorned upon by most people.

Advertisers will find new ways, but it will be at the cost of all the cheap apps and services.
Imagine Google charging by the search. Sure, there might be free alternatives, but not as good. YouTube charing $50 a month for unlimited views, FaceBook, Instagram, "whatever's IN this week-social media app" costs $20 with a $10 recurring fee for usage.

I can't say I'd be bothered, at all, since I exist on no social media platform, or use Google, or whatever. But, I expect a lot the now very vocal privacy advocates and FaceBook-haters will be unpleasantly surprised when the services they rely on and the apps they want raises their monthly "internet-services-bill" a couple of hundred dollars a month.

I try to move away from google and gmail and maps with iCloud and maps. But man YouTube I do value it’s tracking. I like how it serves me stuff it knows I like.
If only maps let’s me book Mark stuff directly on the map.

 

[GeoStructural]

It was probably about 2 years ago when I posted here about how many iOS apps were loaded with trackers, and I was pretty much attacked... now you get the confirmation from Apple itself.

Some iOS apps are in the 200-300 MB size range and then they grow in “Documents and Data” for no good reason, that is excessive for “little pieces of software”. I know a lot of it is the graphics and the universal aspect of the app being available for different screen sizes, but a big part of it is all the activity tracking, including all your keystrokes and even screen recording.

 

[1rottenapple]

Which is fine, if they want to make that choice. But it should be a (transparent) choice.

I support that.

 

[contacos]

As I understand, this „only“ blocks the ID from being shared? It doesn’t block all this analytics spyware like FaceBook OpenGraph, Criteo etc in general? It’s a good start though!

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

"Privacy means peace of mind, it means security, and it means you are in the driver's seat when it comes to your own data," said Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi, in a statement shared today. "Our goal is to create technology that keeps people's information safe and protected. We believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and our teams work every day to embed it in everything we make."

You're in the driver's seat with your own data, but not when choosing which apps you can install on your own device. Nope, Apple still controls that access very strictly through their walled garden App Store.

 

[robertosh]

This is kinda funny, while trying to open the link to the document...

 

[InGen]

This is all fine and dandy while Apple being the richest company in the world.
But, they day social media apps costs hundreds of dollars, the little filter app for selfies 200 dollars and so on, the silver lining may fade.

For now, apps and social media is dead cheap, if not for free, because it's actually an advertising platform. Nobody watches linear TV anymore, or commercial radio, which means that way is not so appealing to advertisers. Environment concerns and cost prohibit the use of postal SPAM, while email SPAM is not that effective, and scorned upon by most people.

Advertisers will find new ways, but it will be at the cost of all the cheap apps and services.
Imagine Google charging by the search. Sure, there might be free alternatives, but not as good. YouTube charing $50 a month for unlimited views, FaceBook, Instagram, "whatever's IN this week-social media app" costs $20 with a $10 recurring fee for usage.

I can't say I'd be bothered, at all, since I exist on no social media platform, or use Google, or whatever. But, I expect a lot the now very vocal privacy advocates and FaceBook-haters will be unpleasantly surprised when the services they rely on and the apps they want raises their monthly "internet-services-bill" a couple of hundred dollars a month.

Or imagine an online world where advertising no longer exists at all (except by voluntary opt-in) and where companies generate revenue and funding to sustain their platforms from all the other non-advertising related methods of commerce...

You’re premise is wrong by conflating free online platforms with advertising penetration. There are other ways of companies earning money you know. The ad-supported model is hopefully on its way out, giving rise to a more cleaner, more conscious, less cluttered and simple internet experience

 

[sdz]

How private are pictures in iCloud?

Apple, why don't you change iCloud? Where is the end to end encryption?

 

[Luke MacWalker]

I respect what Apple claims they are doing/valuing, and I do believe they are doing relatively better than most in the industry. But if data from Little Snitch is anything to go by, they aren't exactly knights in shining armor either - not since the later days of High Sierra at the very least. I mean, the list goes on and on but at the most basic level, why should iTunes on Mojave need to send "something" to Apple servers each time I play a cue, or skip a cue, or seek through the same cue?

Maybe to synchronise the playing count of each title between your different Apple devices? To allow continue playing on the HomePod what you were playing on your iPhone after starting it from your Mac?
Maybe?

 

[Wildkraut]

It was probably about 2 years ago when I posted here about how many iOS apps were loaded with trackers, and I was pretty much attacked... now you get the confirmation from Apple itself.

Some iOS apps are in the 200-300 MB size range and then they grow in “Documents and Data” for no good reason, that is excessive for “little pieces of software”. I know a lot of it is the graphics and the universal aspect of the app being available for different screen sizes, but a big part of it is all the activity tracking, including all your keystrokes and even screen recording.

Yeah, and 2011 i filled a security issue to Apple about the clipboard being readout by many apps, incl. by user copied usernames/passwords, etc.. When did they add that Clipboard Info feature again?2019/2020! They surely can’t wear the white vest. Btw. just managed to bypass my 2FA(code request), but I needed a unconfigured ios device, my username and password for this... thinking about if i should open a issue or not, they don’t care anyway.

 

[GadgetBen]

Well done Apple for publishing and expanding on this.

I hope Apple keep it up, it's the only way to force change through awareness.