First of all: also a little gross.
But second, no, it isn't. The one big difference is that areas that has CCTV will typically warn you about it. Apps that do the equivalent should have a scary icon, too. Which is precisely what Apple is doing here.
No one on looking at a camera feed knows who I am? 😐
It improves the experience? This really isn't a hill you should die on.
You're either trolling or haven't spent half a second reading up about privacy risks that come with tracking. What happens if Facebook has a security breach? What happens if a government mandates access to the data? What happens when banks start refusing to lend money based on the profile?
No they don't. Advertisements in magazines weren't "useless". They worked just fine. They may not have been quite as effective as precision-targeted ads, but they worked. This idea that it's either tracking or nothing is bollocks.
I'd love to pay an annual subscription to Twitter in return for zero tracking, actually.
Well, I hope you're either trolling or simply haven't thought about the ramifications at all. Hope you enjoy your first identity theft! Those are pretty fun for the entire family.
There’s a lot to unpack here. Firstly, I am absolutely not a troll...just someone who is very concerned by this for businesses.
Firstly, yes...it absolutely does improve user experience. Without ad tracking (or any tracking) you would be bombarded with completely irrelevant adverts all day and all night. Ad tracking allows advertisers to target by geography, demographic and interests. That is a good thing. I know I would hate to bombarded with adverts for completely irrelevant products, services or people. It’s not perfect, but it’s hugely preferable to the alternative.
Secondly, I’m sure you’d be willing to pay for Twitter. I’d guess that there’d be hundreds of millions of people who wouldn’t be prepared to though.
Thirdly, I think you’re grossly over egging what exactly is being tracked by Facebook or Google on external sites and apps, and for how long. The tracking is in place to understand a users behaviour on a website, but there is ZERO personal tracking involved. No names, no addresses, no credit card details. The only details that are being tracked are whether there is a matching user ID on Facebook and what behaviour happens on the site...whether someone added a specific type of product to a cart, purchased something etc.
If you don’t have a Facebook account, nothing is stored anywhere. If you do, the incredibly minor details of your user journey are stored for 120 days to make the advertising platform more relevant and useful.
Lastly, identity theft. Absolutely...it’s a concern. It’s a concern if you have a Facebook profile or any profile on any website / social media platform. Without “tracking” you have already given the bulk of your info to the platforms. If you’ve ever shopped online you’ve given your details, addresses, credit card details. The “tracking” that websites do is far more inconsequential to any identity theft worries than any of your general day to day internet usage. What is a criminal going to do with the knowledge that you viewed a blue T Shirt on a website 86 days ago.
And that’s before you get into encryption. Facebook, Google, Apple etc have some of the most advanced, secure encryption in the world. By far. That data, as inconsequential as it is, is far far far less likely to be compromised than giving your credit details on a third party website. And considerably less so since the Cambridge Analytica issue.
And I’ll say it one more time because it doesn’t appear to matter to you...I feel you’re probably a super paranoid person. You ALREADY have the option to stop tracking if you so desire. I personally wouldn’t... I don’t have even the slightest problem with it. But the option is there for you already. I don’t see why a purposefully negative, scaremongering, message should be thrust in people’s faces by Apple.
Lastly, you are clearly highlighting your lack of knowledge if you believe magazine advertising was in any way comparable to social media advertising. Zero targeting, huge costs, no tracking to see if your advertising is working.