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France is being France, Apple is doing the right thing (to buoy their market share) and it happens to be the right thing for most folks cognizant of their own privacy. The anti-competitive argument will have a hard time standing up IMHO.
 
Sure, and you can already block tracking in settings if that's what you want (Settings > Privacy > Tracking). What we're talking about here is an annoying pop-up prompt in every single app.
It's not an annoying pop-up prompt. It will be a once-per-app thing (similar to location services). I can't advocate for something like this enough.

Think about normal people - for every person who knows what advertisers get up to, use adblockers etc, there's hundreds/thousands of people who have absolutely no clue how their data is being used.

The only dodgy side is that we know Apple likes to embed OS-level ads for its services (e.g. your free Apple Music trial ad, which is served by knowing you don't have Apple Music, or an ad in the settings to sign up to AppleCare, which they know by grabbing your serial number and checking the database). I can understand how that could be seen as uncompetitive.
 
So what? I don't want to be tracked.

So what? I don't want to be tracked, find another way to monetize your work.

For the vast majority of apps the loss of Ad revenue can not be replaced with anything else. People do not do in app purchases or pay for the app in the quantity it would take to replace ad revenue. So the app would die and go away.

Apps are not free to make or run but so many people seem to think they are and it's too late to change that fact.
 
For the vast majority of apps the loss of Ad revenue can not be replaced with anything else. People do not do in app purchases or pay for the app in the quantity it would take to replace ad revenue. So the app would die and go away.

Apps are not free to make or run but so many people seem to think they are and it's too late to change that fact.
That's fine, I'll gladly pay for the apps I want that don't sling ads in my face every 5 seconds. If apps fail from lack of user tracking, again, I don't want to be a part of that app anyway. I am fine with fee-for-service as there are super hardworking developers who need to make their money! Personally, I am not fine with track-for-service.

But! I know others have different opinions and that is ok - that is why both models exist and we, as the user, can choose.

If after all of that an app still can't survive, that is just an indication of the free market doing its thing.
 
Sure, and you can already block tracking in settings if that's what you want (Settings > Privacy > Tracking). What we're talking about here is an annoying pop-up prompt in every single app.
You might want to read the expanded Tracking text from that current option, it clearly states that apps MAY CHOOSE TO ASK FOR PERMISSION, the new function forces them to, BIG DIFFERENCE!
 
For the vast majority of apps the loss of Ad revenue can not be replaced with anything else. People do not do in app purchases or pay for the app in the quantity it would take to replace ad revenue. So the app would die and go away.

Apps are not free to make or run but so many people seem to think they are and it's too late to change that fact.
So what, I don't want to be tracked.

The "freemium" model should either DIE or be opt-in, if you choose to give up your privacy for some crappy free game then please do, I don't want to stop you but I don't want to be tracked and therefor I don't generally use free apps, I buy them. Of course buying them doesn't guarantee that the app is not still spying ex: clipboard scraping scandal.
 
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I hope so. Completely blocking tracking, such that ad networks can't get any info about users at all, will only kill the quality of ads (you'll just get junk ads rather than for products that might actually be relevant for you), and thus kill revenue for a lot of independent app developers.

But at the same time, users absolutely have a right to privacy and to not be individually tracked between apps and websites.

There must be a technical middle ground that respects both goals.
There is, blanket topic based advertising rather than individually targeted advertising.

Agencies will hate it, because it levels the playing field to what it used to be prior to what it is now.

Ad's will still be relevant, just to a much less personal degree. I don't believe any standalone App should be allowed to track your internet movements across multiple platforms/browsers/apps whatsoever.

Don't worry you'll still get lots of relevant ads if you try hard enough.
 
It's anticompetitive because it puts Apple in a privileged position compared to other apps and networks. Apple has access to your demographic info and knows what apps you use, and won't have to display these prompts (or respect them!) in its own apps.

That said, it's a weaker argument than with Google, because Apple itself isn't primarily an advertising network (except for App Store ads) and thus isn't directly competing with the ad networks it's crippling.

In this case, it's Apple asking their customers if the customers would like Apple to forward their information to third parties or not. As an Apple customer, I am paying Apple to protect my personal data which they have access to and I am happy to pay them for this service.
 
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So what, I don't want to be tracked.

The "freemium" model should either DIE or be opt-in, if you choose to give up your privacy for some crappy free game then please do, I don't want to stop you but I don't want to be tracked and there for I don't generally use free apps, I buy them.
All apps that use ads are not just some "crappy free game".

You can sit and type all day long that you buy apps, well you're in the major minority there.
 
I hope so. Completely blocking tracking, such that ad networks can't get any info about users at all, will only kill the quality of ads (you'll just get junk ads rather than for products that might actually be relevant for you), and thus kill revenue for a lot of independent app developers.

But at the same time, users absolutely have a right to privacy and to not be individually tracked between apps and websites.

There must be a technical middle ground that respects both goals.
Sounds like you need to be using Android.
 
... and thus kill revenue for a lot of independent app developers.

But at the same time, users absolutely have a right to privacy and to not be individually tracked between apps and websites.

There must be a technical middle ground that respects both goals.

If the only way they can make money is through this tracking, they should not exist anyway. The app store, and world, would be a better a place if all these developers went out of business.

The technical middle ground would be only companies that have a viable product that people want to use without being spied on have any right to exist.
 
If the only way they can make money is through this tracking, they should not exist anyway. The app store, and world, would be a better a place if all these developers went out of business.

The technical middle ground would be only companies that have a viable product that people want to use without being spied on have any right to exist.

The app it self it not tracking you 99.9% of the time.
 
these advertisement companies need to stop whining. explain to people why it is beneficial for them. people will decide if they think it is good for them. I still recall when advertising don't track people. they develop amazing Ads to convince folks to buy the product.
 
For the vast majority of apps the loss of Ad revenue can not be replaced with anything else. People do not do in app purchases or pay for the app in the quantity it would take to replace ad revenue. So the app would die and go away.

Apps are not free to make or run but so many people seem to think they are and it's too late to change that fact.

If it's a good app, it's not a problem and people will pay. I don't do free apps just for the fact that they always (99%) of the time, have ads. Some don't even have the option to pay to remove them. Again, if the app is worth it, ads aren't a problem. People will pay money for it. Within reason. Nobody says apps need to be free. You can thank Google for creating that mindset with all their "free" stuff. Same with FaceBook.

I don't want to be tracked. Period. It's my ****ing device, I pay for it, I pay for the service/bandwidth, stop ****ing using up my ****. There should be laws against that. Serve them on your OWN DIME, not mine.
 
For the vast majority of apps the loss of Ad revenue can not be replaced with anything else. People do not do in app purchases or pay for the app in the quantity it would take to replace ad revenue. So the app would die and go away.
It is rather well documented that people will opt out if offered the chance, so you advocate keeping them in the dark so that free apps can continue to harvest personal data without consent?
Apps are not free to make or run but so many people seem to think they are and it's too late to change that fact.
FAKE NEWS! Free apps, supported by the ad model, can certainly continue to exist but as an opt-in model.

I support the idea of apps asking at install if the user consents to tracking in order to get the app to function, if you choose to protect your privacy and not opt-in the app will not work.

Knowledge and choice are never bad.
 
It is rather well documented that people will opt out if offered the chance, so you advocate keeping them in the dark so that free apps can continue to harvest personal data without consent?

FAKE NEWS! Free apps, supported by the ad model, can certainly continue to exist but as an opt-in model.

I support the idea of apps asking at install if the user consents to tracking in order to get the app to function, if you choose to protect your privacy and not opt-in the app will not work.

Knowledge and choice are never bad.
You don't need to track to advertise. You just need to be smarter about your ads.
 
If it's a good app, it's not a problem and people will pay. I don't do free apps just for the fact that they always (99%) of the time, have ads. Some don't even have the option to pay to remove them. Again, if the app is worth it, ads aren't a problem. People will pay money for it. Within reason. Nobody says apps need to be free. You can thank Google for creating that mindset with all their "free" stuff. Same with FaceBook.

It doesn't mater if it's a good app, if the app can't survive now as a paid only app they can not survive next year with loosing advertising revenue.

The majority of people are not going to pay for the app even if its good. You might get one sale for 1000 free downloads as a good app. This is not that hard to understand. Become a developer and try it.

I don't want to be tracked. Period. It's my ****ing device, I pay for it, I pay for the service/bandwidth, stop ****ing using up my ****. There should be laws against that. Serve them on your OWN DIME, not mine.

The person who pays to run the internet reliant app pays for the bandwidth. Go look at people's AWS bandwidth bills, Azure, Google Cloud, "insert dedicated server host name here" bandwidth bill. You think it's free to run an app today? Bandwidth isn't free for developers.
 
FAKE NEWS! Free apps, supported by the ad model, can certainly continue to exist but as an opt-in model.

If an app had a 50% reduction in revenue it would stop existing. If any business had a 50% reduction in revenue it would stop existing.
 
It doesn't mater if it's a good app, if the app can't survive now as a paid only app they can not survive next year with loosing advertising revenue.

The majority of people are not going to pay for the app even if its good. You might get one sale for 1000 free downloads as a good app. This is not that hard to understand. Become a developer and try it.



The person who pays to run the internet reliant app pays for the bandwidth. Go look at people's AWS bandwidth bills, Azure, Google Cloud, "insert dedicated server host name here" bandwidth bill. You think it's free to run an app today? Bandwidth isn't free for developers.

Then that's the problem of the developer then isn't it? Make a good app, people will pay for it. Plain and simple.
 
The majority of people are not going to pay for the app even if its good.
Again, FAKE NEWS!

Force free apps into an opt-in model and you can have your cake and eat it too. People who don't care about their privacy can be harvested.

Those that care about privacy and don't want to be tracked will buy your app, problem solved.
 
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