It will just mean the URLs will become obfuscated
Starting with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma, Safari automatically removes tracking parameters from URLs while in Private Browsing Mode, in order to prevent cross-website tracking. When a tracking parameter is detected while browsing or copying a link, Apple says Safari strips the identifying components of the URL, while leaving the rest intact. The links will still work as expected, but will no longer have unique identifiers.
Apple calls this new feature Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection, and it also works for links shared in the Messages and Mail apps. It can even be enabled for regular Safari browsing. On the iPhone, open the Settings app, tap Safari → Advanced → Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection, and select All Browsing. Users can also turn off the feature in this menu if they prefer not to use it at all.
In a WWDC 2023 video for developers, Apple shared an example of a URL before and after the tracking parameters are removed. The original URL has a unique "click_id" parameter that advertisers can use to track a user's activity across websites. Safari automatically removes this parameter to protect the user's privacy.
iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma will be released later this year, and are currently available in beta for users with an Apple developer account.
Article Link: iOS 17 Can Automatically Remove Tracking Parameters From URLs in Safari, Messages, and Mail
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iOS 17 Can Automatically Remove Tracking Parameters From URLs in Safari, Messages, and Mail
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I'm no fan of ads and tracking but how would you prefer MR, or any other site, generate the income necessary to operate? Force everyone to pay a membership fee? A fair idea, I wonder what a "membership" fee would be for a site like this if everyone had to pay something... $5/year, 10$/year, etc. 🤔 Of course you could never start out that way, you would need to build a community and then piss them all off by announcing a subscription model or pay wall, lol, glad I am not in this business.
Unfortunately, most people want everything for free and would never consider paying anything for the content they so enthusiastically consume on a daily basis. One only needs to read the threads on streaming services to know that people feel entitled to content, on their own terms, or they justify stealing/pirating/etc.
I wonder if it will ever be possible to separate ads with tracking. I understand that trackers are justified as allowing more relevant ads to be screened, thereby improving their ROI, but this is a Macrumours forum. It's pretty clear what people are here for, and it shouldn't be that hard to hawk related tech products.
The problem with Private Browsing is that it prevents sites that require logins from recognizing me, and such sites comprise a large fraction of those I visit. Thus everytime I visit such a site, I'd need to login, rather than being automatically recognized, which is too inconvenient. I wonder if there could be a provsion to "white list" certain sites, such that Private Browsing was enabled for all except them. Yes, those sites could still track you, but it would be better than not using Private Browsing at all.
Hmmm. Is click_id so universal that website won’t just start using some other identifier, and would this feature detect such changes?
I've been saying this for decades. A site like this is clearly a place to market tech hardware, software, games, etc.
The ad at the top of this page is for light industrial space. Not totally aligned with the site, but not terribly far off. A business owner could be looking at Mac related stuff and want a new building in which to set up. I don't use a VPN so they can see where I am located and the building in question is definitely within commuting range.
I don't get a lot of well targeted advertising on my Mac because I almost never click links. If I see something interesting I tend to look up information on the retailer and manufacturer first and then decide whether or not I actually want to visit their sites by typing a base URL into the address bar.
I do have a couple of games on my iPhone that are very good at randomly popping up ads just as I'm about to tap an in-game element and taking touches 1/2 inch above ads and treating them as taps on the ad. So on that device I see a ton of ads for stuff I have no interest in. Someone is certainly happy about how many ads I open, but if a human or AI were to attempt to profile me it would see no pattern at all to the "successful" ads.
When I had a Facebook account it was rather hilarious how badly the ads matched my gender, age, job, nationality, political views, etc. They had a ton of information on me and still managed to show ads for stuff I'd never buy. Facebook is also rife with really bad advertising. I saw the same size 2 model used by 6 different sites, all supposedly trying to sell plus sized dresses.
As one who does the same thing, every time I share a link, I agree: thanks Apple. I just got back 3 weeks of my calendar year. 😂
I’ve always thought that content published online should be on a hobby basis.
The amazon affiliate tracker isn’t tracking the user, it tracks the referrer. If a million different people click the tracked product link they all get the exact same id in the URL, something like “macrumor-22”. And the Amazon site only remembers for 24 hours, it doesn’t track anything unique about the user. It’s pretty benign.
If Apple decide to usurp the equipment you have paid for, have your processing power surveilling the contents of your devices, where then end to end encryption will mean nothing, then its a bad day for apple and a bad day for real privacy. ON DEVICE surveillance which is what it is, whether you want to couch it in terms of some moral compass, which is obviously the attempt Apple made previously with CSAM and dropped after widespread concerns from industry experts, then to have ON DEVICE being used at all, is a very slipper slope indeed, giving the opportunity of a back door to your devices, after rendering end to end encryption useless, because its ON DEVICE surveillance. Even if it suggests it can be switched on or off, history demonstrates that often means nothing.
Ask Chinese citizens why their privacy is impacted by Apple devices, with Apple cooperating to China's wishes. Apple/Google/Microsoft can do what they like with the equipment THEY OWN, they can check whatever they like, but OUR DEVICES SHOULD BE SACRO SANCT. This is just another attempt at ON DEVICE SURVEILLANCE.
Apple can bleat about upholding privacy, but ON DEVICE SURVEILLANCE shows that to be not the case.
if I buy an Apple product, I own it, and it should not be for Apple to decide how processing power is used, nor be able to act as surveillance on whatever they like, because sure as eggs is eggs, these types of situation are always brought in on the basis of some moral basis, but which opens the door, or rather opens a backdoor for multiple organisations, and governments.
Ask Chinese citizens why their privacy is impacted by Apple devices, with Apple cooperating to China's wishes. Apple/Google/Microsoft can do what they like with the equipment THEY OWN, they can check whatever they like, but OUR DEVICES SHOULD BE SACRO SANCT. This is just another attempt at ON DEVICE SURVEILLANCE.
Apple can bleat about upholding privacy, but ON DEVICE SURVEILLANCE shows that to be not the case.
if I buy an Apple product, I own it, and it should not be for Apple to decide how processing power is used, nor be able to act as surveillance on whatever they like, because sure as eggs is eggs, these types of situation are always brought in on the basis of some moral basis, but which opens the door, or rather opens a backdoor for multiple organisations, and governments.
StopTheMadness makes Safari tolerable in a variety of ways Apple could implement
I doubt it's strictly a superset. They are both built on a common, unnamed, foundation. (Apart from, of course, being built on top of Darwin).
Besides being a pretty arrogant statement, it also seems a bit misplaced. What kind of ads do you get? The ones I get are all for random products. That's certainly not enough to "shapes your thinking and coerces you into behaving according to others’ priorities and interests" anymore than any regular exposure to the world is.
As a note, I believe people are to some extent speculating in this thread, without stating it as such. So don't just take people's word for it
This is conspiracy theory level stuff, IMO. The on device analysis is exactly on device, and not off device, in China or elsewhere. You have no idea if it's "precursor to backdoors", that's just speculation or FUD.
Well, if Apple had numerous trackers on their site, I guess it would be more ironic..?
I recall some time ago, when I had the need to use the Apple website to get some technical support, it singularly failed if I had my ad blocker enabled.
Talk to me when Firefox on iOS/iPadOS has basic extension functionality.
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Interesting @cyanite. What’s arrogant and misplaced about stating how advertising works?
Advertising is *literally* the art of influencing human behavior to make certain purchase decisions.
When advertising is delivered through digital media, the mechanisms of persuasion are amplified through hyper-targeting, personalization, industrial scale A/B testing (applied to individuals), context engineering/manipulation, and inexpensive repetition and retargeting.
The result is nothing short of coercive force directed at individuals through multiple digital channels, and coordinated to persistently nudge targeted individuals towards making specific decisions (purchases, actions, inaction, etc.).
You may be the exception but most people don’t receive random ads — because most advertisers are too smart to spend their advertising budget on random, one-shot experiments instead of clear, data-confirmed, multi-impression strategies and tactics.
Ad campaigns start with defining the audience, followed by crafting the right messages and message sequence for the audience, determining the best channel(s) for delivering the ad, determining retargeting strategy to deliver a target # of impressions, determining how to convert and attribute (hence the tracking parameters that are the subject of this article), and more. This is not a random process.
If you’ve ever designed or conducted a professional digital marketing campaign this is neither arrogant, misplaced nor breaking news.
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