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Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, today launched a petition urging Apple to reset the unique IDs used to serve interest-based ads in the App Store and Apple News apps on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Apple TV on a monthly basis.

mozilla-privacy-iphone-800x512.jpg

Mozilla takes aim at Apple's recent iPhone privacy ad in a blog post:
Apple's latest marketing campaign -- "Privacy. That's iPhone" -- made us raise our eyebrows.

It's true that Apple has an impressive track record of protecting users' privacy, from end-to-end encryption on iMessage to anti-tracking in Safari.

But a key feature in iPhones has us worried, and makes their latest slogan ring a bit hollow.

Each iPhone that Apple sells comes with a unique ID (called an "identifier for advertisers" or IDFA), which lets advertisers track the actions users take when they use apps. It's like a salesperson following you from store to store while you shop and recording each thing you look at. Not very private at all.
These identifiers can already be manually reset under Settings > Privacy > Advertising on iOS devices and under Settings > General > Privacy on Apple TV, but Mozilla is asking for "a real cap" with an automatic monthly reset to make it "harder for companies to build a profile about you over time."

interest-based-ad-identifiers.jpg

"If Apple makes this change, it won't just improve the privacy of iPhones -- it will send Silicon Valley the message that users want companies to safeguard their privacy by default," wrote Ashley Boyd, Mozilla's VP of Advocacy.

Interest-based ads in the App Store and Apple News app are based on information such as your App Store search history and Apple News reading history. Apple makes it easy to opt out, but Mozilla argues that "most people don't know that feature even exists, let alone that they should turn it off."

We'll provide an update if Apple responds.

Article Link: Mozilla Launches Petition Urging Apple to Reset Interest-Based Ad Identifiers on Monthly Basis
 
Being tracked doesn't bother me a whit. I like getting targeted advertising. Sorry to tell you guys worried about privacy -- but it's a losing cause that you will inevitably lose. Get used to the new reality.
 
Heck all Apple would have to do is enable shortcuts for settings like this and I could ask siri to do it for me on demand or even better yet, allow us to set up shortcuts based on time intervals.
 
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Some people do like getting ads based on their interests. Manually reseting is available to them whenever they feel like reseting it.
Secure enough for me. Implementing a scheduled reset should be an optional setting. Not a bad idea after all.
 
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How are companies supposed to survive without advertising when consumers want everything for free?

I am aware of some companies that do not advertise or sell your day and offer a free and paid product. The free versions are very limited in use, however do not compromise the core function of the product or service. The hope is that the free users will upgrade for more functionality when their requirements necessitate. To some degree it is not impossible to acknowledge that some paid users are subsidizing the free accounts.

I am in both camps depending on the product or service, I give and take :D
 
Its funny to me how many people don't understand that a lot of the "Free" stuff they get is because they are being advertised to. Everyone is going to be in a for a tough day when things paid for by advertising go away.

If the ad's are less effective... then the companies can't charge as much for them.

People don't want to pay for Google, or Gmail, or Facebook, or news, or a million other things.

People don't want to be advertised to....

People don't want to pay...

People don't want to be advertised to...

People don't want to pay...

It's a vicious circle. Glad I don't work at these places to have to figure it out.
 
I am aware of some companies that do not advertise or sell your day and offer a free and paid product. The free versions are very limited in use, however do not compromise the core function of the product or service. The hope is that the free users will upgrade for more functionality when their requirements necessitate. To some degree it is not impossible to acknowledge that some paid users are subsidizing the free accounts.

I am in both camps depending on the product or service, I give and take :D
I wonder how Facebook and Instagram and survive if you had to pay a monthly or annual fee to use them. Same for google.com. People complain about advertising but it’s advertising that pays the bills when people want something for nothing.
 
I wonder how Facebook and Instagram and survive if you had to pay a monthly or annual fee to use them. Same for google.com. People complain about advertising but it’s advertising that pays the bills when people want something for nothing.
This is the problem. Way too many people want something for nothing, or everything for nothing. And they've been given this mindset by larger organizations telling them its OK to think that way.
 
I wonder how Facebook and Instagram and survive if you had to pay a monthly or annual fee to use them. Same for google.com. People complain about advertising but it’s advertising that pays the bills when people want something for nothing.

Yep. You can either buy the product or be the product.
 
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I didn't know Big Marketing had an account here. Welcome!
I think some limits and controls are perfectly fine, but I also think this has gotten completely out of hand. There is nothing wrong with advertising, and the more people fight it for some vague indescribable sense of "privacy" the more you're just going to marginalize companies trying to bring you products and services.

If you're so worried about privacy, stop giving your information to companies with proven track records of selling you out.
 
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How are companies supposed to survive without advertising when consumers want everything for free?

First off, we would still SEE the ads. That's how they 'survive': We see their ads, we maybe buy from them.

The issue is whether after viewing the ads, can they then track us indefinitely. I'm glad this story popped up because frankly I was completely unaware until now that I could reset my advertising identifier on my own. So thank you Mozilla!
 
How are companies supposed to survive without advertising when consumers want everything for free?
"Free" is a sales/mind control technique, and has been used for years. The reason consumers want everything free is because companies have tried hard to convince everyone that their products are free.
 
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I don’t know what this stuff really means or how it works, but how does this benefit Mozilla? What are they gaining?
 
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Being tracked doesn't bother me a whit. I like getting targeted advertising. Sorry to tell you guys worried about privacy -- but it's a losing cause that you will inevitably lose. Get used to the new reality.

Can you send me your location please? I would like to advertise you some new products at your door. Hopefully you get used to that as well.
 
If you're so worried about privacy, stop giving your information to companies with proven track records of selling you out.

Ie. all cash purchases and basically no using the internet. No credit cards, no credit or loans (credit report info and habits is sold), no store cards, loyatly cards. Dont watch TV either because your provider sees the channels you are watching.

Basically go back to living in 1940 pre-TV and technology. Somehow figure out how to pay all of your bills cash and store your cash.

Its not realistic though except for the extreme tinfoil hat wearers "off the grid" people that do exist.
 
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