Tim Cook Responds to Facebook Criticism of iOS App Tracking Transparency Changes, Says It's 'Hard To Argue Against' Privacy

[LeadingHeat]

“It's possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple's changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms.” -Mark Zuckerberg

still one of the most confusing quotes this alien has ever spoken to us humans.

 

[2010mini]

Tim Cook realises that (the illusion of) privacy is a commodity, which he is willing to sell to the public. Facebook encroaches on his sales pitch. (FWIW I don't have facebook because they are a terrible company, so I don't care either way)

Tim Cook was shocked, shocked I tell you, about privacy breaches...

https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/25/lisa-jackson-podesta-email/
"Jackson writes that Apple is constantly giving government “information about Apple customers and devices.” While it’s easy to jump to conclusions with that statement, the next sentence is important as Jackson explains that the information is given in response to warrants and other legal requests."

What’s interesting to note here is that Jackson’s tone in the email is far different than the tone Apple takes publicly. Generally, in public, Apple tends to play the “good guy” and downplay its response to government requests for information. Jackson, however, almost seems to boast of its “thousands” of responses to government aid and various ways encryption doesn’t help Apple users hide information.

Jackson has served on the board of directors of the Clinton Foundation since 2013.

Note: this is not political, but within the context of privacy to show that Apple can be duplicious by stating one thing about privacy publicly and doing another thing privately - and that they do so by being friendly with administrations.

Apple clearly wants to make an ad ecosystem - with the app store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple Fitness, Apple Health (hello Pharma tie-ins!) - at a certain point they will be in all the markets that have revenue potential. That will not be a good thing.
This is sold as "privacy", but it's a convenient sell for Apple.

your post makes it sounds as if Apple have never publicly stated they comply with all legal government requests. Their pushback has always been access to physical devices without the owner’s consent.

 

[hans1972]

I agree about Facebook but Apple won't ban it, but they banned Parler for being free speech site.

Apple banned Parler because Parler ratted on its users 50 times and notified the FBI. It is against the rules if you are a free speech app.

 

[Naraxus]

You are preaching to the choir here.

The one thing that can unite both Apple fans and haters is our common contempt for Facebook, and a singular desire to see it burn.

As much as we may disagree Abazigal, you are sooooo on the money here. Facebook can burn

 

[nvmls]

Says the CEO of a company which literally recorded people’s conversations without their knowledge and sent them to third party contractors! Kudos to focus on privacy but for the love of god start practicing what you preach.

Right.. and you practice your preach commenting on an Apple centric forum. Seems legit.

 

[I7guy]

Says the CEO of a company which literally recorded people’s conversations without their knowledge and sent them to third party contractors! Kudos to focus on privacy but for the love of god start practicing what you preach.

You saying there was no verbiage in the TOS at all? ( there was)

 

[laptech]

If Facebook want to go after Apple then they are asking the wrong questions. The question that tech journalists and Facebook should be putting to Apple is if Apple is so concerned about it's users privacy then why did they build ios tracking software in the first place?

Does is not seem odd to people that Apple is strongly waving the 'we're all about privacy banner' in the faces of Facebook and yet it was Apple that built the system that allowed not only itself to track it's users but allowed other companies to track it's users also.

You can't get into bed with the devil and then claim foul when you don't like what is being done.

 

[Maconplasma]

Could he at least have worn a fancy tie or something? That suit makes him look like a guy at the bank wanting a loan.

And that guy with the "boring tie" perhaps has more money in his wallet than you have in your lifetime savings.

 

[britboyj]

A lot of the criticism from the advertising and UA side isn't about the privacy aspect, it's about how Apple's solutions for attribution are so woefully inadequate.

• SKAdNetwork doesn't give developers any real information to optimize their campaigns, because they can no longer accurately track cohort entry points, even anonymously. The limits to conversion values and campaign IDs also means you're going to see a lot less "high quality" ads because optimization went from 75mph to 15.
• There was no view-through attribution until very recently (and most networks still can't get it to work, and Apple doesn't respond to emails) which means fraudulent device farms in South and Southeast Asia can basically eat up ad spend by legitimate advertisers, even ones that support Apple's privacy goals (many do).
• Lack of source IDs up to 50% of SKAN traffic due to Apple's own screwed-up documentation and timer restrictions means again, there a much, much wider avenue for outright click fraud.

 

[I7guy]

If Facebook want to go after Apple then they are asking the wrong questions. The question that tech journalists and Facebook should be putting to Apple is if Apple is so concerned about it's users privacy then why did they build ios tracking software in the first place?

Does is not seem odd to people that Apple is strongly waving the 'we're all about privacy banner' in the faces of Facebook and yet it was Apple that built the system that allowed not only itself to track it's users but allowed other companies to track it's users also.

You can't get into bed with the devil and then claim foul when you don't like what is being done.

What tracking software other than “find my”?

 

[theotherphil]

Facebook is going about this whole situation the wrong way. Instead of fighting these privacy changes, their PR machines should be in full gear to explain to consumers the benefit they get. Facebook and Google both offer extensive products and services to consumers at no monetary cost, they monetize user data instead and hope you buy something from a targeted ad. Their current approach makes it look like they’re hiding something whereas a smarter approach would be to say “Look at everything we give you at no outward cost in exchange for the data we collect” and let consumers decide whether the services offered are worth the privacy trade offs involved. If consumers aren’t comfortable with FB/Google’s business practices then those companies should make an effort to understand their customers’ concerns and either be more transparent about their practices or change them, not attack the companies trying to offer consumers a choice.

The exact problem is in order to use their services, you have no option than to give up your user data and privacy.


There could be a 3 tier system:

1) Free but they sell your data.

2) Pay a subscription to access their service but your data is private.

3) A lower subscription but any monetisation of user data and the user receives a commission.


They say user data is extremely valuable….it’s time the user started seeing some commission from this.


I’d be willing to pay a subscription and have my data remain private.

 

[theotherphil]

What tracking software other than “find my”?

I think Laptech was referring to Apple’s original “invention” of the IDFA to track users, rather than FindMy etc. They provided IDFA to allow tracking.

I get what Laptech is saying, but this change is purely to gain explicit user consent to use this IDFA. It doesn’t stop companies from tracking users where consent is given.

 

[stylinexpat]

I fully support and back Tim on this one. Apple and the users should be able to decide if they want tracking or not and not Facebook

 

[I7guy]

I think Laptech was referring to Apple’s “invention” of the IDFA to track users, rather than FindMy etc.

Ah, which can be opted out of or not, if one wants to be tracked or not.

 

[theotherphil]

Ah, which can be opted out of or not, if one wants to be tracked or not.

Correct, sorry, I was mid edit of my original post when you quoted it.

 

[deevey]

For those of you who are UN-aware, the NON-Game portion of the App Store is catastrophically broken !

Either Cook & Schiller couldn't fix it, OR simply didn't want to fix it (because they know 90%+ of the App Store's revenue is Game App-related, & that they've already driven most Adults from the App Store).

Apple's Mgmt is (clearly) obsessed with Game Apps & promoting Apple Arcade.

Yet, they have both a Duty & a Responsibility to promote & recommend the Best Apps, NOT just the Game Apps that are in Apple's best interest !

As such, it's time for the NON-Game portion of the App Store to be spun-off as a Public Utility, taking a fixed 1% commission !

Can you provide examples where there is a clear bias ? What are these non-game apps you talk of that are "the best" and cannot be found ?

I have never had any problems finding "grown-up" apps on the store as needed.

 

[Greenmeenie]

I quit FB years ago so I don’t care about them. But i am glad Apple is adding this feature. Give people the choice of wether they want to be tracked. You can’t argue with that. If some people like it, they can keep it on. But for those of us who don’t want companies targeting us by watching our every move, we can opt out. I like that.

 

[bb9]

Can’t wait to install 14.5 👍👍

 

[Hammerd]

Oh oh I can’t wait to click on "Ask App not to track" frenetically

 

[Admiral]

Facebook ads have NEVER been effective at anything other than creating revenue for Facebook. I've been sucked into FB ads before, and tried a few times. Not once have I said to myself "I'm glad I paid for FB advertising - that ad was really effective and I now have more business because of it"

I haven't used Facebook ads, but I was impressed by the targeting possibility. Is there a social media advertising channel that is effective? Is LinkedIn effective? Google Ads still work?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Maybe we be more sympathetic if Facebook actually respected and protected user data, but they don't.

Facebook’s Data Breaches – A Timeline​

Add another one to the timeline. Facebook the gift that keeps stealing your data and giving out, over and over and over again. Priceless. Last time Facebook had to pay $5B in penalties. For each breach, that should triple or even quadruple. Facebook is the Ponzi schema of the computer world.

Over 500M Facebook account records leaked on hacking forum | AppleInsider

A major cache of personal data for more than 500 million Facebook users has been published on hacking forums, in one of the biggest lapses of data protection for the social network so far.

appleinsider.com

 

[UltimaKilo]

Is the Zuck unhappy he can't collect more data? Poor guy. Facebook is on the decline.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Who cares about Facebook.

Unfortunately, over 500M people do.

 

[frenchcamp49er]

Same guy the supports China but not America.

 

[Coconut Bean]

I haven't used Facebook ads, but I was impressed by the targeting possibility. Is there a social media advertising channel that is effective? Is LinkedIn effective? Google Ads still work?

No, they are not as effective, and as someone who have done advertising for a small business, we were able to spend peanuts in order to get out to the few dozen possible interested customers.

It's a win-win tbh, even for the ones not interested in whatever we offered as most never got the ad (due to the very precise targeting).

Facebook's advantage is the myriads of communities and how people can be targeted by those. Want to sell a pottery class in Santa Clara? Filter on people who like crafts and arts, live nearby. Potentially add demographic targeting as well. It will show you the size of your target group.

Linkedin is too work specific, Instagram is too focused on consumer products and requires a picture as a format to communicate, this requires a lot of work to have a proper community. Google is jack of all trades but master of none.