Apple loves privacy and so does its CEO Tim Cook- news that many of us have become familiar with in the recent past. But what if we told you that not everyone thinks that’s fair because the company is being accused of making policies that it expects to work around while failing to abide by them itself.
The notion ‘practice what you preach’ definitely comes into play here because we are seeing a tech firm that is claiming how much it cares about users and how privacy is their fundamental right. However, when it comes down to their own system and working, they just might be exempted.
The investigation is about the app tracking transparency that was initially begun against Apple because the tech giant feels third-party applications need to ask for permission before they can begin tracking users’ data. Ok, fair enough. That’s a good enough and logical reasoning we believe.
But why the firm does not do the same with its own applications is the biggest concern of many people.
Interestingly, we are seeing the investigation launch in Germany and that is definitely surprising for so many of us. Remember, the German nation is one that carries a strong opinion on collecting users’ data without taking their permission.
Clearly, the nation is right now happy with the amount of privacy being handed out thanks to the ATT, it may not be too fond of Apple for showing exemption of its own policies.
For those that might not be aware, Apple’s app tracking starts with the firm assigning a specific identifier to smartphones that shows little to no details about the user. However, it does show that a certain device did visit a certain page or saw a specific ad.
Apple’s ATT forces web developers to take consent from users if they wish to be tracked or not. In case someone says no, apps can’t use that particular system.
Now, this new investigation has been initiated by the German watchdog Bundeskartellamt which claims to see if Apple is giving others a competitive disadvantage while providing its own apps with competitive advantages.
Apple’s native apps do not display any ads but the app store does do it by highlighting those that are paying for the added benefit. But the German watchdog claims Apple is actually able to get more general information from users without taking their consent.
How true this is, well only time can tell so we’ll just wait patiently until the findings of the study are revealed.
Read next: Telegram’s Founder Calls Out Apple For Limiting Web Developers By Purposefully Restricting App Features Across iOS
The notion ‘practice what you preach’ definitely comes into play here because we are seeing a tech firm that is claiming how much it cares about users and how privacy is their fundamental right. However, when it comes down to their own system and working, they just might be exempted.
The investigation is about the app tracking transparency that was initially begun against Apple because the tech giant feels third-party applications need to ask for permission before they can begin tracking users’ data. Ok, fair enough. That’s a good enough and logical reasoning we believe.
But why the firm does not do the same with its own applications is the biggest concern of many people.
Interestingly, we are seeing the investigation launch in Germany and that is definitely surprising for so many of us. Remember, the German nation is one that carries a strong opinion on collecting users’ data without taking their permission.
Clearly, the nation is right now happy with the amount of privacy being handed out thanks to the ATT, it may not be too fond of Apple for showing exemption of its own policies.
For those that might not be aware, Apple’s app tracking starts with the firm assigning a specific identifier to smartphones that shows little to no details about the user. However, it does show that a certain device did visit a certain page or saw a specific ad.
Apple’s ATT forces web developers to take consent from users if they wish to be tracked or not. In case someone says no, apps can’t use that particular system.
Now, this new investigation has been initiated by the German watchdog Bundeskartellamt which claims to see if Apple is giving others a competitive disadvantage while providing its own apps with competitive advantages.
Apple’s native apps do not display any ads but the app store does do it by highlighting those that are paying for the added benefit. But the German watchdog claims Apple is actually able to get more general information from users without taking their consent.
How true this is, well only time can tell so we’ll just wait patiently until the findings of the study are revealed.
Read next: Telegram’s Founder Calls Out Apple For Limiting Web Developers By Purposefully Restricting App Features Across iOS