iOS 14.5 and the Apple turning point on privacy (which Facebook does not like): now you can choose whether to be traced by the apps

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Apple's decision to allow users not to be monitored by the apps and not to allow them to share their information with third parties has already irritated Facebook, but not only

by Michela Rovelli

Waiting for the next iPhone operating system - whose first details we will probably discover during the Worldwide Developer Conference in June - Apple released an iOS 14 update.5 which brings with it several news.There are new emojis and a more accurate voice than Siri.During the Pandemia period it now becomes easier to unlock the smartphone - the face ID does not definitely agree with the masks that we bring for most of the day - at least for those who have an Apple Watch associated with the iPhone.But the potentially revolutionary functionality is another.His name is App Tracking Transparency and it is the response to the promises that Apple has been to his users for some time to give greater protection to their privacy.

Come funziona l’App Tracking Transparency

The Transparency Tracking App in practice gives a choice.It allows you to be more active in the protection of our privacy - if we want - and consequently it should make even more aware.For awareness, in reality, Apple has already provided a tool for a few months.That is a label, associated with each app that we have downloaded or we intend to download, which explains in detail what data that software collects about us (here all the details).Now it is also possible to apply that knowledge acquired in the way you prefer.It can therefore be decided to continue to be traced - therefore continue to provide the apps with information on us and our behaviors, used more than anything else for advertising profiling by the same company or by third parties - or not.It will be the same iPhone, just after downloading the app, to ask us what we want to do in a pop-up on the screen.How can Apple, on a technical level, ensure that the apps cannot trace us?If you select "Ask the app not to trace me", the developer will not be able to access the so -called IDFA, or the identify for advertisers.It is an identifier, a numerical code in short, which is assigned by Apple to each device.Without that, it will be impossible to trace our online movements and behaviors.There is also a more "legal" control, which also covers other potential paths for tracking.Apple policies will request from now on to respect the user's will and if it were not, the application will be eliminated by the App Store.

La rivoluzione sta nel chiedere

The novelty was welcomed by a large part of the associations that deal with privacy protection.As the New York Times explains, the doubt about the actual effectiveness in definitively blocking the tracking of users remains.There are other ways to follow people's behavior, such as what is called "fingerprinting".Thanks to the characteristics of the device, from the screen resolution to the model, some Tech companies are able to determine our identity and therefore follow us in our activities.And as well as this solution, there are many others and others will be designed by the developers.Having said that, the real revolution of the Transparency App Tracking is not in the total blocking of the tracking of the apps but in the direct and open request of a consent, by the user, to do it.

Le reazioni: Facebook sul piede di guerra

There are several reactions of those companies that base their business on data tracking.If on the one hand Google - direct competitor with regard to Apple's mobile operating systems - has decided to support Apple and remove the tracking solutions that exploit the IDFA from its apps for iOS, on the other there is clear oppositionFacebook and more.At the official launch of the functionality, for example, in Germany a group of technological and advertising companies was mobilized by resorting to the antitrust for the future loss of advertising revenues.The data collection is in fact one of the most flourishing industries in the Tech world, which produces around $ 227 billion in revenues per year: the information on us, our online behaviors, every single click (or tap) on the screen is recorded bothWhen we are on the app it is subsequently.In each app, 6 trackers are inserted on average.The trackers are those tools that allow this slow monitoring of each of our action to third parties.While we are using the app (or the site) and even when we came out.They follow us, like small spiers, and continue to observe us.To understand our interests and therefore categorize us to the best for the provision of advertising.And it is so for example that the economic model on which the main social networks are based, primarily Facebook are based.Who has long opposed Apple on his choices designed for privacy, which Zuckerberg has called "profit -based legislation".His position also ended up on a page of some American newspapers in December - including New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal - where he explained how these features will damage the world of online advertising.Without more possibilities to trace users, it will not be possible to target them and therefore we go to dismantle that model on which they are based - says Zuckerberg - many small activities.With a decrease in revenues up to 60 percent.According to the company, "personalized ads and user privacy can coexist".But apart from this, Facebook accuses more generally Apple of anti-compliant behavior.With the monopoly on the world of apps in the iOS ecosystem thanks to its App Store, it can afford to revolutionize its operation as and when she wants.And in this case, his moves are dangerously damaging the business of the most important social network in the world.

C’è davvero un vantaggio per Apple?

Another doubt about the actual motivation behind the Apple turning point for the care of the privacy of its users raises the Wall Street Journal.According to representatives of the online advertising industry asked by the newspaper, the new restrictions on data tracking would lead the advertisers to prefer the advertising spaces provided by Apple rather than those purchased through third companies.This for the advantages that - from today on - Apple can offer.If the user chooses not to be traced, explain sources who have worked on the new function, advertisers who buy spaces from third platforms will have to wait three days to have details on their advertisements.Not only that: they will only receive aggregate data, such as the total number of users who have clicked on the banner.Instead, those who choose to agree directly with Apple would receive more information on user behavior.And above all they would receive them immediately.A spokesman for Cupertino denies the possible advantage acquired with the Transparency App Tracing.We are talking about a market that is at the moment for Apple is very contained.These are advertisements that appear mainly on the App Store and that are inserted by the app developers to make their software appear among the first results.According to the Wall Street Journal, however, it is a market that could grow by two billion dollars in the next tax year.

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