Last month, a coalition of eight civil and human rights organizations drafted an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook regarding the company’s decision to delay the release of the new App Tracking Transparency feature in iOS 14.
Apple has now responded to this letter repliedIn the letter, sent to Ranking Digital Rights, Jane Horvath, Apple's senior director of global privacy, reiterated that the company believes "privacy is a fundamental human right." Horvath explains that Apple delayed the App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature to give developers more time to prepare for the changes. The letter also confirms that the App Tracking Transparency feature, which will allow users to opt out of tracking between different apps, will be rolled out next year. Once it goes into effect, developers will also have to ask for permission before tracking a user across apps or websites. The letter states:
Transparency Features: Advertising Respect Privacy
We've delayed the release of ATT until early next year to give developers the time they say they need to properly update their systems and data practices, but we remain fully committed to ATT and our expansive approach to privacy. We built ATT for one reason: because we share your concerns about users being tracked without their consent and about ad networks and data brokers bundling and reselling data.
Horvath also emphasizes that App Tracking Transparency's transparency features do not prevent advertising but rather encourage advertising that respects privacy:
Advertising that respects privacy is not only possible, it was the standard until the growth of the Internet. Some companies that would prefer that ATT never be implemented have said that this policy places a unique burden on small businesses by limiting advertising options, but in reality, the current data arms race primarily benefits large companies with large data sets. Privacy-focused ad networks were the universal standard in advertising before the practice of unfettered data collection began in the last decade or so. We hope that increasing user demands for privacy and security, and changes like ATT, will make these privacy-preserving advertising standards robust again.
Apple: Facebook collects “as much data as possible”
Horvath also sharply criticizes Facebook: The social network has “made it clear” that it intends to collect “as much data as possible” about its users:
In contrast, Facebook and others have a very different approach to audience targeting. They not only allow users to be grouped into smaller segments, but also use detailed data about online browsing activity to target advertising. Facebook executives have made it clear that they intend to collect as much data as possible across both first-party and third-party products to develop and monetize detailed profiles of their users, and this disregard for user privacy is expanding to include more and more of their products.
Facebook has previously criticized the app tracking transparency feature, saying it could reduce ad revenue by as much as 40 percent. Facebook has reportedly met with advertising partners to discuss the impact of the change on advertising if users have the option to easily opt out of cross-platform tracking.
iOS 14: Transparency feature can be accessed via settings
Apple emphasized in the letter that advertising that protects users' privacy is possible. For example, Apple gives users the option to turn off ad personalization based on first-party data in the app settings. For users with ad personalization enabled, Apple groups users with similar characteristics, ensuring that a campaign cannot identify a specific user. Once available in 2021, the App Tracking Transparency feature will be accessible by opening the app settings, then looking for the Privacy menu, and then opening the Tracking section. Apple also explained that its new "nutrition labels" for app privacy will be available starting December 8th. required in the App Store will be. AirPods Pro on special offer at Amazon – available now. (Photo by Putilov Denis / Bigstockphoto)
