Google is Making it Harder for Android Apps To Track You Once You've Opted Out (theverge.com) 16
It's going to get harder for Android apps to track users who've opted out of receiving personalized ads, the Financial Times reports, after Google announced changes to how it'll handle the unique device identifiers that allow marketers to track them between apps. From a report: Starting later this year, Google is cutting off access to these "Advertising IDs" after a user opts out, and will show developers a "string of zeros" in its place. The news was announced in an email to Play Store developers, and Google has also updated its support page for Advertising IDs with the announcement. Google told developers the changes will "provide users with more control over their data, and help bolster security and privacy," the Financial Times reports. The change comes a few short months after Apple overhauled how advertising IDs work on iOS in an apparent attempt to compete with the new policy.
Hard != Impossible (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
The basic business paradigm of software development is to find a problem that is hard to solve then create a solution that is easy to replicate.
How about no location tracking? (Score:3)
At this point, if you using anything Google you have no privacy. The move to restrict device-IDs has nothing to do with protecting privacy and everything to do with Google inserting itself as a mandatory middle man.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:How about no location tracking? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes you can.
The confusion arises because there is a difference between GPS being on and an app having access to it.
Location can be inferred not just from GPS, but from things like nearby wifi APs or the cellular mast you are connected to and the signal strength. So having a GPS toggle was never very useful for privacy, it was really there to manage power on older versions of the OS. Now that power management is very good there isn't really a need for it anymore.
Location data is managed through app permissions instead. If an app doesn't have permission to use location data then even if the GPS is enabled it can't use it. Also the GPS being enabled doesn't mean it is powered on and working, it just means it is available for use when required.
This confusion is one of the reasons why Google got sued over it, and one of the reasons why they changed the way it works in Android 11.
Re: How about no location tracking? (Score:2)
Huh? Every app that tracks your location asks you to opt-in first. Google still has it, but this story isn't about restricting Google's tracking.
sort of like this (Score:2)
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There Shall Be Only One... (Score:4, Insightful)
I am The Google thy tracker, who brought thee out of the land of iPhone, out of the house of its bondage. Thou shalt have no other trackers before Me.
Hello! Would you mind... (Score:3)
So opt out = anonymize. (Score:5, Insightful)
That doesn't sound like opt-out to me. How about when we say, "Don't track my shit," you don't track my shit?
Re: So opt out = anonymize. (Score:2)
If an app has access to the network, you can't stop it from tracking users. Anonymizing the data is as good as you can do.
You used to be able to restrict apps from accessing the network. Oh, simpler times...
Odd phrasing (Score:4, Insightful)
> The change comes a few short months after Apple overhauled how advertising IDs work on iOS in an apparent attempt to compete with the new policy.
So.. Apple already implemented this.. to try and keep up with Google? Who still have to implement it?
No, Google Wants to Track Me Every Map Use (Score:2)
How is this supposed to work?! (Score:2)
Their whole business model is based on tracking you. Is this just for third party apps?
Except when the app belongs to a BFF biz partner (Score:2)