What you need to know
- Apple is celebrating Data Privacy Day by hailing its own efforts to give users control of their data.
- It has produced a short informative story to explain how our data is (and isn't) used.
- Apple's next iOS beta update will bring the enforcement of new app Tracking Transparency, meaning uses have to give permission to be tracked.
Apple has lauded its own privacy efforts on this Data Privacy Day and has produced a short story to show how your data is used. The company has also confirmed a new iOS 14 anti-tracking measure will be made a requirement in its next beta update.
In a press release the company stated:
January 28 is Data Privacy Day, a time to raise awareness about the importance of protecting people's personal information online. Apple is commemorating Data Privacy Day by sharing "A Day in the Life of Your Data," an easy-to-understand report illustrating how companies track user data across websites and apps. The report also shares how privacy features across Apple's products give users more transparency and control, empowering people with the tools and knowledge to protect their personal information.
Apple's SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said that "Privacy means peace of mind", and that Apple's goal was to "create technology that keeps people's information safe and protected."
'A Day in the Life of Your Data' is meant to help users better understand how third-parties track information across apps and websites, whilst also explaining what Apple is doing to make users more aware of this:
The explainer sheds light on how widespread some of these practices have become. On average, apps include six "trackers" from other companies, which have the sole purpose of collecting and tracking people and their personal information. Data collected by these trackers is pieced together, shared, aggregated, and monetized, fueling an industry valued at $227 billion per year.
Apple highlighted its own new app 'privacy nutrition labels' that show just how much data on a person an app collects. It has also confirmed that a new tracking opt-in measure, 'App Tracking Transparency', will become mandatory with the next iOS beta update, broadly, in early Spring. Apple had delayed the feature to give developers more time to prepare, and whilst some app developers have already started offering the option for users to opt-out of tracking, adoption is not yet widespread.
You can read the full release as well as Apple's 'A Day in the Life of Your Data' now.
