Adweek’s Andrew Blustein joins Charlotte Henry to look at the dramatic impact the introduction of Ad Tracking Transparency (ATT) by Apple could have on the advertising industry.
‘The New Oil’ Website is a Resource for Privacy
The creator of The New Oil shared his website that gives people resources on privacy. But it’s not just a list of private tools to use. Instead the goal is to give people context and explain concepts like data breaches, why strong passwords matter, encryption, and more.
Most of us are not strangers to the concept of surveillance capitalism and targeted advertising. Most of us don’t particularly care, either. After all, who wouldn’t want relevant ads for movies or products that might actually appeal to you or improve your life? The thing is, most of us don’t understand the aggressive measures these companies go to to create those marketing profiles, or the devastating effects they can have on people.
Behind ‘UID2’, a Way for Advertisers to Track Your Email
The EFF wrote a detailed post about UID2, a proposed way to make it easier for advertisers to identify people via their email.
UID2s will be connected to people, not devices. That means an advertiser who collects UID2 from a website can link it to the UID2s it collects through apps, connected TVs, and connected vehicles belonging to the same person. That’s where the “unified” part of UID2 comes in: it’s supposed to make cross-device tracking as easy as cross-site tracking used to be.
But this will also create new incentives for sites, apps, and connected devices to ask users for their email addresses.
All the more reason to use Sign In with Apple wherever possible or disposable email services.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Online Anonymity Version 9
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Online Anonymity is an open source, non-profit guide on how to be anonymous online. It covers multiple platforms like Windows, Linux, macOS, Whonix, TAILS, Qubes, and more. Its creator announced an update to the guide, version 9. This version adds bug fixes, more topics, and its own Tor Mirror. You can find the online guide here, and the PDF guide here. The creator’s post on Reddit includes many variations on these guides.
Chat App ‘Signal’ Beta Tests Crypto Payments With MobileCoin
For Signal users in the United Kingdom, the company is releasing a new feature for beta testing that lets people send payments to each other using the cryptocurrency MobileCoin (MOB).
There’s a palpable difference in the feeling of what it’s like to communicate over Signal, knowing you’re not being watched or listened to, versus other communication platforms. I would like to get to a world where not only can you feel that when you talk to your therapist over Signal, but also when you pay your therapist for the session over Signal.
The limitation is because MobileCoin is listed for purchase on only one exchange, FTX, which doesn’t allow trades from U.S. residents. I’ve never heard of MobileCoin before but I’d say it’s something to keep an eye on.
NSA Wants to Spy on Americans Because Reasons
U.S. government servers have been getting hacked left and right. In response, the NSA wants us to think that approval of domestic spying will solve the problem, despite suffering an egregious hack in 2016 where its zero-day exploits were stolen.
“We truly need to look at the ability for us to see ourselves and right now it’s difficult for us to see ourselves,” Nakasone testified on Thursday to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Adversaries like China and Russia “are operating with increased sophistication, scope [and] scale, including operations that can end “before a warrant can be issued,” he warned.
Google Bravely Blocks Apps From Scanning Your Other Apps
Google announced that it will stop Android apps from scanning the list of your other apps in Android 11. Why this behavior was accepted before is beyond me.
Google has another page that lists allowable use cases for Play Store apps querying your app list, including “device search, antivirus apps, file managers, and browsers.” The page adds that “apps that must discover any and all installed apps on the device, for awareness or interoperability purposes may have eligibility for the permission.”
Time to make a fake antivirus app which queries your list of apps to sell to other companies.
Security Friday: Privacy vs Security, App Tracking Updates – TMO Daily Observations 2021-04-02
Andrew Orr joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss new App Tracking Transparency news, other updates, and the difference between security and privacy.
Snapchat Finds a Workaround for iOS 14 App Tracking Transparency
A report says that Snap Inc has developed a workaround for iOS 14’s App Tracking Transparency feature.
Apple Starts Blocking Apps That Use ‘Adjust SDK’ for Tracking
A new report says that Apple has been rejecting updates for certain apps, and the cause may be the use of an SDK from Adjust.
Document Collaboration That Doesn’t Need the Cloud
Collabio Spaces is an interesting new office suite that allows for document collaboration without needing external servers. Unfortunately it requires a subscription, but could be a useful tool for sensitive documents.
The P2P software lets multiple people co-edit a document locally — from a mobile device or desktop computer — without A) the risk of uploading sensitive information to the cloud (i.e. as you must if you’re using a shared document function of a service like Google Docs); or B) the tedium of emailing a text to multiple recipients and then having to collate and resolve changes manually, once all the contributions trickle back.
Does Android Actually Collect More Data Than iOS Though?
You’ve probably seen headlines like “Android sends 20x more data to Google than iOS sends to Apple.” Is that actually the conclusion, though?
Most Browser Tracking Protection Isn’t Very Effective by Default
DuckDuckGo wrote on Tuesday that most browser tracking protection doesn’t stop tracking by default. There are multiple ways to track people besides third-party cookies, for example.
The issue is that once such trackers are loaded in your browser, they have a ton of ways to track you beyond just third-party cookies (e.g., by another form of cookies called first-party cookies, by your IP address, and much, much more).
Therefore, to really stop a cross-site tracker, the kind that tries to track your activity from site to site, you have to prevent it from actually loading in your browser in the first place.
Of course, the post is a plug for the DuckDuckGo browser extension, but the details behind tracking are good to know.
French Watchdog CNIL Questions Apple’s Compliance With EU Privacy Rules
CNIL, France’s data regulator, is questioning Apple’s compliance with EU privacy rules over personalized advertising.
Security Friday: News and Hardware Keys – TMO Daily Observations 2021-03-19
Andrew Orr joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss the abundance of news and updates this week, and explain what a hardware key is for your accounts.
Starting April 15, TikTok Won’t Let You Opt Out of Personalized Ads
Starting April 15, TikTok will make personalized ads mandatory whether you want them or not.
TikTok says it is “committed” to respecting the privacy of its users, according to a TikTok spokesperson. “We will continue to be transparent about our data privacy practices and help users understand their privacy choices on our Safety Center.”
People will still be able to control whether TikTok personalizes ads based on data pulled from other apps and websites.
Committed to respecting the privacy of its users. Eye roll.
The Ulysses Group Wants to Sell Location Data to US Military
A contractor with the U.S. military called The Ulysses Group wants to start selling vehicle location data to the military.
Ulysses can provide our clients with the ability to remotely geolocate vehicles in nearly every country except for North Korea and Cuba on a near real time basis. Currently, we can access over 15 billion vehicle locations around the world every month.
pCloud Releases Report on Invasive iOS Apps and Facebook Wins
Cloud provider pCloud released a report of the most invasive apps on iOS. No surprise but apps from Facebook are the worst.
Apple’s New Page Shares Privacy Labels for its Apps
Apple recently created a new webpage that lists all of its apps from A to X and shares information on its privacy labels in accordance with iOS 14.
In-Person Events, Ad Tracking Complaints – TMO Daily Observations 2021-03-09
Bryan Chaffin and Andrew Orr join host Kelly Guimont to talk about getting together in person in June, and the latest complaint against Apple for daring to offer user privacy.
