On Thursday, Apple announced that it will go ahead with improvements to mobile apps that curb targeted advertisement tracking—a development that has sparked protests from Facebook and others.
The iPhone manufacturer said it was going forward with changes to its smartphone operating system to provide consumers with more information and power over Apple smartphone monitoring software.
The updates to allow online marketers time to change were postponed by Apple earlier this year.
Yet Apple said it wanted to move forward next year in a letter to the nonprofit organisation Rating Digital Rights, “because we share your concerns about users being tracked without their consent and the bundling and reselling of data by advertising networks and data brokers.”
Apple Privacy Chief Jane Horvath’s letter noted that Apple plans to accept web advertisements but without “unfettered data collection” and noted a rift with Facebook that expressed reservations over the new policies.
Horvath said in the letter, checked by AFP, “Facebook and others have a very different approach to targeting,”
Not only do they allow consumers to be clustered into smaller segments, they use comprehensive web browsing experience data to target advertisers.
“Facebook executives have made clear their intent is to collect as much data as possible across both first and third party products to develop and monetize detailed profiles of their users, and this disregard for user privacy continues to expand to include more of their products.”
Facebook said earlier this year that Apple’s switch to smartphone apps would “hurt many of our developers and publishers at an already difficult time for businesses.”
