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Originally Posted by HarryT
I have to ask - who cares?
If I really must see ads, I would at least like them to be ads which target my interests.
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The issue isn't about ads, it's about creating a device id that can track everything you ever do with your phone, and about creating a new one after Apple had nuked the previous one to try to protect customer privacy. From the article:
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"It's emblematic of a culture problem in Silicon Valley that sees a privacy control as not a customer protection, but a technical barrier to be overcome," Mr. Mayer said. "The response wasn't, 'They don't want us to track users between apps.' It's, 'They got rid of one user ID number so let's make another magic ID number.' It's like upside down land."
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With that id in place you can't clear cookies, it doesn't matter whether you use Adblock, unless you know the IP of every server data is ever being sent to then a hosts file won't do you any good. If you turn on the phone, they know what you're doing.
If you use Twitter then that app takes all your phonebook numbers and contact details (as do others probably), if you use email then they know all your email addresses, if you use online banking then they know where you bank, if you have GPS on the phone they know where you go. All this can easily be concatenated with matching data from your PC. Now they probably know who is your family, what friends you have, where you work, every website you have ever visited, maybe what car you drive, where you're going on holiday, what books you read - all in one big database. With six degrees of separation they can build an interlocking set of relationships and data for just about anyone and everyone in the country.
The KGB would drool over having the personal data that is collectable now. "If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer;
you'
re the product being sold."