We have all learned to question our privacy in this day and age of constant online activity, Alexa and Siri always listening, and advertisers spewing ads at us about things we hadn’t even yet realized we wanted. The whole Facebook fiasco over data privacy violation didn’t help our sense of security much, either.
However, Apple seems to be taking a step in the right direction with its next update to give us a little more peace of mind. Apple’s iOS 14.5 (to be released in the very near future) is including a significant and commendable change in its privacy policy. As of the update’s release, all apps will be required to ask for explicit permission before using IDFA (a unique identifier all iPhones and iPads have to allow device tracking) for advertising (or other) purposes.
According to Apple, users will have complete control over who is able to track their activity and data. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee we’ll always have full use of an app before consenting to data collection, but it does provide a significantly better sense of security.
Twitter CEO Ned Segal voiced his approval for the coming update as well yesterday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, claiming it will provide a more even playing field between social media companies. Segal acknowledged Twitter has not been as streamlined in leveraging its use of users’ data as other platforms (e.g. Facebook and Instagram), putting it at a disadvantage. However, this update will put all media companies back at the same starting point, requiring user permission to begin collecting data which most have been freely gathering left and right until now.
“IDFA in a way is going to level the playing field. We’re in an industry where many were much better than Twitter historically at leveraging all of the data that was available to them, from the device ID to what people were doing on other websites. When we all have the same set of new challenges that we have to face, leveling the playing field will be a really interesting impact on the broader industry.”
Segal promises that Twitter will not begin asking users for access to their devices right away, a restraint which other companies are unlikely to show. Instead, he plans to scope out and “learn from the industry and the broader ecosystem” before making such a move.