Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 12th Oct 2012 11:35 UTC
Surprise, surprise - Apple, by default, tracks web browsing behaviour and location to better serve you ads. You have to specifically opt out of this tracking per individual iOS device that you own. Now we know why Apple has no problem with turning on 'Do Not Track' and not accepting tracking cookies by default: it has no effect on them whatsoever, because iOS 6 has its own independent user tracking mechanisms. Unlike what the Apple pundits claim, it's got nothing to do with respect for user privacy at all. Well paint me red and call me a girl scout: company selling ads tracks user behaviour. Shocker, huh?
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RE: I've come around ..or maybe through
by flypig on Fri 12th Oct 2012 14:46
in reply to "I've come around ..or maybe through"
Member since:2005-07-13
Otherwise, if you don't want them tracking, and don't donate, don't use their websites/products. Flash CM10 already, be part of an underground; run your own web-filter-proxy.. something even I do.
I agree that if people find this unsavoury (and in my view they should) then they should do something proactive about it.
Unfortunately one of the reasons that this bugs me so much is that it's a trend that leads to inevitability. Tracking becomes ubiquitous across all devices. Companies apply their best efforts to prevent you installing anything they don't like on your hardware. Governments get unchecked access to this data.
The best way to avoid the abuses of power that will result are to prevent the data being collected in the first place, in my opinion. But it's impossible to tackle this as an individual.
RE[2]: I've come around ..or maybe through
by zima on Wed 17th Oct 2012 01:58
in reply to "RE: I've come around ..or maybe through"
Member since:2005-07-06
Though it probably is inevitable - in 50, or 200, or 500 years, with smart smart dust everywhere around, people(?) might be debating how per-cell monitoring of biological processes might be going too far...
Thing is, for many people now the smart dust alone would be quite scary and/or seen as an unimaginable invasion of privacy - even if also giving some nice perks. And I suppose, in the not-so-distant past, quite a few people felt unease if many others knew their "address" & were able to reach them easily.
So, it very well might be inevitable; part of civilisation ...your place has apparently ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCTV ) the highest number of cameras per capita - which seem to be moderately accepted, as are traffic cameras, or in particular the UK "total" number plate tracking system.
(BTW, I love the name of the main(?) Chinese TV station; together with many/most laptops having a built-in webcam, and Skype cameras being available for TVs, it brings a dream of one notable author from your Isles that much closer...)
Edited 2012-10-17 02:05 UTC
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
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Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.More Features »
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2009-11-05
So we all hate ads; sure. I get that. And everyone loves a good privacy debate.
But what about this bugs us? What part of the fact that "they" are "tracking" "us"? What if it was your own software, would you be ok with it "tracking" you? What if your tracking-history was able to be monitored & edited (more like https://history.google.com)?
For all the fuss put up about this, I wonder if a little bit of control was placed back in (editing histories & downloadable data), this could get reasonable.
The trouble with editing/downloading however, what about the "tracking me" part of it? Plenty of websites "track" without user-differentiation; if I were able to view their tracking history of my IP or my browser-settings, it would then show me other people's histories on my rotating-IP..
Sadly, the ad-industry is tied to commerce generally. There's little structurally that can be done, short of attempting to reinforce top-down user-respectful methods like donation/investment. But the history of business is the history of one man getting around another, finding an open loophole in a plan and exploiting it. And ultimately, putting ads in our faces exist because business owners (ad-firm clients) think they should.
Otherwise, if you don't want them tracking, and don't donate, don't use their websites/products. Flash CM10 already, be part of an underground; run your own web-filter-proxy.. something even I do.