LONDON (AP) — Apple is stepping up privacy for app users, forcing developers to be more transparent about data collection and warning they could be removed if they don’t comply with a new anti-tracking measure, a company executive and regulators said Tuesday.
The U.S. tech giant said it’s set to roll out the anti-tracking feature next year and warned it could kick apps off its widely used App Store if they don’t obey its requirements.
Called App Tracking Transparency, it will require apps to clearly ask for users’ permission before tracking them. It was due to be launched this year but was delayed to allow developers more time to make changes.
“Its aim is to empower our users to decide when or if they want to allow an app to track them in a way that could be shared across other companies’ apps or websites,” Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi said.
“Developers who fail to meet the standard can have their apps taken down from the app store,” Federighi said in an online keynote speech to the European Data Protection and Privacy Conference.
Privacy campaigners say the move is a vital step that could strengthen respect for privacy but tech rivals like Facebook that make money from digital advertising that tracks users have pushed back against the measure.
Federighi said tech users should be empowered to have more control of their data and dismissed arguments from advertisers and tech companies who say the anti-tracking feature will hurt the online ad industry.
“When invasive tracking is your business model, you tend not to welcome transparency and customer choice.”
Apple is itself the subject of complaints by European privacy activists who say the company uses software that tracks the behavior of iPhone users. Vienna-based group NOYB, founded by lawyer and activist Max Schrems, last month asked data protection authorities in Germany and Spain to examine the legality of unique codes that they say amount to tracking without users’ knowledge or consent, a practice banned under strict European Union privacy rules.
In a separate policy update, apps in the App Store will soon start giving users more details about the personal data they use, Britain’s competition watchdog said.
Each app’s listing will highlight key information about the data collected and a summary of its privacy policy. The changes, which were announced earlier this year, will take effect shortly for users worldwide, though a specific date wasn’t given.
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority said it worked with counterparts in the Netherlands and Norway to push for the changes, based on concern users were not being told clearly whether their data was being shared with third parties.
For all of AP’s tech coverage, visit https://apnews.com/apf-technology
Follow Kelvin Chan at https://www.twitter.com/chanman
Regulators authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for use in adults throughout the European Union on Friday, amid criticism the bloc is not moving fast enough to vaccinate its population.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer was sentenced to probation for altering an email that the Justice Department relied on during its surveillance of an aide to President Donald Trump during the Russia investigation.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers lashed out Friday at rival Republicans who tried to repeal his statewide mask mandate, saying killing the order would be a ridiculous move comparable to abolishing speed limits.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — As some conservatives in South Carolina celebrated getting a bill that would ban almost all abortions in the state past a legislative barrier and likely becoming law, they said they are not finished trying to end all abortions.
A Moscow court on Friday put the brother and several allies of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny under house arrest for two months as authorities sought to stymie more protests over the jailing of the top Kremlin foe.