How much does privacy cost? It’s largely been a theoretical question in the debate on surveillance capitalism.
But we now have a number, albeit from a test case involving only Apple.
The Financial Times reports that since Apple introduced controversial privacy settings in April, limiting an advertiser’s ability to track iPhone users and their app activity, social media giants Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have lost about $9.85bn.
In terms of the app tracking transparency (ATT) policy introduced with the iOS14.5 update, iPhone owners can opt out of being tracked by advertisers — and have done so in droves.
Over the years the advertising industry has become more aggressive in tracking and mining personal information.
When Apple first announced these changes last year, Facebook ran full-page adverts in major US newspapers: "We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere," it proclaimed, oblivious to the irony of the world’s biggest social media giant claiming its data-hoarding business model is a survival essential for small businesses.
Clearly Facebook and its advertising agency think this is true. It’s a common boast by big tech firms that they are champions of small businesses, despite the evidence to the contrary.
Apple’s ATT is an important step in the right direction and a demonstration that such moves don’t make the sky fall in, as the social media giants wailed that it would.
ATT is proof that such moves don’t make the sky fall in, as the social media giants wailed that it would
"Apple moving from a stance of ‘tracking is sanctioned by default’ to ‘tracking is only sanctioned when a user opts in’ is a big, big deal," the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Bennett Cyphers told The Washington Post.
ATT stops advertisers tracking iPhone users using a specific handset tracking system known as ID for Advertisers.
When people opt out, it reduces what these digital advertising networks can learn about us from our internet use. I was horrified when I first discovered how much detail an app can collect.
Of course, the app says such data is anonymous but numerous revelations (especially by The New York Times) have demonstrated how open to abuse this anonymised data can be. In one instance, the paper was able to track a specific person’s activity and movements — on the day she went to an abortion clinic.
I have turned off all such seemingly helpful messages to apps, which I suggest everyone should do. If you haven’t been shown pop-ups on your iPhone to turn them off, you can go to "settings" "privacy" "tracking" and untick "allow apps to request to track".
A major theme this year has been how privacy controls have started appearing in the tech and internet space. If you haven’t already, turn off the taps of surveillance capitalism. We all deserve our privacy.
Shapshak is editor-in-chief of Stuff Studios (stuff.co.za) and publisher of Scrolla.Africa
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