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> One thing we looked for is evidence of apps sending my phone’s unique ID, known as its Apple IDFA. That’s the keys to the kingdom for companies that want to t

> One thing we looked for is evidence of apps sending my phone’s unique ID, known as its Apple IDFA. That’s the keys to the kingdom for companies that want to track you — nearly as important as your name or Social Security number — allowing them to connect up data they get from one app with lots of other sources. Well, there you have it folks. That’s the crux of the article. The author is complaining about an anonymous, mutable value that can be changed at any time. It’s the technology constructed and promoted by Apple to track conversions. And no, it’s nothing like your social security number.

morelisp 6y ago
As soon as one company (trivially) links your account with them to your IDFA it is no longer anonymous. In the data broker world IDFAs are second only to hashed email addresses in value. The comparison to an SSN is reasonable to explain this to a normal person. It's also a number that directly says little about you, but is still unique to you, and lots of organizations can map it to some more personal information about you.
- sologoub 6y ago
  Have you tried resetting either your SSN or email address? While the OPs’ argument is technical in nature, a better comparison would be your frequent flyer number. You can register for a new frequent flyer relatively easily, but IDFA can be reset at will or turned off completely. Good luck turning off your SSN or any government issued ID. Even store loyalty cards are not a good example as they link to your actual phone number in the US.
  - morelisp 6y ago
    Yes, there are mechanically better comparisons, but probably not better lay explanations. The goal of the article is not to describe the precise technical details of how an IDFA works, but rather the role it plays in how apps track you. (Good luck resetting all your IDFAs at the same time and remembering never to log into any of the same accounts again. Yes, you and I know how to do this and that it can be turned off, but I assure you based on data I've worked with people do not.)
    - sologoub 6y ago
      People do know - According to appsflyer, LAT (Limit Ad Tracking - the control used to turn off IDFA) saw over 1 in 4 users on iOS adopt it: https://support.appsflyer.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003734626-Impact-of-Apple-iOS-Limit-Ad-Tracking-on-attribution https://support.appsflyer.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003734626...
      - morelisp 6y ago
        I cannot share the exact number, but this is substantially more than the measurement I have seen for our platform circa July. Could be difference between US/Europe, or they are carefully slicing their data (e.g. maybe only phones, or only specific events e.g. install conversions - users installing new apps are likely to be more technically literate) to sell their probabilistic modeling.
  - Nextgrid 6y ago
    IDFA can be reset but that doesn't achieve the intent behind resetting it unless you also happen to reset everything else (such as the other immutable identifiers you mentioned), otherwise the new IDFA will be linked back to you thanks to any other identifier that you didn't (or couldn't) reset, including "fuzzy" signals such as IP addresses or usage patterns.

morelisp 6y ago

As soon as one company (trivially) links your account with them to your IDFA it is no longer anonymous. In the data broker world IDFAs are second only to hashed email addresses in value. The comparison to an SSN is reasonable to explain this to a normal person. It's also a number that directly says little about you, but is still unique to you, and lots of organizations can map it to some more personal information about you.

sologoub 6y ago
Have you tried resetting either your SSN or email address? While the OPs’ argument is technical in nature, a better comparison would be your frequent flyer number. You can register for a new frequent flyer relatively easily, but IDFA can be reset at will or turned off completely. Good luck turning off your SSN or any government issued ID. Even store loyalty cards are not a good example as they link to your actual phone number in the US.
- morelisp 6y ago
  Yes, there are mechanically better comparisons, but probably not better lay explanations. The goal of the article is not to describe the precise technical details of how an IDFA works, but rather the role it plays in how apps track you. (Good luck resetting all your IDFAs at the same time and remembering never to log into any of the same accounts again. Yes, you and I know how to do this and that it can be turned off, but I assure you based on data I've worked with people do not.)
  - sologoub 6y ago
    People do know - According to appsflyer, LAT (Limit Ad Tracking - the control used to turn off IDFA) saw over 1 in 4 users on iOS adopt it: https://support.appsflyer.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003734626-Impact-of-Apple-iOS-Limit-Ad-Tracking-on-attribution https://support.appsflyer.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003734626...
    - morelisp 6y ago
      I cannot share the exact number, but this is substantially more than the measurement I have seen for our platform circa July. Could be difference between US/Europe, or they are carefully slicing their data (e.g. maybe only phones, or only specific events e.g. install conversions - users installing new apps are likely to be more technically literate) to sell their probabilistic modeling.
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  IDFA can be reset but that doesn't achieve the intent behind resetting it unless you also happen to reset everything else (such as the other immutable identifiers you mentioned), otherwise the new IDFA will be linked back to you thanks to any other identifier that you didn't (or couldn't) reset, including "fuzzy" signals such as IP addresses or usage patterns.