5 ms·
Apple's "differential privacy" seems to be FLOC by another name.
by wstrange 5y ago
Apple's "differential privacy" seems to be FLOC by another name.
- skygazer 5y agoFLOC and differential privacy are very different. They may seem to overlap because they both detect behavior on device, and with some measure of anonymity transmit some kind of derived data off device, but their purposes are entirely different, as is the link of the derived data back to your specific device. FLOC is meant to "anonymously" quantize you into one of several thousand peer groups (based on sites visited,) so that google can get an essence of who YOU are, and share it with every site you visit. The information gleaned follows you, and sites respond to your specific behavior profile group. Differential Privacy is more like an anonymous survey every device answers with plausible deniability, so that Apple can get general information about the user base as a whole, completely not attributable to you or linked back to you in any way. The information gleaned does not follow you, and can never be used to address you specifically.