> In the pre-ATT world everyone from e-commerce sellers to app developers could effectively offload the collection and analysis of conversion data and subsequen

> In the pre-ATT world everyone from e-commerce sellers to app developers could effectively offload the collection and analysis of conversion data and subsequent targeting of advertising to Facebook, to the benefit of everyone involved: individual developers and retailers did not need to bear the risk or expense of collecting and analyzing data, and could instead collectively outsource that job to the Facebook data factory, which had the benefit of making Facebook advertising that much more effective, not only to the benefit of Facebook’s bottom line but also to that of those that relied on its advertising platform. It is incredibly common to talk about advertising as if it at no point involves the user. But the initial statement is clearly false, it did not benefit everyone, it benefit all of the commercial parties at the expense of the user. In a conversation specifically about App Tracking Transparency blocking Google Analytics for a particular app, the client wanted a technical work around. I pointed out that the user was asked if they wanted to be tracked, and they specifically requested not to be. The client responded with "But we have to track them!". No, you don't! When actually asked if they want to be tracked (by ATT), 97% of people said no, because of course they fucking did! These business models have only worked thus far because users lacked the knowledge, motivation and tools to stop them from working. That's slowly changing. You WANT to track them, so that you can make some money, be honest with the motivation. But is that the only way to make money from apps? We've tricked ourselves into thinking advertising and ubiquitous tracking is some kind of inherent property of app and web development, an entirely intrinsic business model with no other option. Well get prepared, because if your business model will fall apart if you actually have to ask for permission to track people, you're going to have a tough time in the highly regulated future. Heck, Apple isn't even being regulated to do this, they just want a competitive edge.