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The difference between Apple News and Facebook or other third-party tracking is that Apple News only tracks what you do within their app while FB/etc track what

The difference between Apple News and Facebook or other third-party tracking is that Apple News only tracks what you do within their app while FB/etc track what you do everywhere on the internet. I wouldn't actually have any problems with Facebook tracking what you do on the Facebook app (or Google doing so in their own apps), the problem is when they litter the rest of the internet with spyware (Facebook "pixel", Google Analytics, etc) and then spy on what people do on other domains without clear disclosure or opt-out.

fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago
Apple will only let you install apps through their App Store, and they correlate your actions in the App Store with the ads you click in the News app. How is that any different?
- cruano 4y ago
  If you don't use the App Store or an iPhone they don't track you, do you think I have a Facebook account? Well, I'm still getting tracked by them
fnikacevic 4y ago
The problem with that is that Apple's strategy is to draw in a user into completely relying on their ecosystem. I'm guilty of falling victim to this myself. So even while they only track across Apple's apps, the tracking of the phone, news, music, app store, watch, fitness, laptops, etc. will add up to a monopolistic advantage.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  Except that ecosystem is entirely opt in. If you are okay with a walled garden that you can't control, that's on you. Apple tracking what you do in all of their various properties and apps that they've built to try and be your one stop digital life isn't perfect but it is IMO categorically better than going to a random website and having my data get scooped up into my google account or my facebook shadow profile. If I leave the apple ecosystem, they no longer track me or sell ads to be displayed to me. That is not the case with facebook or google.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    The average user is not aware that the walled garden is still tracking them, especially with Apple's charm offensive about how it is more privacy-respecting (probably since their refusal to submit to FBI mandate to unlock the iPhone of the 2015 San Bernardino shooter). Click-through EULA is click-through EULA, no matter what company generates it. That Apple tracking is better than that of other, more egregious offenders, is damnation by faint praise.
    - mrguyorama 4y ago
      If apple doesn't track you outside of the ecosystem, then that is genuinely a better outcome IMO than the google and facebook status quo. That you DO have an option to stop it entirely, by giving up apple services and products, is also a genuinely better option. Some people aren't against advertising, analytics, etc in the more limited case like apple has. I don't think it's false advertising for apple to say "we respect your privacy" when they have demonstrated that they respect it better than the other companies in the advertising industry. Don't let perfect be the enemy of better. It is damnation by faint praise, but that's because the bar is literally on the floor here.
      - Apocryphon 4y ago
        I'm not saying it's not a better outcome, I'm saying that it should be merely a start and not something to be celebrated.
greendude29 4y ago
I don't understand this argument. Are you really worried about being tracked or what the outcome of that tracking is? When a company tracks you anywhere - let's say Google on Website X or Apple on Apple product Y, they will both use that data to sell you advertisements. Neither will actually "sell" your data to an advertiser, but will use their technology to let an advertiser target you. What's the difference? It's the same outcome, you are being sold things. You mention "opt-in" as one potential difference - that one can opt out-of the Apple ecosystem but apparently not out of other places...I don't understand, you can opt out of any website that serves Google Ads. In the same way you can opt out of Apple products, you can opt out of Google products. They are both corporations, equally committed to earning money for their shareholders.

fshbbdssbbgdd 4y ago

Apple will only let you install apps through their App Store, and they correlate your actions in the App Store with the ads you click in the News app. How is that any different?

cruano 4y ago
If you don't use the App Store or an iPhone they don't track you, do you think I have a Facebook account? Well, I'm still getting tracked by them

fnikacevic 4y ago

The problem with that is that Apple's strategy is to draw in a user into completely relying on their ecosystem. I'm guilty of falling victim to this myself. So even while they only track across Apple's apps, the tracking of the phone, news, music, app store, watch, fitness, laptops, etc. will add up to a monopolistic advantage.

mrguyorama 4y ago
Except that ecosystem is entirely opt in. If you are okay with a walled garden that you can't control, that's on you. Apple tracking what you do in all of their various properties and apps that they've built to try and be your one stop digital life isn't perfect but it is IMO categorically better than going to a random website and having my data get scooped up into my google account or my facebook shadow profile. If I leave the apple ecosystem, they no longer track me or sell ads to be displayed to me. That is not the case with facebook or google.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  The average user is not aware that the walled garden is still tracking them, especially with Apple's charm offensive about how it is more privacy-respecting (probably since their refusal to submit to FBI mandate to unlock the iPhone of the 2015 San Bernardino shooter). Click-through EULA is click-through EULA, no matter what company generates it. That Apple tracking is better than that of other, more egregious offenders, is damnation by faint praise.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    If apple doesn't track you outside of the ecosystem, then that is genuinely a better outcome IMO than the google and facebook status quo. That you DO have an option to stop it entirely, by giving up apple services and products, is also a genuinely better option. Some people aren't against advertising, analytics, etc in the more limited case like apple has. I don't think it's false advertising for apple to say "we respect your privacy" when they have demonstrated that they respect it better than the other companies in the advertising industry. Don't let perfect be the enemy of better. It is damnation by faint praise, but that's because the bar is literally on the floor here.
    - Apocryphon 4y ago
      I'm not saying it's not a better outcome, I'm saying that it should be merely a start and not something to be celebrated.

greendude29 4y ago

I don't understand this argument. Are you really worried about being tracked or what the outcome of that tracking is? When a company tracks you anywhere - let's say Google on Website X or Apple on Apple product Y, they will both use that data to sell you advertisements. Neither will actually "sell" your data to an advertiser, but will use their technology to let an advertiser target you. What's the difference? It's the same outcome, you are being sold things. You mention "opt-in" as one potential difference - that one can opt out-of the Apple ecosystem but apparently not out of other places...I don't understand, you can opt out of any website that serves Google Ads. In the same way you can opt out of Apple products, you can opt out of Google products. They are both corporations, equally committed to earning money for their shareholders.