Apple is accused of illegal collection of personal data
According to a study by the Mysk security team, led by co-developers Tommy Mysk and Talal Hai Bakri, announced on November 21, Apple uses the DSID tool to track users through the App Store. The DSID is a unique code used to identify the iCloud account associated with the user’s username, email address, and other subscribed iCloud-related data.
The Apple logo outside a store in Nantes, France, on September 16, 2021. Image: Reuters
In a series of tweets with videos and illustrations, the team revealed that Apple uses DSIDs to bulk collect user data from the App Store. On November 24, Mysk posted five more tweets explaining how the DSID works and confirming the validity of the group results.
Under current App Store terms, Apple insists that data collected from the App Store is non-personally identifiable for privacy reasons. However, Mysk rated this information as “inaccurate”.
“Details of your behavior in the App Store will be sent to Apple. It contains the necessary identifier to link your data. There’s no way to stop this,” Mysk said. The team also notes that DSIDs are also collected by other Apple apps to analyze user habits.
This step is distinct from Apple’s commitment not to collect personally identifiable information. The data contained during use will be deleted when the application is terminated. When a user sends analytics to Apple from multiple devices with the same iCloud account, they are end-to-end encrypted.
However, the privacy policy and the App Store also indicate that certain personal information can be collected in order to improve usage habits, if the user consents to this. Basically, it’s about viewing, buying, searching, and downloading information.
consequences edgeIf Mysk’s study results are correct, Apple seems to contradict its goals and previous statements. At several events, Apple CEO Tim Cook has consistently emphasized that the company’s software and services do not collect personally identifiable information and attack other companies that do business based on user information.
Previously, on November 3, Mysk also confirmed that the App Store running on iOS 14.6 and higher has collected a lot of information about the iPhone, such as keyboard language, fingerprint… Besides, the process is automatic even if the user has the device switched off. Fully analyze or limit data collection.
Following that initial discovery, a class-action lawsuit was filed in California state court on November 10, accusing Apple of violating state privacy laws. “Privacy is one of the key factors Apple uses to differentiate its products from the competition. But it’s utterly useless,” wrote Elliot Libman, a spokesman for the band, on the lawsuit single.
Apple did not comment on the lawsuit or the results of the Mysk study.
Last year, Apple introduced Transparency Application Tracking (ATT) with a focus on privacy. Introduced since iOS 14.5, this feature requires apps that want to track user activity to ask for permission first. According to statistics at the end of last year financial timeThe big four social networks Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have lost around $9.85 billion in revenue since the launch of the ATT.
Bao Lam