What's Google's Alternative To Apple's 'Ineffective' Anti-Tracking?
Google is bringing a 'Privacy Sandbox' to Android, an initiative that aims to tone down user tracking and keep privacy intact, while also maintaining a viable advertising system and slowly phasing out the ad ID framework. For the unaware, Advertising ID is a unique number attached to an Android device that allows businesses to serve ads. It is an analog to the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) number that Apple assigns to its devices. With the anti-tracking measures bundled as part of iOS 14, Apple essentially turned off IDFA access for advertisers with a user-facing permission system.
Not everyone was a fan of the move, with the likes of Facebook projected to lose $10 billion in ad revenue from Apple’s measures. While there’s an option to delete an Android device's advertising ID, that only started rolling out late last year. However, the bigger problem is that not all Android phone users are tech-savvy enough to wade into the Settings section to do so. On iPhone, an app explicitly asks users if it can track them, and based on their response, the device identifier is used. In reality, it is easier to avoid invasive ad-tracking on an iPhone than on an Android device.
Related: 'Stealth AirTags' Are Real And A Privacy Nightmare
With Privacy Sandbox for Android, Google is promising advertising solutions that will limit user data sharing with third parties, ditch cross-app identifiers, and more importantly, leave behind the advertising ID system. Yes, Google plans to phase out the advertising ID entirely, but that will take no less than two years to fully come into effect. Until that happens, Android users will be subject to ad-tracking, unless the user has enough digital skills to kill it by following this path: Settings >
Read more on screenrant.com
