Apple in iOS 14 is planning to introduce a new App Tracking Transparency feature that will let users know when companies want to track them across apps and website. Following outcry from developers like Facebook and ad networks unprepared for the change, Apple delayed the implementation of the anti-tracking functionality until early 2021.
Craig Federighi, in an interview with The Independent (via MacRumors):
“If we sell cars with airbags, and we decided to put airbags in our cars before someone else did, and customers want to buy those, I think it's great that we've provided that that choice,” he said. “We're not waiting for someone to require we do it, we're we're making that part of what it means to use our platform.”
I think Apple should have shipped this feature already. They are not outright banning this practice but only giving users the awareness and option to opt out. These companies have been operating these data mining and surveillance operations for way too long without much oversight. They are now complaining because they know that they are collecting users' data without their consent. And they know that most users, if given the option to opt out, would do so.
This is not about small businesses or whatever bullshit they come up with, it's about them needing as much raw materials as possible to extract behavioral data from. And those data are then turned into "personalized experiences" which in reality just means figuring out what we want, think, and feel and then selling that information to advertisers or worse.