Privacy Group Files Legal Complaints in Europe Targeting Apple's Device Identifier Service for Advertisers

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Apple's device identifier service for advertisers is being targeted by privacy advocates in two complaints to Spanish and German authorities, reports Bloomberg.

 

 

 

A Vienna-based group called NOYB ("None Of Your Business") has filed complaints with data protection authorities in the two countries, calling for them to outlaw Apple's "Identifier for Advertisers" (IDFA) service.

 

Each ‌iPhone‌ that Apple sells comes with the unique identifier, which lets advertisers track the actions users take when they use apps. The group argues that the service allows Apple and various apps to track users and collect data on their web use without their consent.

 

 

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"With our complaints we want to enforce a simple principle: trackers are illegal, unless a user freely consents," NOYB lawyer Stefano Rossetti said in a statement. "Smartphones are the most intimate device for most people and they must be tracker-free by default."

 

App developers have historically used IDFA to help target users with ads and track the performance of ads across different devices. Next year, however, Apple will require apps to seek customer consent before the IDFA can be used in iOS 14 to track user behavior and preference across apps and websites for ad targeting purposes.

 

The requirement was announced in June alongside ‌iOS 14‌ and was originally expected to go into force with the release of Apple's latest mobile operating system, but Apple chose to delay the anti-tracking feature until 2021 to "give developers time to make the necessary changes."

 

The delay was announced only after major app developers and ad networks like Facebook spoke out against the feature, with Facebook warning advertisers on its platform that it could cause a more than 50 percent drop in Audience Network publisher revenue due to the loss of personalization from ads within apps. Apple is also facing an antitrust complaint from French advertisers who say it could force their revenue to plummet.

 

Last year, Mozilla launched a petition urging Apple to implement an automatic monthly reset on identifiers to make it harder for companies to build a profile about users over time. "It's like a salesperson following you from store to store while you shop and recording each thing you look at," argued the petition. "Not very private at all."

 

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Apple hits back at European activist complaints against tracking tool

 

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - An Austrian privacy advocacy group drew a strongly critical response from Apple on Monday after it said an online tracking tool used in its devices breached European law.

 

The group, led by campaigner Max Schrems, filed complaints with data protection watchdogs in Germany and Spain alleging that the tracking tool illegally enabled the $2 trillion U.S. tech giant to store users’ data without their consent.

 

Apple directly rebutted the claims filed by Noyb, the digital rights group founded by Schrems, saying they were “factually inaccurate and we look forward to making that clear to privacy regulators should they examine the complaint”.

 

Schrems is a prominent figure in Europe’s digital rights movement that has resisted intrusive data-gathering by Silicon Valley’s tech platforms. He has fought two cases against Facebook, winning landmark judgments that forced the social network to change how it handles user data.

 

Noyb’s complaints were brought against Apple’s use of a tracking code, known as the Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA), that is automatically generated on every iPhone when it is set up.

The code, stored on the device, makes it possible to track a user’s online behaviour and consumption preferences - vital in allowing companies to send targeted adverts.

 

“Apple places codes that are comparable to a cookie in its phones without any consent by the user. This is a clear breach of European Union privacy laws,” Noyb lawyer Stefano Rossetti said.

 

Rossetti referred to the EU’s e-Privacy Directive, which requires a user’s consent before installation and using such information.

 

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Apple said in response that it “does not access or use the IDFA on a user’s device for any purpose”.

 

It said its aim was to protect the privacy of its users and that the latest release of its iOS 14 operating system gave users greater control over whether apps could link with third parties for the purposes of targeted advertising.

 

The Californian tech giant said in September it would delay plans to launch iOS 14 until early next year.

 

Apple accounts for one in every four smartphones sold in Europe, according to Counterpoint Research.

 

The claims were made on behalf of a German and a Spanish consumer and handed to the Spanish data protection authority and its counterpart in Berlin, said Noyb.

 

Spain’s privacy protection agency confirmed it received a complaint from Noyb against Apple but declined to comment.

 

The Berlin agency had no comment. In Germany, each federal state has its own data protection authority.

 

Noyb said its claims were based on the 2002 e-Privacy Directive that allows national authorities to impose fines autonomously, avoiding lengthy proceedings it faced in its case against Facebook that was based on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

 

The GDPR regime launched in 2018 included a mandatory cooperation mechanism among national authorities, which Noyb says has slowed progress.

 

Rossetti said the action aimed to establish a clear principle that “tracking must be the exception, not the rule”.

 

Apple, responding, said: “Our practices comply with European law and support and advance the aims of the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, which is to give people full control over their data.”

 

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