Apple says recent changes improve user privacy, but some lawmakers see them as an effort to edge out rivals
Apple
says recent changes improve user privacy, but some lawmakers see them as an
effort to edge out rivals
Reed Albergotti Nov.
26, 2019 at 12:36 pm
Apple has made strengthening privacy protections a central part
of its brand. But critics increasingly warn that the iPhone maker may be using
privacy as a guise for anti-competitive behavior.
The latest flare-up comes after Apple made changes to its new mobile
operating system that it advertised as improving privacy, but that also give
the company an edge over other app makers in using the location-tracking
features of the device.
In his first comments on the matter, the top Democrat in charge
of a sprawling antitrust investigation into Silicon Valley juggernauts cites
the change as one of a number of factors his committee will be exploring as
part of an antitrust probe.
“I’m increasingly concerned about the use of privacy as a shield
for anti-competitive conduct,” said Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island,
chairman of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee. “There is a growing
risk that without a strong privacy law in the United States, platforms will
exploit their role as de facto private regulators by placing a thumb on the
scale in their own favor.”
Historically, app makers could ask users for permission to track
their location even when they’re not using the app. That was helpful for
services that tracked where users parked their car or where they may have lost
a device paired to the phone. But in the new update, app makers can no longer
ask for that functionality when an app is first set up, a potentially
devastating blow to competitors such as Tile, maker of Bluetooth trackers that
help people find lost items.
By contrast, Apple tracks iPhone users’ location at all time —
and users can’t opt out unless they go deep into Apple’s labyrinthine menu of
settings.
App makers complained about the change in an August letter to
Apple previously reported by the Information, a technology news site.
Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the company is working with
developers who are concerned about the new location-services policy.
“We created the App Store with two goals in mind: that it be a
safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps, and a great
business opportunity for all developers,” Muller said. “We continually work
with developers and take their feedback on how to help protect user privacy
while also providing the tools developers need to make the best app
experiences.”
The changes come as tech giants face growing criticism by U.S.
regulators and lawmakers, who have opened probes into potential
anti-competitive behavior. The Justice Department and the House Judiciary
Committee are investigating whether Apple and other tech giants have abused
their power. Senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has
called out Apple for competing against other apps in its store.
Last week, Makan Delrahim, who heads antitrust enforcement for
the Justice Department, said in a speech that privacy could become a bigger
factor in antitrust regulation in the United States. And some lawmakers
including Cicilline are focusing on potential abuses made under the guise of
protecting user privacy, but that ended up benefiting the tech giants.
According to newly leaked documents, Facebook internally debated
a decision in 2012 to cut some competitors off from collecting valuable user
data. It decided to tell the public that it was making the change to protect
user privacy, referring to the strategy as a “switcheroo.” Google has cited
privacy as a reason for revoking the ability of outside software developers to
interact with its Gmail service, drawing criticism from developers.
But Cicilline’s concerns are particularly relevant to Apple,
which has made privacy a central part of its products and marketing efforts.
This month, Apple launched a new website touting its privacy credentials,
highlighting its decision to refrain from data collection in Apple Maps, Apple
Music, Safari and other homegrown apps. Apple has been critical of Google and
Facebook for their data-collection practices, and says it does a better job.
At the same time, Apple is undergoing a metamorphosis, from a
company that sells electronics to one that offers services that run on those
devices. Sparked in part by declining iPhone sales, the change also makes data
an increasingly important part of Apple’s own business. That is especially true
for products such as Siri, Apple’s competitor to Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s
Assistant. Those services use artificial intelligence, which improves as the
amount of data it receives increases.
House lawmakers have been meeting with some of Apple’s partners
to discuss their concerns, according to people who have knowledge of the
meetings. These people said that one of the topics discussed was Apple’s
practice of making changes to the rules that govern its App Store ecosystem in
the name of privacy, while also tying the hands of competitors.
Much of Apple’s power comes from the fact that it controls every
aspect of the App Store, from the hardware to the underlying computer code.
Google’s Android, by contrast, exists on hundreds of different hardware devices
made by companies other than Google. Unlike Apple’s iOS, the software can be
changed and customized for different purposes.
Apple has previously been criticized for potential
anti-competitive behavior on its platform, with some app makers saying the tech
giant copied their ideas and replicated them, forcing some out of business. The
Judiciary Committee requested information on that practice in a September
letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
In June, Apple said it would make changes to how apps can
request location data. In the past, apps could ask users to “always allow”
their location to be tracked by that app during its setup process. But Apple
took that option away from developers. Now, users can only give apps permission
to track their location while using the app. Apple said it was making the
change for privacy reasons. Some developers had abused location tracking, it
said, using the data for advertising purposes and not the functionality of the
app itself. But other apps require location tracking in the background to work
properly.
Customers can still go into the settings and turn location
tracking on indefinitely, but it is a multistep process that most people will
probably skip. Users may also get a notification from Apple at some point
later, asking them if they’d like to switch to permanent location tracking.
When Apple customers do allow always-on location tracking,
Apple’s new operating system reminds them periodically with a pop-up window
informing them of how often their location had been used by the app maker and
gives them the option of turning it off. But Apple doesn’t warn customers about
its own location tracking. By default, iPhone customers agree to 18 separate
location-tracking system services during the setup process, including Apple’s
own location-based advertisements.
That gives Apple a big advantage over competitors on the App
Store. Apple can add new features that use location tracking without ever
asking its customers for additional permission. In iOS 13, Apple introduced
“offline finding,” a service that helps Apple users find lost devices, even if
they’re not connected to the internet in a type of networked Bluetooth
crowdsourcing.
Apple didn’t independently notify its customers that their
devices would be used for offline finding. It added it to the fine print of the
existing “Find My” user agreement, which all Apple customers are entered into
by default when they set up their phones. Tile has long offered a service
similar to Apple’s new offline finding feature. But unlike Apple, Tile has to
ask permission from users to get its feature to work. And now, because of the
changes Apple made, Tile can’t ask permission for always-on location tracking
during the setup process.
Even if an Apple user declines to give the Find My app
permission to track locations, that user will still be defaulted into offline
finding and other location tracking features. That’s because Apple considers
the app to be separate from the system services that users agree to when
setting up their phone.
Apple has said it keeps all location data on its services in an
encrypted format that even Apple can’t access.
In August, as Apple was planning to roll out the new limits on
location tracking for app developers, a group of companies wrote a letter to
Cook, urging him to reconsider its location-tracking policy changes, which also
included changes in Apple’s software that would stop companies from tracking
users, even if they give permission.
A company called Life360, which offers families a way to keep
track of one another in part for safety reasons, said new changes Apple was
making would stop its crash-detection and emergency-dispatch service from
working, according to the letter, which was reviewed by The Washington Post.
The letter, signed by several companies, points out that Apple’s
own applications aren’t limited by the changes, adding that the Find My Friends
app, which has since been replaced by “Find My,” works seamlessly out of the
box.
“While we are extremely grateful to Apple for developing the platform we
all rely on to serve our customers, having a double standard for how location
data is used and collected undermines Apple’s leadership in privacy, stifles
investment in the iOS ecosystem and is anti-competitive,” the letter reads.
The companies pointed to a conflict of interest inherent in the
rollout of its new subscription services, which are an increasingly important
part of the company’s business as iPhone sales decline. “As Apple expands into
additional services, some of which compete with developers like us, the need
for a level playing field becomes ever more critical to allow the ecosystem to
flourish,” the letter said. Tile was another co-signer to the letter. Tile
declined to comment.
Since the changes rolled out apps such as Tile, which helps
people find their lost belonging via small devices they can attach to their key
chains or place in their wallets, are at a distinct disadvantage. That is
because most users stick with the default options in software, rarely going
into settings to change options. Before the latest release, those apps were
able to ask customers to consent to always-on tracking, which is necessary for
apps including Tile to work. That option has now been removed.
In the meantime, several tech websites have published rumors
that Apple plans to launch its own version of Tile devices, called Tags.
Software in the latest iOS shows yet-be-launched features that Apple says will
let people “keep track of their every day items,” with drawings of a key, a
suitcase and a bicycle.
Apple has also been buying Google ads for the search term “tile
app” and other similar terms related to the devices. When a person searches
“Tile App,” the first advertisement takes them to the Tile app on Apple’s App
Store.
Experts in online advertising say the search ads could give
Apple valuable data about Tile’s potential customers. Apple also buys ads for
other apps, including Netflix and the hiking app AllTrails.
This year, Apple stopped selling Tile trackers in its retail
stores. And when iOS 13 rolled out this fall, it added offline finding. Tile,
founded in 2012, worked for years to add enough customers and build out its
network. Apple, with total control of its vast user base, was able to eclipse
Tile’s entire user base with one software update.
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