LG strongly denies TV spying claims, says tracking and snooping concerns 'not true' — online investigation claims 216,000,000 TVs spy and record audio
a month ago by unglueclass23 to c/privacy
App Tracking Transparency on iOS devices is an interesting test case for this argument. When an app wants to track you, you're asked in plain language whether you want to be tracked. You can say no. You don't have to be a savvy user to say no, and the consent is explicit rather than being buried in a EULA that you don't read. If you say no, the app will likely still work fine. Specific numbers vary, but somewhere between a majority and a vast majority of iOS users opt out when given that choice. How much that costs advertisers is harder to reason about (a lot of the data comes from advertisers themselves, who are hardly unbiased), but the data are at least consistent in arguing that ATT opt outs produce a quantifiable drop in ad engagement (clicks, etc) and ad spend.
I'm personally a big fan of ATT. You shouldn't have to be a savvy user to opt out of surveillance capitalism. I also don't personally care that much about how effective online advertising networks are. But I think LG and similar companies are probably not off base to worry about making it possible to cleanly opt out of everything. From their perspective, that wouldn't be a great outcome.
Its more than an opt in or out problem with LG.
You remember, oh a fukin month ago? LG installs spywear with no prompt when you plug in one of their monitors on a pc. This TV shit is more of the same and certainly more egregious than other brands.
I loved when Facebook took out a full page ad saying ATT was hurting small businesses. I love how Tim Cook introduced it. I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like "starting with iOS version whatever, Facebook will still be able to track you across the web via your iPhone. They just need your permission first." And he shows the prompt and shows that you can hit yes or no, or allow or decline, whatever it is. I actually have the setting that doesn't allow them to ask. They are allowed to make a case to you, but they can't track until you say yes or hit allow. And that's how it should be.
The thing is, people are looking real hard at what Apple is doing, and Apple is saying they're a privacy company. Their words are "Privacy. That's iPhone." But people are reporting that that isn't always the case. And now they have ads in Maps. They've had them in the App Store. They suppress apps that are free and only promote apps with recurring subscriptions. And I suppose that's their right, but the App Store itself is just so toxic these days. They're adding more ads. Those who say Google isn't an advertising company are straight up wrong, but they just remember when Google was a search company or an email company. Now they are an ad company. I'm wrong to say Apple is a computer company. They're a phone company now. It's close enough that I'm not being disingenuous. One day they may be an advertising company, too. But that's what people want. People buy phones from the advertising company over the phone/computer company for whatever reason. I'm not saying Apple is struggling. They're not. But they're following the money.
go to feed...
go to feed...
It's crazy because if they allowed savvy users to cleanly opt out of everything, they'd still make a killing. Smart users who block ads and resist advertising and incentives have never really been a problem for companies. They aren't being targeted for the most part, they just don't want most people getting out of their web.
I also don't fully blame the companies. Consumers not only allowed this, they actively campaigned for it. For every company that has tried to push privacy, the Internet/populace has pushed back. Those of us who care are having to lie in the bed made by the rest because those companies that promoted privacy are starting to learn they have to adapt or survive. 15 years ago we literally had a phone made by a computer company and a phone made by an advertising company, and the right one didn't win... so now it's just following the trends the consumers demanded.
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