Apple iOS 8 Increases Privacy - InformationWeek

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Comments
Apple iOS 8 Increases Privacy
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Brian.Dean
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Brian.Dean,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/9/2014 | 11:11:52 PM
Lots of time to transition
The operation system won't be available until fall, next it will take some time before full deployment has been achieved, and even then, Android is a big portion of the mobile device market, businesses might opt to wait for data to arrive that indicates that consumers are happy with the move, and that Android will follow soon. All this leave a lot of time before businesses begin to actually receive a lesser level of insight, however, it is important to locate the next best alternative of sharing data as soon as possible, in a way that's beneficial to both businesses and consumers.

I wonder, what would be the next best alternative, once MAC is no longer available.
zaious
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zaious,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/9/2014 | 11:50:55 PM
Re: Lots of time to transition
@Brian.Dean: why would we need to consider a scenario where Mac is no longer available? They are not going to dissolve the entire thing suddenly. Most probably, you were hinting to to some case where 'Mac' is not allowed on the network. 
Brian.Dean
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Brian.Dean,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/10/2014 | 6:22:09 PM
Re: Lots of time to transition
@Zaious, sorry for creating the confusion, I was referring to the MAC address going away as a tool that indirectly enables tracking.

If MAC addresses were to not be used completely, then an entirely different anchoring system would have to exist, the only thing that is becoming unavailable from the retail side of the equation is that due to the randomization process, tracking will not be possible -- dynamic IP address create the same problem for websites, that's why websites use cookies.

 
melgross
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melgross,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/10/2014 | 8:27:32 AM
Re: Lots of time to transition
You're misunderstanding the issue, if I understand what you are saying. MAC addresses aren't going away. This is just for roaming for a WiFi network to join. In order to join that network, the proper MAC address is used. If you're saying that the lack of a true MAC address for roaming is the issue, then yes. These big companies are doing whatever they can to get leverage. So far, the heavily Google supported NFC has been a bust. It isn't required that google have any part in any of this. Apple participation is enough. We can see that Google has already partly given up on NFC to support Apple technology in this area. They have no choice, as iBeacon is taking off, and this will further that. A good deal of this has to do with purchasing. If Apple users make significant purchases, then the system will work without Google. If Android users do not make significant purchases, then Google's participation won't matter either.
Brian.Dean
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Brian.Dean,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/10/2014 | 6:49:26 PM
Re: Lots of time to transition
@Melgross, yes you are right, I referred to "MAC" (MAC address) as an enabler to perform customer identification and tracking. It's all about the data and the value that data can create, targeting ad content to users that might be interested in a product is better than, randomly sending out ads that generate low customer actions. And data is not just useful for ads -- knowing in aggregate, what consumers are interested in, can help in optimizing the supply chain as well.
jgherbert
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jgherbert,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/11/2014 | 2:35:09 PM
Re: Lots of time to transition
"The operation system won't be available until fall, next it will take some time before full deployment has been achieved"

For the devices that support IOS8, it seems likely that adoption will be very high very quickly, just as it was with IOS 7. I'm not going to argue about which statistics are fair to quote on that, but in less than 12 months the penetration of that OS is quite amazing.

As you correctly state though, iOS is not the only game in town. But it's a valuable one to advertisers I'd bet.
asksqn
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asksqn,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/10/2014 | 3:44:53 AM
Check & Mate
Android, iOs 8 sees your complete and utter disregard for consumer privacy and bets the house.
melgross
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50%
melgross,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/10/2014 | 8:34:25 AM
Re: Check & Mate
I suppose you're one of the few Blackberry users still moping around? I can't speak to Android as much as iOS, but for iOS, privacy is pretty easy to achieve. Apple doesn't receive 97% of their sales and profits from user data as does Google, as unlike the advertising revenue model Google is forced to use, Apple makes most of its revenue and profit on hardware.
jgherbert
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jgherbert,
 User Rank: Ninja
6/11/2014 | 2:40:03 PM
DHCP
So I haven't seen an explicit confirmation yet, and perhaps somebody here can provide that, but if I understood correctly, the randomized MAC addresses are only used during scans for WiFi networks (Probe requests / responses), but once you actually join a WiFi network you still use your burnt in address (BIA). This is handy, since I (at least) use static MAC->IP mappings in the dhcpd configuration!

So to get a MAC address you now have to get people to actually join your WiFi network. Enter every store offering comprehensive (free!) WiFi service for you. Once you're on the WiFI, it's as good as it was before the security improvements. If, as mentioned in a recent article, you can also get other user information - e.g. by using a Facebook login to gain access to the WiFi - you could be on to a huge winner in terms of putting some personal meat on that data.
richardbagdonas
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50%
richardbagdonas,
 User Rank: Apprentice
6/11/2014 | 3:03:43 PM
iBeacons and no wifi
I am so glad that Apple is going to start randomizing MAC addresses. It all boils down to opt in.

At Mahana (http://mahana.io) we are focused on providing iBeacon tech to apps that need location-based information in an opt-in manner.  The platform would be very suspect if we were collecting data from phones without someone saying "yes."

We would like to see more parity between Android and iOS on the hardware side, but I imagine that will come from industry pressure.


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