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App Privacy Labels – Exposing The Horrifying Truth

By Ryszard Gold | Published January 9, 2021

With the introduction of iOS 14, Apple introduced a feature called App Privacy Labels, and the advertising industry collectively had to bulk buy new underwear. Not even kidding, Facebook, and a cabal of advertisers filed their pants and pressured Apple enough that the feature was delayed to give them a chance to do something about it. It all culminated in an incredible display of hypocrisy from everyone’s favourite privacy magistrate, FaceBook.

app privacy labels facebook ad

Apple App Privacy Labels Scare The Hell Outta Facebook & Friends

Facebook is a great platform, it’s what I use to keep up with friends and family, but I acknowledge the cost… I know that whatever I put on I’ve basically given up my privacy in regards to that information. I realize like I realize Google, Facebook is an advertising platform. When they perceived that structure to be under threat (it’s not) they had to do what they could to rile the masses and fight back. But as a business owner myself, Facebook is NOT standing up for any business at all, if they did, they wouldn’t make me jump through hoops just to let folks know I exist, and when I ran ads, they would ACTUALLY show. And the fact they could actually write “Apple vs. the free internet” without their keyboards exploding in cognitive dissonance is incredible. 

The one company that has been standing up for our privacy and security while Google, Facebook and Amazon continually violate it? You’ll see the continued mention of “Personalized Advertising”, which is advertising with the intended goal of Minority Report…

Why Such A Reaction?

Pretty much everyone has agreed this approach from Facebook is pretty rich. The European advertising cabal, backed by Google and Facebook tried to twist it to make us believe Apple was trying to police the internet.. yea.. making sure the internet doesn’t know EVERYTHING about us is policing. This left a lot of people to wonder, why such an extreme reaction, can’t these advertisers just advertise to us without this personalized data? Just what are they scared of? 

app privacy labels facebook

HOLE EEE SHIT

Well, so there it is… no wonder Facebook was fighting so hard against it! That is truly incredible. Check this list out…

Third-Party Advertising

PURCHASES
  • Purchase History
FINANCIAL INFO
  • Other Financial Info
LOCATION
  • Precise Location
  • Coarse Location
CONTACT INFO
  • Physical Address
  • Email Address
  • Name
  • Phone Number
  • Other User Contact Info
CONTACTS
  • Contacts
USER CONTENT
  • Photos or Videos
  • Gameplay Content
  • Other User Content
SEARCH HISTORY
  • Search History
BROWSING HISTORY
  • Browsing History
IDENTIFIERS
  • User ID
  • Device ID
USAGE DATA
  • Product Interaction
  • Advertising Data
  • Other Usage Data
DIAGNOSTICS
  • Crash Data
  • Performance Data
  • Other Diagnostic Data
OTHER DATA
  • Other Data Types

Developer’s Advertising or Marketing

PURCHASES
  • Purchase History
FINANCIAL INFO
  • Other Financial Info
LOCATION
  • Precise Location
  • Coarse Location
CONTACT INFO
  • Physical Address
  • Email Address
  • Name
  • Phone Number
  • Other User Contact Info
CONTACTS
  • Contacts
USER CONTENT
  • Photos or Videos
  • Gameplay Content
  • Other User Content
SEARCH HISTORY
  • Search History
BROWSING HISTORY
  • Browsing History
IDENTIFIERS
  • User ID
  • Device ID
USAGE DATA
  • Product Interaction
  • Advertising Data
  • Other Usage Data
DIAGNOSTICS
  • Crash Data
  • Performance Data
  • Other Diagnostic Data
OTHER DATA
  • Other Data Types

Analytics

HEALTH & FITNESS
  • Health
  • Fitness
PURCHASES
  • Purchase History
FINANCIAL INFO
  • Payment Info
  • Other Financial Info
LOCATION
  • Precise Location
  • Coarse Location
CONTACT INFO
  • Physical Address
  • Email Address
  • Name
  • Phone Number
  • Other User Contact Info
CONTACTS
  • Contacts
USER CONTENT
  • Photos or Videos
  • Audio Data
  • Gameplay Content
  • Customer Support
  • Other User Content
SEARCH HISTORY
  • Search History
BROWSING HISTORY
  • Browsing History
IDENTIFIERS
  • User ID
  • Device ID
USAGE DATA
  • Product Interaction
  • Advertising Data
  • Other Usage Data
SENSITIVE INFO
  • Sensitive Info
DIAGNOSTICS
  • Crash Data
  • Performance Data
  • Other Diagnostic Data
OTHER DATA
  • Other Data Types

Product Personalization

PURCHASES
  • Purchase History
FINANCIAL INFO
  • Other Financial Info
LOCATION
  • Precise Location
  • Coarse Location
CONTACT INFO
  • Physical Address
  • Email Address
  • Name
  • Phone Number
  • Other User Contact Info
CONTACTS
  • Contacts
USER CONTENT
  • Photos or Videos
  • Gameplay Content
  • Other User Content
SEARCH HISTORY
  • Search History
BROWSING HISTORY
  • Browsing History
IDENTIFIERS
  • User ID
  • Device ID
USAGE DATA
  • Product Interaction
  • Advertising Data
  • Other Usage Data
SENSITIVE INFO
  • Sensitive Info
DIAGNOSTICS
  • Crash Data
  • Performance Data
  • Other Diagnostic Data
OTHER DATA
  • Other Data Types

App Functionality

HEALTH & FITNESS
  • Health
  • Fitness
PURCHASES
  • Purchase History
FINANCIAL INFO
  • Payment Info
  • Credit Info
  • Other Financial Info
LOCATION
  • Precise Location
  • Coarse Location
CONTACT INFO
  • Physical Address
  • Email Address
  • Name
  • Phone Number
  • Other User Contact Info
CONTACTS
  • Contacts
USER CONTENT
  • Emails or Text Messages
  • Photos or Videos
  • Audio Data
  • Gameplay Content
  • Customer Support
  • Other User Content
SEARCH HISTORY
  • Search History
BROWSING HISTORY
  • Browsing History
IDENTIFIERS
  • User ID
  • Device ID
USAGE DATA
  • Product Interaction
  • Advertising Data
  • Other Usage Data
SENSITIVE INFO
  • Sensitive Info
DIAGNOSTICS
  • Crash Data
  • Performance Data
  • Other Diagnostic Data
OTHER DATA
  • Other Data Types

Other Purposes

PURCHASES
  • Purchase History
FINANCIAL INFO
  • Other Financial Info
LOCATION
  • Precise Location
  • Coarse Location
CONTACT INFO
  • Physical Address
  • Email Address
  • Name
  • Phone Number
  • Other User Contact Info
CONTACTS
  • Contacts
USER CONTENT
  • Photos or Videos
  • Gameplay Content
  • Customer Support
  • Other User Content
SEARCH HISTORY
  • Search History
BROWSING HISTORY
  • Browsing History
IDENTIFIERS
  • User ID
  • Device ID
USAGE DATA
  • Product Interaction
  • Advertising Data
  • Other Usage Data
DIAGNOSTICS
  • Crash Data
  • Performance Data
  • Other Diagnostic Data
OTHER DATA
  • Other Data Types

 

Conclusion

It was clear the advertising industry was mining out data, and each of us has had to make the conscious choice to allow it or not. But, thanks to Apple’s App Privacy Labels, we now see that absolute SHIT TONNE of information they actually collect. I know many folks who will be giving up a few of these tools altogether.

The hope though is that this will not only show you what’s going on and allow you to make an educated choice but perhaps, JUST PERHAPS make these companies find ways of advertising to us that doesn’t involve knowing every iota of information about us. 

Our personal data should not be a commodity. 

Ryszard Gold
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Ryszard Gold
Owner at The Stem Group
Ryszard (Rick) Gold, From Calgary, Alberta, Canada has over 20 years of experience working with Apple products in a technical capacity. Passionate about technology in general, his natural troubleshooting abilities, curiosity and appreciation of good design lead him into working exclusively with Apple Computer products.
Ryszard Gold
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