Category Archives: Ranking Digital Rights

Apple says iOS anti-tracking feature is still on the way, also takes shot at Facebook

Posted on by

Apple affirmed Thursday that its mobile operating system will soon get a new privacy feature opposed by the advertising industry, and it specifically called out Facebook for showing a “disregard for user privacy.” The privacy technology — App Tracking Transparency (ATT) — will arrive in early 2021, according to a letter that Jane Horvath, Apple’s senior director for global privacy, sent to Ranking Digital Rights, an organization that has agitated for big tech companies to do more to improve security and privacy. The nonprofit had urged Apple in October to push forward with the feature. ATT essentially will block iOS apps from tracking the use of other apps on a device. The goal is to limit the information that advertising networks collect about Apple device users. “We delayed the release of ATT to early next year to give developers the time they indicated they needed to properly update their systems and […]

The post Apple says iOS anti-tracking feature is still on the way, also takes shot at Facebook appeared first on CyberScoop.

Continue reading Apple says iOS anti-tracking feature is still on the way, also takes shot at Facebook→

Android security better, but still dependent on manufacturers, carriers

Posted on by

The variegated state of the Android ecosystem has always been a problem for users seeking to ensure their smartphone is patched up to date against the latest publicly disclosed cybersecurity flaws — and new figures show it’s still a huge issue, despite some progress. Updates produced by Android have to be customized by the handset manufacturer. Samsung alone offers 13 models of Android phone, each one sold by up to 200 different telecom carriers, all of whom customize their operating system to different degrees — meaning they might have to tweak the updates as well, before finally distributing them to phone users. The users, of course, then have to install them. Figures released by Google’s Android last week suggest that more users are getting regular updates than ever before — but still show only half of the 1.4 billion Android devices in circulation got an update of any kind during 2016. Updates are crucial […]

The post Android security better, but still dependent on manufacturers, carriers appeared first on Cyberscoop.

Continue reading Android security better, but still dependent on manufacturers, carriers→