This article is reproduced from IT House, IT House News on March 19 According to the “Financial Times” report, Apple is cracking down on Chinese technology companies that are studying how to bypass the upcoming application tracking transparency rules.
IT Home understands that starting from iOS 14.5, Apple plans to require app developers to obtain clear user permission before accessing the iPhone’s ad recognizer or IDFA. Earlier this week, it was reported that the China Advertising Association was testing a A tool to circumvent Apple’s rules.
Apple issued a warning on Thursday to at least two Chinese app developers who use methods to track app usage without user permission. Apple’s email wrote: “We found that your app collects user and device information to create a unique identifier for the user’s device.” Apple stated that developers must update the app within 14 days to comply with App Store rules. Otherwise, it may be deleted from the App Store.
According to the “Financial Times” report, the app developers involved used a tool called CAID, which was developed by the aforementioned China Advertising Association. The China Advertising Association said this week that CAID does not "violate" Apple's privacy policy and is actively communicating with Apple.
A veteran in the Chinese marketing industry told the Financial Times that "companies, large and small" in China are considering using CAID, but Apple's recent actions "will stop these tests." Some of China's largest technology companies, such as Baidu, ByteDance, and Tencent, are testing or implementing CAID to identify users.
For example, ByteDance has recommended that developers use its SDK to publish the CAID1 and CAID2 identifiers. One is based on the user's IP address, and the other is based on the IMEI of the mobile phone, which is a unique identification code. The CAID1 and CAID2 identifiers violated Apple's regulations because they did not ask for the user's permission before collecting the data. Bytedance also recommends that developers use "fingerprint and probability matching" to identify users, which also violates the "App Store Application Tracking Transparency Guidelines."
The China Advertising Association stated that users can opt out of CAID, but according to Apple's definition, it is not allowed in the first place.
According to a report from Yicai.com, a "Technical Specification for Mobile Internet Advertising Signs" issued by the China Advertising Association last year found that the units participating in the drafting of the new sign rules include China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Shanghai Data Exchange Center, and Tencent, Gridsum, Alibaba, Xiaomi, Baidu, Huawei and other technology companies.
This "Technical Specification for Mobile Internet Advertising Marks" points out: "my country does not have mobile Internet advertising marks specifically for advertising. Most of them use mobile device marks with high personal information attributes or various identifiers provided by operating systems. There is a risk of leakage of users’ personal information, and there are many restrictions on use. Therefore, it is necessary to define mobile Internet advertising logos that not only meet the requirements of personal information protection and data security laws and regulations, but also meet the needs of the advertising industry."
The standard emphasizes that advertising logos should have features such as switchability, resetability, and updateability, give users sufficient right to know and choose, and strengthen the protection of user data and personal information. Specifically, users can use convenient The Internet advertising identification can be turned on or off in a quick way, and the Internet advertising identification (CAID) can also be reset. The generation algorithm of the Internet advertising identification (CAID) applies a regular update mechanism to ensure anonymity and strong confrontation.