Privacy Concerns Plague Apple and Google

Privacy is a big concern to many internet users. The last few weeks have brought disclosures, lawsuits, and settlements concerning two of the biggest in consumer products and privacy: Apple and Google. 

The short of it is that both companies have not been upfront about how their apps collect user data. But this has greater repercussions for how people use the phones and operating systems from two of the largest tech companies.

Apple user tracking within apps

In early November, two iOS app developers and security researchers, Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry from the software company Mysk, found that Apple apps send “every tap you make in the app to Apple.” This occurs whether or not users have allowed apps to track activity, as introduced in iOS 14.5 and beyond.

Mysk and Bakry recorded the usage data sent to Apple from the apps and noted that “the level of details shown in the video is also too much, even if the user has consented to sharing analytics data with Apple.” 

In short, this data is more than users have consented to for sharing, and it breaches the strict measures Apple imposed in iOS to limit app tracking.

With their user tracking, Apple can see all user search data in Safari, stocks searched in the stock app, articles read in the News app, and so on for all Apple-issued apps in iOS.

We don't know if Apple still collects this data in the newly released iOS 16, but there are stricter security measures overall in the new OS. However, a lawsuit was filed last week claiming Apple violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act with the “illegal recording of consumers’ confidential activity on its consumer mobile applications.”

Google Incognito mode

We all know the internet isn't private, but sometimes when we're looking for that surprise holiday gift online, we don't want family members to know or for it to show up in later ads. So we use Incognito mode. 

But a class-action lawsuit argues, “Google tracks and collects consumer browsing history and other web activity data no matter what safeguards consumers undertake to protect their data privacy.” This includes Incognito mode.

Google knows this, too. Engineers have joked about the level of privacy the browser offers, and Google’s chief marketing officer wrote the CEO last year about making incognito mode “truly private.” She noted that the company is “limited in how strongly we can market Incognito because it’s not truly private, thus requiring really fuzzy, hedging language that is almost more damaging.”

In a company statement, Google disagreed with the characterization of Incognito mode. “Incognito mode offers users a private browsing experience,” Google’s spokesperson, José Castañeda, said in a company statement. “We’ve been clear about how it works and what it does.”

Google's $391.5 million privacy settlement

Unfortunately for Google, it’s facing more than one lawsuit. But now there’s one lawsuit it can cross off the list.

On November 14, the Oregon and Nebraska attorneys general announced a $391.5 million settlement with Google “over its location tracking practices.” The settlement notes that Google misled users and continued to collect location information, even after users believed they had turned off tracking. The location data is used in Google's advertising business.

“For years, Google has prioritized profit over their users’ privacy,” Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said. “They have been crafty and deceptive. Consumers thought they had turned off their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers.”

Bottom line: as Big Tech companies grow and track user data across devices, consumer advocacy and protection continue to be more important than ever.