Apple will soon treat online tracking like security vulnerabilities


by

FirmBee

WebKit, an open source HTML rendering engine developed mainly by Apple, has announced a new tracking prevention policy, WebKit Tracking Prevention Policy, on its official blog. This anti-tracking policy points out that TNW of foreign media points out that Apple will treat many of the tracking tools used online as well as security vulnerabilities.

Apple will soon treat online web tracking the same as a security vulnerability
https://thenextweb.com/privacy/2019/08/16/apple-will-soon-treat-online-web-tracking-the-same-as-a-security-vulnerability/

WebKit is a rendering engine used by Amazon Kindle and PlayStation 4 standard browsers. Apple's original browser Safari and Samsung's OS / Tizen standard browser adopt WebKit2 which adopts the separation process model for WebKit, but both are based on this WebKit.

In addition, Google Chrome, the most used browser in the world, employs a rendering engine “ Blink ” forked from WebKit. Due to restrictions set by Apple's App Store Review Guidelines on iOS, Chrome and other third-party browsers The browser is forced to adopt WebKit as its rendering engine.



On websites that are viewed using these web browsers, tracking tools are used by publishers and companies to collect information about user behavior on the Internet. For example, information that a user has moved from one site to another site is collected by a tracking tool and provided to the publisher as marketing information without being linked to a specific individual.

Based on this information, targeted ads suitable for each user ’s preference are displayed on the site. The tracking tool collects device fingerprints such as cookies, so it can be said that “user privacy is compromised” in a sense.

To combat these tracking tools, Apple started a web tracking crack called Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) two years ago. ITP is an iOS and macOS Safari that allows advertisers to limit inter-site tracking while accurately measuring the effectiveness of Internet advertising campaigns without sacrificing user privacy.

A function `` Intelligent Tracking Prevention '' to prevent cross-site tracking using user cookies will be introduced in Safari-GIGAZINE



What is the 'Intelligent Tracking Prevention 2.0' security function implemented in Apple's Safari? -GIGAZINE



On the other hand, WebKit Tracking Prevention Policy, WebKit's new tracking prevention policy, is designed to prevent all existing traffic tools, etc. It will be necessary to obtain an agreement on the use of the tracking tool.

In addition, for sites that try to avoid anti-tracking technology, it will be treated as “the same serious act as exploiting security vulnerabilities”. 'There is a possibility of adding restrictions,' says the WebKit Tracking Prevention Policy.

According to TNW, especially “things that depend on technology that can also be used for tracking” can be greatly affected, specifically “Like” buttons, third-party sign-in technology, bot detection Functions are listed.

How does WebKit's new anti-tracking policy work for the paywall feature that allows only paying users to read a specific article by setting a paid article that many publishers use? TNW writes, 'I don't know immediately' that this will happen.



WebKit ’s engineering team says, “When facing a trade-off, we usually prioritize the user ’s interests over maintaining the current website practices,” he says, prioritizing protecting user privacy .

TNW claims that Apple's new anti- tracking policy is inspired by Mozilla's new anti-tracking policy . However, in the case of Safari, unlike Mozilla Firefox, it is used as a standard browser on many devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, so it has been pointed out that it may have a greater impact than Mozilla's new policy.

in Mobile,   Software,   Security, Posted by logu_ii