Google engineers said a tool Apple Inc. developed to help users avoid web tracking is fundamentally flawed and creates more problems than it solves.<\/p>\n
The Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature on Apple\u2019s Safari web browser, which is meant to block tracking software used by digital advertisers, can be abused to do the exact opposite, according to a paper released Wednesday by Google researchers. Google told Apple about the problem in August, and in December the iPhone maker published a blog post saying it had fixed the issues and thanking Google for its help.<\/p>\n
But Wednesday\u2019s paper concluded that the problems go beyond the issues that Apple addressed. Instead of making a big list of cookies to block, Apple\u2019s ITP continuously learns what websites users visit and which kinds of cookies try to hitch a ride. Over time, this creates unique cookie-blocking algorithms for each web surfer that can be used to identify and track them, according to the paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can assure you that they still haven\u2019t fixed these issues,\u201d Justin Schuh, engineering director for Google\u2019s Chrome browser, said on Twitter. Apple\u2019s December blog post \u201cdidn\u2019t disclose the vulnerabilities or appropriately credit the researchers,\u201d he added. Apple said the bugs mentioned in the report were patched in December, but declined to comment further.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t the first time the two tech giants have clashed over privacy. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has\u00a0criticized\u00a0internet companies for collecting too much personal information, and last year Google researchers\u00a0reported a two-year long vulnerability\u00a0in the iPhone maker\u2019s software.<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s Chrome and Apple\u2019s Safari are two of the most popular web browsers, with Chrome used by more people overall but Safari dominating on iPhones. Apple has been touting Safari privacy features to persuade more consumers to use it. Apple first introduced Intelligent Tracking Prevention in 2017. The tool targets cookies, bits of code that let marketers follow people around the web and send them targeted ads.<\/p>\n
Google refused to block cookies for years, arguing that targeted ads help publishers and keep the internet free. But last week, the internet giant said it would eventually phase them out, setting off a race among advertisers to\u00a0adapt.<\/p>\n
Privacy advocates have lauded Apple\u2019s approach to tracking, and criticized Google for taking so long to do the same. But the paper suggests Apple may have to go back to the drawing board to find a new way to block tracking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis bug is quite counter-intuitive, but rather very serious,\u201d said Lukasz Olejnik, an independent cybersecurity researcher.<\/p>\n
Google engineers said a tool Apple Inc. developed to help users avoid web tracking is fundamentally flawed and creates more problems than it solves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":326835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[605,167,985],"class_list":["post-336076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-apple","tag-google","tag-safari"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336076"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336078,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336076\/revisions\/336078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}