Apple removes privacy setting
February 18, 2019
TIGIST FICKEN
The Mirror
The world we live in today is certainly different from 50 years ago. That is because of technology like the internet and social media. Though the internet and social media have both revolutionized our society, the problematic consequences can be severe and dangerous.
Today, the most common forms of communication are our phones and computers. The use of these devices goes beyond communicating through messages and emails. To several people, it is for entertaining purposes, homework, and a way to discover world news.
Implementing safety measures on these two platinum innovations has not always been simple. That is until research databases such as Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Fox installed the “ Do Not Track” setting into their search engines.
The purpose of the “Do Not Track” setting was to provide security and privacy to people browsing the internet when using websites, advertisers, and content providers which would make them unable to track their online activities.
That all changed on February 12 when Apple announced it was removing the Do Not track setting from Safari. Apple feared the setting, that was originally contrived for blocking browsing activities, is now being hacked to track people’s online history.
Alan Toner, a special adviser with the digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation said, “ [Do Not Track] can lure users into some sense of false security.” To Toner, a program that was built to bring comfort and privacy with the internet is seen as deceptive to so many people.
High school teacher Scott Ahern said removing the setting could bring national regulation on companies who interfere with people’s browsing activities and retrieve important details without any authorization.
Ahern stated, “ I think it’s a good thing. People think they’re safe with it but they’re not. By getting rid of it, people might start asking for national regulations to protect their privilege.”
After Apple’s news of removing the Do Not Track setting, privacy advocates are worried about what the next step could be for the future of privacy if other browsers follow Apple’s move.
Though Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox still maintain the setting on their browsers and haven’t decided to follow Apple’s steps yet.
Nick Peotter • Feb 19, 2019 at 2:47 PM
I did a research paper on yo-yo’s once and an hour later there were advertisements on Facebook for yo-yo’s which seems oddly specific but then I realized they knew what I was looking up, which kind of scared me. Great job on your article and thanks for raising awareness for this issue.
Liam Glennon • Feb 19, 2019 at 2:41 PM
I don’t have an iPhone, nor do I use Safari, but this still ‘scares’ me. I know nothing is truly private, but I still want to feel like it really is. Also, very well written article. Two thumbs from this guy.
Naomi Clendenning • Feb 19, 2019 at 2:22 PM
This article was written very well. There is a very good flow between paragraphs throughout the entire piece. If the do not disturb feature was removed because people were hacking into it to see other browser history, why did Apple not fix the hacking ability instead of deleting the entire feature?
Ariana Sotelo • Feb 19, 2019 at 2:19 PM
I really liked this article because I have an apple phone that has the safari app on it and it can be good to know this for the future. I think it is really interesting that Apple is getting rid of the privacy setting just because it provides a false sense of security. I like hearing Mr. Ahern’s opinion, what made you pick him to interview about this topic? Overall really enjoyed reading this article!