Apple warns Chinese technology companies not to circumvent transparency rules in tracking applications

Apple fights Chinese technology companies working on ways to avoid future rules on application transparency, reports Financial times.

Starting with iOS 14.5, Apple plans to ask app developers to obtain the user’s express permission before accessing an iPhone’s ad ID or IDFA, and earlier this week, news suggested that the state-backed Chinese Advertising Association , tested a tool to outline Apple’s rules.

Apple sent warnings to at least two Chinese app developers on Thursday, using methods to track app usage without user permission. “We’ve found that your app collects user and device information to create a unique identifier for the user’s device,” reads the Apple email, which says the developer must update the app to comply with the App Store rules within 14 days, or risks being removed from the app store.

Conformable Financial times, the application developer in question used a tool called CAID, which was developed by the above-mentioned China Advertising Association. This week’s China Advertising Association said that CAID is not “in opposition” to Apple’s privacy policy, but this may not be correct given the warnings Apple has sent today.

A veteran of the Chinese marketing industry said Financial times that “large and small firms” in China are considering all CAID, but Apple’s recent actions “will put an end to these tests.” Some of China’s largest technology companies, such as Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent, are testing or implementing CAID to identify users.

ByteDance, for example, recommended that developers use their SDK to issue CAID1 and CAID2 identifiers. One is based on a user’s IP address, and the other is based on the phone’s IMEI, which is a unique identification number. The CAID1 and CAID2 identifiers violate Apple’s rules because they do not require user permission before collecting this data. ByteDance also recommended that developers use “fingerprinting and probabilistic matching” to identify users, which is also against the ppApp Store‌ Guide for application tracking transparency.

The China Advertising Association said it is developing additional services that will collect and store personal data from users to create a “fingerprint” for each person. Any application that uses the CAID system will collect user data and send it to a central server to create a CAID identifier that will be used to identify users between applications. CAA claims that users can opt out of CAID, but, according to Apple’s definitions, it is not allowed in the first place.

Technology experts believe that Chinese apps intend to modify their apps in “many ways” to get past Apple’s “App Store” review team, which is similar to a “cat and mouse” game. Apple has repeatedly said that applications that do not respect users’ preferences when it comes to ad tracking will be rejected, which could lead to difficulties with Chinese companies and the Chinese government in the future.

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