Google is considering developing an Android alternative to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, a new planned optional requirement that the iPhone maker will impose on developers, requiring them to ask for permission to track iOS users on apps and websites. The news, first reported on Thursday by Bloomberg, highlights the growing pressure on large technology companies, many of which are encouraged by Apple, to take more proactive measures to better protect user privacy.
Google did not say whether it was in fact working on an anti-tracking privacy measure for Android. But in a statement, a Google spokesman said The Verge, “We’re always looking for ways to work with developers to raise the level of privacy and, at the same time, enable a healthy, ad-supported app ecosystem.
First announced at Apple’s developer conference last summer, App Tracking Transparency effectively slides a system-level option between an app’s tracking features and user preferences. If the user says he prefers not to be tracked, there is nothing the developer can do to get around this, because Apple will disable the developer’s ability to collect so-called advertiser identifier code, or IDFA. This code allows advertisers to track users from one app or site to another for ad targeting, while helping advertisers measure the effectiveness of ads, such as whether a user ends up buying a product they saw in an app using the merchant’s mobile site.
Apple intends to police developers using audits and other methods to enforce its policies, which include the possibility to suspend or ban apps from the App Store if a developer does not comply. Both Facebook and Google have publicly expressed concern about how Apple’s acceptance requirement could negatively affect their mobile advertising networks. But Facebook took it a step further and started waging a public relations war against Apple over the change, complaining that it will hurt small businesses and accusing Apple of being selfish.
Google’s opinion on application tracking transparency is unlikely to be as severe, Bloomberg reports. Rather than enforcing acceptance requirements for application developers, the Android alternative may resemble some of the next privacy controls planned for Google’s Chrome browser, in which the company seeks to end some of the most insidious tracking technologies on the web today developing less invasive alternatives and giving users more opt-out mechanisms.
Google’s work to develop new privacy practices and standards for the web is known as the Privacy Sandbox. As part of this ongoing project, Google has taken steps to eliminate third-party cookies in Chrome and is working on tools that allow advertisers to target groups of users instead of targeting individuals directly. All of which can inform how Google develops an anti-tracking measure for Android, Bloomberg reports.