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Apple launches new privacy website but policies remain unchanged

Despite its privacy policies and practices remaining unchanged, Apple has expanded its privacy website. It now includes in-depth explanations about what the company is doing to protect your privacy.

The new website, which was launched yesterday, forms part of the firm’s ongoing drive to set itself apart from advertising-fuelled competitors such as Facebook and Google.

The new site is for the biggest part a users’ manual, with detailed descriptions on how to prevent third-party services such as apps from tracking your online activities and your physical location without your knowledge.

The updated website also portrays Apple as the firm for people who are concerned about the way that their data is being used. It calls privacy a “fundamental human right”, saying that this is one of the company’s “core values”.

It goes on by stating something that we would obviously all agree with: “Your devices are important to so many parts of your life. What you share from those experiences, and who you share it with, should be up to you.”

Many of the privacy upgrades heralded in the new website were revealed earlier, when Apple launched iOS 13. These include the fact that you can now sign into third-party websites or apps with your Apple ID instead of Google’s or Facebook’s.

There are also additional warnings and notices when apps try to use your location data. Apple’s iOS 13 also prevents VoIP apps from running in the background when they are not used, so they can’t collect your data without your knowledge.

With the number of privacy breaches increasing nearly on a daily basis, and with consumers becoming more aware of the extent to which firms such as Facebook, Google and Apple collect their personal data, privacy has become a big selling point.

Despite being involved in quite a few privacy scandals in recent times, Apple has become surprisingly successful in portraying itself as a champion for consumer privacy.

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About the author

Chris

I've been a passionate evangelist for Apple and the Macintosh throughout my working life, my first love was a Quadra 605 working with a small creative agency in the south of Norfolk UK in the mid 1990's, I later progressed to other roles in other Macintosh dominated industries, first as a Senior graphic designer at a small printing company and then a production manager at Guardian Media Group. As the publishing and printing sector wained I moved into Internet Marketing and in 2006 co-founded blurtit.com which grew to become one the top 200 visited sites in the US (according to Quantcast), at its peak receiving over 15 million visits per month. For the last ten years I have worked as an Affiliate and Consultant to many different business and start ups, my key skill set being online marketing, on page monetisation, landing page optimisation and traffic generation, if you would like to hire me or discuss your current project please reach out to me here.

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