Apple’s ad network gets ‘preferential access to users’ data’ vs Facebook, Google

I had a very brief stint working on mobile ads in 2011, so I have some vague familiarity with the sausage factory and its implications for user privacy on mobile devices, and this is par for the course for Apple. A big part of their marketing strategy is duping people into thinking they're pro-user, when they're one of the most aggressively anti-user companies I can think of. What's really impressive is how successful the reality distortion field has been in nominally technical fora (HN included, though it's gotten much better in the last few years).

Apple may be certainly far from perfect when it comes to favoring their own software, but to say the company as a whole is aggressively "anti-user" is just hogwash.

Updates they have made to Safari, the App Store, and iOS generally have made millions of people more conscious of how applications they use every day consume and interact with their personal information. They've inspired other companies like Google to follow suit, and are having a huge impact on the targeted advertising industry.

Give credit where it is due.