Mobile marketing company slurp up your information during consequence of despair : When you ’re scanning for a spare Wi - Fi connection , whether at the promenade , airdrome , or ballgame . A small detail in iOS 8 is going to make that a whole lot harder — but Apple may have an ulterior motif .
When your phone scan for networks , it sends out a MAC address that contains an identifier unique to your earpiece . Your MAC destination is a small scrap like a tagging gadget — it lets company bang thing like your sound make , as well as whether you ’re a repetition customer at a sure store . That ’s how they apply it to recommend deals free-base on your habits , just likeLondon ’s failed programto use smart trash buttocks to track consumer using MAC addresses last class .
But as a Swiss coder named Frederic Jacobspointed out on Twitteryesterday , iOS 8 contains a picayune MAC destination change with big implications . It automatically randomizes MAC name and address . That would have in mind that marketing company would n’t be able to track your patterns at all .
https://twitter.com/embed/status/475601665836744704
It ’s definitely good tidings . But does it mean that Apple has somehow come out against these pernicious companies ? Not on the nose .
In fact , you could even speculate that barring MAC address - slurping companies from place Apple users is a way to bolster their own position - cognisant Bluetooth notification task : iBeacon . AsApple Insider pointed outlast hebdomad , Apple is making a major push button to revamp it , piloting a course of study that will pink substance abuser walk near the Apple Store or Starbucks .
So while randomizing MAC addresses will make you invisible to wandering marketers , do n’t rejoice just yet — iBeacon may be waitress in the wing . [ Qz ]
Lead trope : joyfull .
AppleiOS 8
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