Cybersecurity
Google and Apple Clash Over Web Browser Privacy
- Apple anti-tracking tech actually helps tracking, Google says
- Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome are major competitors
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Google engineers said a tool Apple Inc. developed to help users avoid web tracking is fundamentally flawed and creates more problems than it solves.
The Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature on Apple’s Safari web browser, which is meant to block tracking software used by digital advertisers, can be abused to do the exact opposite, according to a paper released Wednesday by Google researchers. Google told Apple about the problem in August, and in December the iPhone maker published a blog post saying it had fixed the issues and thanking Google for its help.