Privacy

Podcast: Quantifying the advertising value of cookies (with Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8tV2czrZZE On this week's episode of the podcast, I am joined by Garrett Johnson and Shunto Kobayashi, professors at Boston University who have…

Your phone isn’t secretly listening to you for ad targeting, part 2

Last month, the FTC fined Cox Media Group (CMG) and two other companies to settle allegations that the firms deceived…

Apple brings ads to Apple Maps

Bloomberg reports that Apple will soon bring ads to Apple Maps (emphasis mine): Apple Inc. is preparing to introduce advertising in its Maps…

AI Tracking Transparency

On November 13th, 2025, Apple updated its App Store developer guidelines -- specifically, guideline 5.1.2 (i) -- to require developers…

February 24, 2026

Does Apple police fingerprinting?

In Meta's Renaissance, I credit Meta's years-long recovery from Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) privacy policy to four strategic changes…

December 3, 2025

Podcast: Can the GDPR be reformed? (with Mikołaj Barczentewicz)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/45iTETKIuj7wtGQXks49ge?si=4a26ee50969c49a8 My guest on this episode of the podcast is Mikołaj Barczentewicz, a professor of law at the University of…

November 25, 2025

The privacy shuffle, part 4: Google shutters Privacy Sandbox

On Friday, Google announced that it has effectively discontinued its Privacy Sandbox initiative for both Chrome and Android (emphasis mine):…

October 20, 2025

Tea app and the App Store privacy illusion

Last week, users on the 4Chan forum discovered that user data for Tea Dating Advice, an app that reached a…

Estimating the impact of Meta’s reintroduction of AMM

Last week, I wrote about the reinstatement of Meta's Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM) program, which Meta discontinued in October 2021.…

The privacy shuffle, part 3: Meta resurrects AMM

Meta updated the terms for its Advanced Mobile Measurement (AMM) framework on June 17th, effectively resurrecting the program after it…