• pizzahoe@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    1 year ago

    Can someone please explain a bit what is included as part of a “unique identifier”… does it mean the app sends Google what communities you’re visiting or content you’re consuming, so they can advertise to you personally?

    • NoStressyJessie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Unique device identifier would be some information unique to your device that can identify it. A common example of such a unique Id would be your IMEI although that isn’t necessarily what they are using. Minecraft as an example creates a unique user ID based on your account that system administrators can use to keep your player records even after you change your Microsoft account name or gamer tag.

      It doesn’t have to be specific data related to your activities in the app per se, but it could potentially be used in that manner depending on the app.

    • faintedheart@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      44
      ·
      1 year ago

      This is present in all apps in the playstore for serving ads. If you are running away from it you have to run from the entire internet. You want to live a life like the people in privacy sub reddit with that tin foil hat. For the developer to serve ads this is necessary.

          • WhipperSnapper@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            1 year ago

            I think there’s some nuance there too. I’m not keen on the idea of my facebook messages, or google chats, or private emails, things like that going into other peoples hands (regardless of how much I can do to stop it), but purely ad-based stuff doesn’t bother me. I’m gonna be seeing ads for something, and whether or not they’re things google or amazon think I might want doesn’t really change the equation for me.

            However, I do hold it to be true people should be in control of that if they want to. I feel like the choice is important.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          17
          ·
          1 year ago

          Then sell all your shit and live without any device connected to the internet. If you believe a trillion dollar company can’t track what you like then I’ve got bad news for you.

          Oh wait, even if you sell your shit, they just need to know who your friends are and they can create a profile of you… Woops! 🤷

          What’s funny is that you’re trusting a bunch of random Lemmy hosts right now, but not companies that can be identified and that you can tell which laws apply to them.