MR Assocs Protest Apple's New Tracking Prevention

US and Canadian professional bodies the Insights Association and MRIA have written an open letter to Apple, claiming that its new Safari browser poses 'a severe and almost insuperable problem for online marketing research and analytics'.

Signed by Insights Association Director of Government Affairs Howard Fienberg (pictured) and MRIA Chief Exec Kara Mitchelmore, and sent to Craig Federighi, Senior VP of Software Engineering at Apple, the letter says the Safari 11 browser's new 'Intelligent Tracking Prevention' serves to 'arbitrarily limit' the use of cookies and other website data, and contravenes consent based, opt-in user control over them. This will prevent 'consent-based online audience measurement and user experience research, which are essential measures upon which modern brands and organizations (including Apple) depend to operate their businesses' - according to the associations.

The effect, continue the authors, will be to 'force companies to fly blind without the ability to measure and verify', and deprive Safari users of 'much of their ability to opt out of tracking and control their own privacy'. Instead, the new browser 'turns control over to arbitrary and opaque algorithms and processes'.

The authors conclude by urging Apple to reconsider the changes; and to contact them 'at your earliest opportunity so that our experts may work with Apple to identify alternative approaches that can further consumer privacy and choice without limiting established, essential online market research and analytics practices'.

The full letter can be found at www.insightsassociation.org/article/safari-browser-update-inhibits-online-ux-research-and-audience-measurement .