14 DAY TRIAL // Apple is trying to improve its privacy tools with a new Apple ID portal that would enable users to download and delete their personal information that is stored on the company’s servers.
A report from Bloomberg indicates that this new service is part of a broader effort to comply with European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation that will come into effect on May 25 and which introduces new privacy protections for Internet users.
Apple will thus enable users to see what data the company is storing and download either everything or just specific items individually, such as contacts, photos, calendar entries, and others. Furthermore, Apple users will be able to completely delete their Apple IDs, a thing that was previously available only by contacting the company.
The revamped Apple ID site will go live for users in Europe in early May ahead of the said deadline, while the rest of the countries should get it in the coming months, though no specifics were provided in this regard.
The user privacy debate
Privacy has become a hot topic these days following the Cambridge Analytica revelations involving collection of data belonging to Facebook users, and Apple is trying to use this occasion to highlight its work in this regard.
In a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed how apps are individually inspected before being published in the App Store in an attempt to detect any violation of the privacy policy which could in the end lead to unauthorized collection of user data.
“We’re looking at each app in detail: what is it doing, is it doing what it says it’s doing, is it meeting the privacy policy that they’re stating? We’re always looking at improving and raising the bar. We carefully review each app,” Tim Cook said.
The new iOS 11.3 update released a few hours ago also introduces new privacy controls, including splash screens that detail what user data is collected by the company’s apps.