Google to restrict apps from tracking you on Android devices
CBSN
Google said Wednesday that it will restrict advertisers' ability to track users of Android phones and other devices. It joins Apple in taking steps to strengthen privacy for U.S. consumers, a sea-change for the digital ad industry.
Anthony Chavez, vice president of product management for Android Security & Privacy, said in a blog post that the company will also develop other ways for software developers and businesses to reach mobile users while limiting sharing of people's personal data, noting that the company wants to "raise the bar for user privacy."
Until recently, Google included a unique identifier on Android devices, called Advertising ID, that allowed marketers to see what a user was doing across all apps, allowing companies to build a comprehensive picture of that person's interests and activities. Wednesday's move limits apps' ability to capture that information.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.