Tim Cook has been adamant that Apple is not in the business of collecting your data, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t brainstorming ways it could make some extra money by skimming key bits of personal info off your iPhone — like how much money you’ve got in the bank.
In fact, Apple has devised a way to display targeted ads on users’ devices based on what they can actually afford to purchase.
According to U.S. patent number 20150199725, filed by Apple in March 2015, the advertising system would stay on your phone and track the status of your debit and credit cards. By seeing the balance in your bank account, Apple’s targeted ads would then serve up products you can afford, rather than serving ads for a bunch of stuff advertisers would like you to buy.
Apple’s patent specifies that “ads delivered to the user includes only one or more objects having a purchase price less than or equal to the available credit for that user.” The obvious advantage would be that goods and services individuals cannot afford won’t be delivered to them, which could lead to higher conversion rates.
Keep in mind that just because Apple has a patent on tapping your bank account data for ads doesn’t mean the company will actually implement it. But differential pricing is an area a lot of big tech companies have started exploring to increase sales.
Implementing the targeted system could be tricky, but one way Apple could pull it off without compromising its promise not to share personal data with advertisers would be to hash credit card data and store it on iOS devices’ secure enclave. That way advertisers would never be able to see it, and iPhone users wouldn’t have to worry about their bank account info getting exposed to attackers.
Via: Business Insider
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
7 responses to “Apple patents a method to display ads based on your bank account”
Click bait, available credit is NOT your bank account.
“Apple patented a method…”
“According to US patent number 20150199725…”
“Apple’s patent specifies…”
Is it too much to ask for responsible journalism? This is NOT a patent. It’s an application for a patent.
It’s still pretty shocking though.
I think it should be illegal to mine or resell peoples private data, just because you can, because you provide a platform or digital infrastructure through which that data passes.
Hopefully the application will be rejected on that basis (though I somehow doubt it as the US seems incredibly backward about legislating for a safe digital economy).
If anybody wanted proof that using Apple Pay is a bad idea, here you have it.
You’re naive if you don’t think advertisers already target you based on your demographic profile. The application has nothing to do with your bank account. It’s delivering advertising based on a user profile, which may include information on the pre-paid credit connected to your cell phone or internet account. This has nothing to do with Apple Pay, which knows nothing about your bank account balance, your credit available, or your past purchases.
The article was totally misleading.
Even so, Apple is way out of line using information which is not provided for that purpose.
The available credit info is made available for the purpose of validating the payment.
Here in the UK they will be in deep water with the Information Commissioners Office for breach of data protection.
The Apple Pay issue is different. My point is that if you can’t trust Apple to not abuse your privacy then you shouldn’t feed your transactions through their channel.
Before saying that Apple is way out of line, remember that we don’t know Apple does this. All they’ve done that we are aware of is file an application for a patent on the process. Whether they ever put the method to use remains to be seen. It’s possible that they will receive a patent but not practice the method. Their could use their patent to prevent others from doing what you don’t like, much like a defensive patent.
That news is no surprise at all. While Apple CEO Tim Cook criticize other companies for using their customer data for advertising purposes, his company has the intention of doing exactly the same thing. With Aple, it is always “do as I say, but not as I do”