An old warning from Apple about a popular Internet browsing app is gaining renewed attention.
In a 2024 parody video, the tech giant appeared to use a thinly veiled reference to encourage users to ditch the Chrome app from its competitor, Google, and instead use Apple’s Safari browser.
Thanks to an announcement from Google last week, the video is making the rounds again.
The Apple video, on YouTube, never names Chrome or Google, but it’s titled Privacy on iPhone: Flock. The 1:48 video is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 classic The Birds and depicts security cameras with wings following iPhone users around.
The security camera “birds” are carefully watching over people’s shoulders. When users open the Safari app – Apple’s Internet browser – they combust.
Flock appears to be a thinly veiled reference to FLoC, or Federated Learning of Cohorts. It’s a technology that Google used to group users together so they could be sent personalised ads without being tracked across the Internet, according to news reports.
Google operates the wildly popular Internet browser Chrome. The search engine giant used to use FLoC to track and sell user information, a major source of revenue for the company.
The company scrapped FLoC but still tracks user activity. Google promised to end third-party cookies, a way for outside sites to monitor user behaviour, but backed out of that promise on last Tuesday, prompting renewed interest in Apple’s Flock video.
Safari does not allow outside sites to monitor user activity. But the debate between which Internet browser is better, Apple Safari or Google Chrome, is still ongoing. – al.com/Tribune News Service
