On September 14, 2017, six major advertising groups addressed Apple with an open letter, asking the company to re-think its plans to introduce smart cookie-blocking technology in its upcoming software update for Safari in iOS 11. In their letter, the advertisers, including Interactive Advertisers Bureau, American Advertising Federation, the Association of National Advertisers and three others, argue that the technology called “Intelligent Tracking Prevention” (“ITP”) will replace user preferences with formal blocking standards developed by Apple and is not in the best interests of consumers. In the copy of the letter published by Adweek, the groups say “Apple’s unilateral and heavy-handed approach is bad for consumer choice and bad for the ad-supported online content and services consumers love.”  In response, Apple has countered that ITP will help preserve user privacy and improve consumer trust in Internet services.

According to the company, the new software will put a time limit on the first-party cookie, meaning that the information collected by the domain visited by a user on Safari will be available for ad retargeting only within the first 24 hours. After 24 hours the cookies will be blocked from use in third-party ads. Login cookies will remain valid for 30 days after logging into a website.

Some tech bloggers salute Apple’s efforts to block the use of big data without users’ permission in order to better meet consumer expectations. Some claim that the changes will have a substantial impact on the ad tech industry. Others comment that the new approach will benefit major players and have a negative impact on mid-size companies.