苹果：拦截广告？下架吧！

苹果：拦截广告？下架吧！

苹果公司日前表示，最近已经在软件商店中“移除”了少数软件，主要是担心这些软件对于用户的数据安全造成风险。苹果表示，一些外部软件在iOS设备中安装了数字证书，可能导致用户个人隐私被第三方监控。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

intercept 阻截

encrypt 加密

protocol 协议

amend 修改

decrypted 解密

Apple pulls adblocker that worked on mobile apps such as Facebook（456words）

By Robert Cookson,Digital Media Correspondent

Apple has pulled the first app to allow iPhone users to block advertisements in mobile apps of companies such as Facebook,citing concerns about customer security.

Been Choice was launched in the US this month using more powerful technology than other adblockers,which are only able to eliminate ads within web browsers.

But Apple raised concerns related to the way the company — and other apps that it did not name but also pulled — intercepted users' internet traffic. In particular,Been Choice disrupted a security protocol called SSL that is used by companies such as Facebook,Google,Pinterest and Yahoo to encrypt the data that passes between a mobile device and their own servers.

“We are working closely with these developers to quickly get their apps back on the app store,while ensuring customer privacy and security is not at risk,” Apple said.

David Yoon,co-founder of Been Choice,said the company was amending its app following Apple's recommendations and would resubmit it to the company on Friday for “expedited approval”.

But he added that Been Choice would still be able to block ads in the Safari web browser and certain apps including Apple News,The New York Times and Pandora,the internet radio company. Mr Yoon said that Apple appeared to have no problem with blocking ads in apps so long as the process did not disrupt end-to-end encryption.

Mr Yoon also denied that his app was insecure. He said the company protected users by encrypting their data and sending it through a virtual private network,or VPN. He added that the data were only briefly decrypted on the company's servers.

“But when[Apple says]that end-to-end encryption needs to be guaranteed for our app to be on the App Store,what can we do but comply?” he said.

Been Choice's power was down to the fact that it installed a “root certificate” — a kind of digital signature — from its own server on to smartphones. This allowed the company to route internet traffic to its own server,where it was decrypted and the ads were filtered out through a process known as “deep packet inspection”.

When this process is used by a hacker,it is known as a man-in-the-middle attack. However,it is also used legitimately by many companies to monitor the traffic that flows in and out of their systems.

Apple's decision will probably be welcomed by the digital media industry,which has become increasingly worried about the rise of consumers blocking ads.

But the most popular adblockers for iPhones,such as Crystal and Purify,are not affected by Apple's latest policy statement. Those services block ads exclusively within the Safari web browser,using a technology framework designed for the purpose by Apple.