Third-party tracking, the collection and sharing of behavioural data about individuals, is a significant and ubiquitous privacy threat in mobile apps. The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in 2018 to protect personal data better, but there exists, thus far, limited empirical evidence about its efficacy. This paper studies tracking in nearly two million Android apps from before and after the introduction of the GDPR. Our analysis suggests that there has been limited change in the presence of third-party tracking in apps, and that the concentration of tracking capabilities among a few large gatekeeper companies persists. However, change might be imminent.

翻译：为更好地保护个人数据,2018年引入了欧盟一般数据保护条例(GDPR),但迄今为止,关于该条例有效性的经验证据有限,但这一文件研究从引入该条例之前和之后对近200万安卓类应用程序进行跟踪。 我们的分析表明,应用程序中第三方跟踪的变动有限,跟踪能力仍然集中在少数大型守门人公司,但变化可能迫在眉睫。