Is a Unique Device Identifier personal information?

Question

From Apple's Privacy Policy:

Collection and Use of Non-Personal Information

We also collect data in a form that does not, on its own, permit direct association with any specific individual. We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose. The following are some examples of non-personal information that we collect and how we may use it:

We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier

Is this self contradicting? Isn't a unique identifier a direct association with the specific individual?

Answer 1

The UDID (Universal Device IDentifier) identifies a device uniquely. Apple doesn't know who is the owner of the device. If you read a bit further, if the UDID gets combined with personal information, like your name, then it becomes personal information with accordingly stronger protection.

The UDID is used for example if you lock your phone after it is stolen - the UDID gets added to a database of locked phones, and if the thief tries to reinstall the software on it, that is refused because the phones UDID is reported stolen. Similar, if a company buys 100 phones to be used only by the company, the UDIDs of these phones are registered so that trying to reinstall the software on the phone will always connect that phone to the company.

Answer 2

No, it's a direct association with a particular device just like a license plate is associated with a particular car. Neither, on its own identifies a person.