PSA: iTunes Includes "iSpy" Feature...

[Zim Hosein]

At this week's MacWorld expo, Apple proudly unveiled version 6.0.2 of iTunes, which it simply claimed "includes stability and performance improvements over iTunes 6.0.1."

Among these supposed improvements is the Apple iTunes MiniStore -- a localized "recommendation" engine that looks at what you listen to and then suggests additional songs and artists you might like. The MiniStore arrives turned on by default without asking a user's permission first.

What Apple didn't point out in all its hoopla over the new version is that the MiniStore not only makes recommendations but also automatically transmits your listening information over the Internet back to the Apple Mothership.

What Apple does with this information is unknown.

The company says it is not collecting data on its users -- at least not yet. But Apple has not disclosed what steps, if any, it is taking to prevent disclosure or leakage of the information to third parties.

The news follows the recent Sony BMG DRM fiasco, a part of which included an undisclosed "phone home" feature of its own.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) condemned Apple's listener-tracking as "part of a dangerous trend EFF has been witnessing in the digital music space market."

"When companies like Apple and Sony BMG start adjusting or installing software to micro-monitor our personal and private actions, even under the rubric of convenience, it is just one short stop down the road toward attempting to condition and control our behavior," EFF said.

EFF said the data collection would not be so objectionable if it were no so surreptitious.

"Allowing users to upload information voluntarily and expressly with adequate privacy protections is pro-user; surreptitiously siphoning it into a remote database without any privacy guarantees is not. It's time for Apple to pick a side of the line and walk it," EFF said in a statement.

EFF noted that users can turn off the Apple MiniStore by hitting Shift- Command-M, or choose Edit: Hide MiniStore. "EFF recommends that iTunes users do so until Apple at least comes clean about its MiniStore data practices," it said.

iTunes Includes "iSpy" Feature 😕

 

[Zim Hosein]

Anyone?

 

[chcarnage]

I think it's an exaggeration to equate this iTunes feature with the Sony/BMG rootkit. I respect the EFF for its efforts to protect our privacy and they did a great job discovering and decoding the yellow dots some color laser printer put on each sheet they print. Its statement here sounds overly dramatic to me but then again, maybe Apple wasn't sensible enough on this topic.

Well, what do you think?

 

[loic2003]

A lot of people like to cry and get angry over data being sent to a DB in order to increase functionality. Remember the data protection act and the fact that apple is a huge company that people would truly love to have a reason to sue them. In order to stay afloat and maintain the shiny, clean image they have for themselves, they'll have to tread hugely carefully in order to preserve people's rights to privacy. For this reason I am not concerned by the above and I believe that unncessesary data would not be stored (at least personal data - wouldn't it be useful to find out what other people who like the same music as you enjoy?).

Alarmist clap-trap IMO.

 

[cirthix]

how can we disable this more permanently on the pc version?

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: loic2003

Alarmist clap-trap IMO.

Sums it up pretty well. I'm not an Apple fan, & won't use iTunes, but getting worked up over this is absurd.

Yahoo Music has similar functionality, the only difference being you manually rate tracks. Personally I would find it much more convenient if it simply figured out what I liked based on my listening patterns. I would be perfectly OK with it keeping track of what I listen to for the sake of suggesting more stuff for me.

What music you listen to (via a music service that you choose to use) has got to be one of the most harmless sets of data ever.

Viper GTS

 

[chcarnage]

Now look at this... Here comes the warning that iTunes sends the name of the track it is playing to Apple and that Apple won't save the data. Instruction how to disable the MiniStore inclusive. And you have to click a button before you can use MiniStore again. This should left no complaint unanswered.