fri 22 apr 2011 02:14:05 — witte de withstraat
apple knows where you are
it was revealed yesterday by a couple of british researchers that apple's iphone and ipad ios4 continually records data about where the user is, stores it and reports it to apple.
according to an article in UK telegraph, apple's privacy policy says location data is 'collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services.'
promises promises.
sounds a lot like facebook's claim that they'll never store your email password. everybody knows software can't do anything without storing something as a variable.
i think some people are playing fast and loose with the definition of what a product or service is. a couple years ago i began doubting apple's forthrightness regarding 'security updates' i was sposed to download. because the nature of the security updates was secret, i began to wonder whose security they were talking about, mine or theirs.
i am not a big privacy afficionado (though i often close the door while masturbating). i often tell people i wish i had a subcutaneous chip that reported my whereabouts and physical state automatically to facebook updates, without my having to bother logging in. but i like to choose my abuse. i never use the 'like' button on facebook because i know its only purpose is to datamine me. so the fact that the corporation is recording info about people without even letting them know, seems disingenuous to say the least. nobody will trust them any more, and we'll dislike them because meanwhile they've kinda trapped and enslaved us.