Apple responds to US congressmen's query about iOS privacy
Apple has given a detailed summary its iOS privacy policy to two members of the U.S. House of Representatives who inquired about changes that were implemented in June.
Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs in June. The congressmen expressed their concerns over Apple's modifications to its iOS privacy policy, and asked for information on exactly what information Apple is gathering on its customers.
Bruce Sewell, general counsel for Apple, responded with a letter dated July 12, which explained the basics of the privacy policy revisions. Last month, the company added a new section to its customer privacy policy entitled "Location-Based Services." Users were required to agree to the new terms and conditions before they could download anything from iTunes or the App Store. Sewell said the company did this to ensure that everyone would see the changes.
The update said Apple and its partners could "collect, use and share precise location data, including real-time geographic location" of a device. The information could be supplied anonymously to help Apple's partners and licensees provide better products and services, but a user's personal information is never shared. Users can opt out of the service by visiting oo.apple.com.
In the letter, Sewell said Apple keeps location data for six months to improve its iAd network. After that, the information is aggregated.
"Apple does not share any interest-based or location-based information about individual customers, including the zip code calculated by the iAd server, with advertisers," the letter reads. "Apple retains a record of each ad sent to a particular device in a separate iAd database, accessible only by Apple, to ensure that customers do not receive overly repetitive and/or duplicative ads for administrative purposes."
He also noted that users have the ability to turn off location-based services in iOS under its settings, and also notifies users in iOS 4 when location based services are in use, through an icon arrow displayed in the system's status bar.
According to ZDNet, both Markey and Barton responded positively to Apple's explanation.
"Apple's responses provided additional information about how it uses location data and the ability of consumers to exercise control over a variety of features on Apple's products, and I appreciate the company's response," Markey said in a statement.
"While I applaud Apple for responding to our questions," Barton said, "I remain concerned about privacy policies that run on for pages and pages. I hope every business uses information for advertising and marketing purposes that will work toward more transparency and complete disclosure about their practices, as well as robust security for the information they hold."
Reps. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs in June. The congressmen expressed their concerns over Apple's modifications to its iOS privacy policy, and asked for information on exactly what information Apple is gathering on its customers.
Bruce Sewell, general counsel for Apple, responded with a letter dated July 12, which explained the basics of the privacy policy revisions. Last month, the company added a new section to its customer privacy policy entitled "Location-Based Services." Users were required to agree to the new terms and conditions before they could download anything from iTunes or the App Store. Sewell said the company did this to ensure that everyone would see the changes.
The update said Apple and its partners could "collect, use and share precise location data, including real-time geographic location" of a device. The information could be supplied anonymously to help Apple's partners and licensees provide better products and services, but a user's personal information is never shared. Users can opt out of the service by visiting oo.apple.com.
In the letter, Sewell said Apple keeps location data for six months to improve its iAd network. After that, the information is aggregated.
"Apple does not share any interest-based or location-based information about individual customers, including the zip code calculated by the iAd server, with advertisers," the letter reads. "Apple retains a record of each ad sent to a particular device in a separate iAd database, accessible only by Apple, to ensure that customers do not receive overly repetitive and/or duplicative ads for administrative purposes."
He also noted that users have the ability to turn off location-based services in iOS under its settings, and also notifies users in iOS 4 when location based services are in use, through an icon arrow displayed in the system's status bar.
According to ZDNet, both Markey and Barton responded positively to Apple's explanation.
"Apple's responses provided additional information about how it uses location data and the ability of consumers to exercise control over a variety of features on Apple's products, and I appreciate the company's response," Markey said in a statement.
"While I applaud Apple for responding to our questions," Barton said, "I remain concerned about privacy policies that run on for pages and pages. I hope every business uses information for advertising and marketing purposes that will work toward more transparency and complete disclosure about their practices, as well as robust security for the information they hold."
Comments
While I applaud Apple for responding to our questions," Barton said, "I remain concerned about privacy policies that run on for pages and pages. I hope every business uses information for advertising and marketing purposes that will work toward more transparency and complete disclosure about their practices, as well as robust security for the information they hold."
Oh, that's brilliant; coming from the U.S. legislative body responsible for producing the U.S. Tax Codes... I think the Human Genome project and Human Genome database is less complex than U.S. Tax Code.
Oh, that's brilliant; coming from the U.S. legislative body responsible for producing the U.S. Tax Codes... I think the Human Genome project and Human Genome database is less complex than U.S. Tax Code.
Or the recent health care bill, or the recent financial reform bill, or the PATRIOT ACT, or TARP, or...
It's transparency for thee but not for me.
an AT&T problem to Free to free cases until Seotember 30th, that congress can make your life he11 if they want. Geesh.
Or the recent health care bill, or the recent financial reform bill, or the PATRIOT ACT, or TARP, or...
It's transparency for thee but not for me.
Now for Google to publish how it uses our information.
You can say that again!!
God Bless America. Sure, you guys don't have a perfect country but where I am the response from a large corporation to my congressperson/representative is usually a little "Hey hey, nudge nudge, wink wink..." and the "problem" "goes away"...
funny and sad at the same time. I wonder if a thousand years from now if this sort of thing spirals out of control and instead of governments, we have corporations running countries and their armies.
God Bless America. Sure, you guys don't have a perfect country but where I am the response from a large corporation to my congressperson/representative is usually a little "Hey hey, nudge nudge, wink wink..." and the "problem" "goes away"...
If I might ask. Where are you from?
It pretty much works the same here. Those stories just don't get reported too often; unless you create a mess the size of the BP disaster. kinda hard to cover that up.
funny and sad at the same time. I wonder if a thousand years from now if this sort of thing spirals out of control and instead of governments, we have corporations running countries and their armies.
Nah The planets resources will have been drained well before 1,000 years under corporate rule and consumerism. We won't be here if we stay on that path. The better question might be are we suicidal as a species?
Now for Google to publish how it uses our information.
Google's Response...
On topic, asking apple about it's privacy policy is a joke and seems more like general harassment. Placating to the uninformed masses? "Look we are truly concerned for your privacy." BS! Seems like some might not be too thrilled with Apple is forcing big change in industries that never want to change. afraid they might have too much control? I can see that.
Why not force Google to do the same? MSFT, Yahoo. What about transparency for BP, Exxon Mobil, the auto industry, the electric companies and best of all the Federal reserve? What would be uncovered would make our heads would spontaneously explode
If I might ask. Where are you from?
I'd like to say, I've mentioned my location before in other posts. I prefer not to post in in this same thread, for obvious reasons... Let's just say the developing world remains, refreshingly, developing.
It pretty much works the same here...
Apple, if correct, that makes you 10 times more evil than Google. At least Google only sniffed our Wi-Fi but had no clue who's Wi-Fi it was. If Apple are automatically collecting info on users whereabouts and sending it to their database every 12 hours, that is the most invasive disgraceful invasion of our privacy I can imagine. Even China monitors it's citizens less than that.
It's completely unnecessary and is a far bigger issue than Antennagate.
funny and sad at the same time. I wonder if a thousand years from now if this sort of thing spirals out of control and instead of governments, we have corporations running countries and their armies.
Nah The planets resources will have been drained well before 1,000 years under corporate rule and consumerism. We won't be here if we stay on that path. The better question might be are we suicidal as a species?
After years[and centuries, as you mention], honestly, the "Western world" is coming to grips with sustainability and more responsible government. The developing world is still behind the curve, namely facing problems with dictatorships and blatant corruption (I mean, more than the usual you'd see in the "Western world").
As a species, I think it's a half-full half-empty kind of thing. Consciousness and awareness of how we should live is arising in many parts of the world. At the same time, corporations, government and people continue to do "business as usual", ie. just content to survive, enjoy, not question.
The thing is, we've got about a billion people kinda doing alright, relatively, another two billion on the path to a "better" standard of living, but there's the other half of the population (or at best one-third of the global population) that is just on a day-to-day existence.
People keep having babies! It's the population man, it's just, too big. It is a central point over which humanity and the environment cannot reconcile.
The US is one of the world's big polluters because of some of the big corporations, lifestyle, etc. but also because of the relatively high population growth (at about 1%) for a developed country.
On a global scale though, the rate some countries are burning through energy, minerals, resources eg. China, next India, Africa in a few decades... Hmm it can be depressing.
And we will like Joe Barton to make public his meetings with these thugs that take our natural resources without paying fair value to the treasury.
If there is a single agency in the world I do not trust to protect my privacy it is the US government. I would be better off trusting the KGB than my own government.
Not a problem. There are planes to Moscow every day.
Don't these politicians have bigger problems to solve than worrying about Apple's iAds and phone antennas??
funny and sad at the same time. I wonder if a thousand years from now if this sort of thing spirals out of control and instead of governments, we have corporations running countries and their armies.
funny and sad at the same time. I wonder if a thousand years from now if this sort of thing spirals out of control and instead of governments, we have corporations running countries and their armies.
We won't have to wait for 1,000 years for this to happen, it's already coming true.