There was a minor media frenzy over Apple secretly tracking your iPhone 4 today, so naturally the government wants in on the action. The FCC and representatives from both houses of Congress have said they’ll look into the matter.
An FCC official told Politico that the commission intended to look into the matter of Apple secretly tracking the GPS location data of its users and recording it in unencrypted files. Meanwhile, Senator Al Franken sent Steve Jobs a letter [PDF]asking many of the questions that most of us have been tossing around – why, how, to what end? – and expresses concern over many of the implications of the practice. Representative Jay Inslee, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he would not only press Apple for answers, but seek “comprehensive online privacy legislation” to address similar issues in the future.
Which hopefully means we’ll find out in more detail what’s going on here, one way or another. [Politico]
RobbyM
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 10:50 AMAnd people are suprised? Why?
Towards the end of the iTunes agreement (you have to agree to in order to use iTunes) is a paragraph that says you agree to let Apple “use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location”
So Apple has done nothing wrong.. We all agreed to let them do it.
ozoneocean
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 11:52 AMLOL.
They could have clauses about you agreeing to give away your firstborn in there, it doesn’t mean they’ve done “nothing wrong” because you “agreed” to it. Those terms of use aren’t real legal documents.
Marcus
Friday, April 22, 2011 at 7:53 AMEULAs (end user license agreements) carry no legal weight. Restrictions, permissions and disclaimers contained therin are legally not enforcable or valid. This is globally true except in the case of signed physical documents.
In addition to that, an ‘agreement’ in Australian law specifically requires a signature. You can click ‘next’ and check checkboxes ’till the cows come home, you’ve still agreed to nothing and you’ve been informed of nothing in the eyes of the law. This appropriately reflects the reality of the situation. EULAs don’t get read, nor are the implications understood by the majority of the population.
Francis
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 1:42 PMVodafone customers, rejoice. You can’t be tracked!
Peter Simpson
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 8:32 PMNormally, I find the vodafail schtick stupid, but props. I LOL’d.
chris
Thursday, April 21, 2011 at 8:59 PMbahahahaa!!
B
Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 4:53 AMApple’s response from last July, (interestingly, to the same public official who is demanding answers this week) is public record:
http://markey.house.gov/docs/applemarkeybarton7-12-10.pdf