The old adage 'Fight fire with fire' does not apply to non-metaphorical fires
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Apple gets a grilling over privacy
GADGET FLOGGER Apple's 'Big Brother' desire to know where all its customers are at any given moment seems to have gotten some US lawmakers hot under the collar.
The co-chairmen of the House bipartisan privacy caucus have penned a stiffly worded letter to Steve Jobs demanding an explanation for changes to the company's privacy policy.
The letter hints that Edward Markey and Joe Barton are not best pleased with Apple.
"It is our understanding that Apple's consumers cannot use newly purchased iPads, iPhones, Apple computers or purchase products from the iTunes music store unless they accept the revised terms and conditions and include agreeing to the collection and sharing of geographical location data," the letter said.
The problem is that consumers have a limited ability to opt out of the privacy policy and still enjoy Apple's walled garden of delights.
The letter to Jobs asks a series of questions, including what products Apple is using to collect geographic locations of customers, when did the collection of this data begin and how many customers are affected.
The lawmakers also asked what internal procedures Apple employs to be sure the location data is stored in a manner that does not identify individual customers.
Above all they want to know what Steve Jobs is thinking by wanting to know where Apple fanbois are all the time.
They also want to know what unspecified "partners and licensees" Apple shares users' location data with and whether they include AT&T.
The lawmakers asked Jobs to provide any analysis of the issue by Apple's legal counsel and to respond to the letter by 12 July.
Of course Apple is not saying anything about the letter.
Jobs' Mob fanzine Apple Insider said that lawmakers had got it all wrong. It said the whole thing was kicked off by "sensationalist reporting" from the LA Times.
When Apple Insider was in Steve Jobs' bad books and Apple sued it, Apple accused it of the same thing. µ
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Normally this type of behaviour can be tolerated by the Steve Jobs flock of mindless followers. His explanations along the lines of "non-issue" and that "you're all over-reacting" might work very effectively with Apple fanbois that do as they are told and believe whatever pretty words Steve can use to describe a sewer full of shit...but...
This is an entirely different ballgame now. Steve Jobs telling everyone that he can track them as often as he wants, whenever he wants and it doesn't matter who you are. Steve apparently thought he was the President of the Universe that has the full right to track our military and government officials, their children and families.
This is a very serious security risk to all military and government officials and their families.
Oh dear. Steve Jobs...you really must believe you are God. Btw, hows the new liver? I'm surprised you needed one being that you are omnipotent and better than the rest of us.
@eideard
Cant you find a better word than sophomoronic, you used it before and it sure is boring
"Droid" Ilove that word. it just rolls off your tongue
I'm guessing wormy is using this to target ads at users?? I'm also guessing it's pretty easy to hack so I can learn where girly joe biden is so I can shoot spit wads at his ugly mug. By all means, bring on the geolocation software. It doesn't effect me other than making it easy to locate targets. :P
You lot never read a EULA before?
I expect incompetence from Congress. As much as I find Register humorless and sophomoronic, I would hope you know more about EULAs and the sort of geolocation common to any software which accesses an I address.
I was wrong.
At last someone has realised the rotten fruit is rotten!
It's dangerous for them, not that I *care*. If Congress is already upset about it, I predict that Apple with roll back that idea, or have an opt-out.