Apple wants to track fanbois' heartbeats

TECHNOLOGY CULT LEADER Steve Jobs wants to stalk members of his flock who dare to stray from the confines of the promised land, according to a recent patent application.

The application would essentially allow Apple to seek and punish those who have jailbroken their Iphones. You might recall that not long ago jailbreaking became perfectly legal, though it seems Jobs' Mob doesn't want to admit that just yet.

It was already known that Apple could remotely disable an Iphone, something that occurred when one of its employees had lost an Iphone 4 prototype in a bar. Although, given the number of faults the Iphone 4 has, it's equally likely that the device was just operating normally. However, this patent goes further than just disabling lost phones with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) calling it "downright creepy and invasive".

As fanbois get ready to support their Dear Leader to the hilt, a quick look at what the patent outlines should concern even the most ardent follower. It details how pictures of faces and surrounding locations can be taken, voice can be recorded even when not on a telephone call, Internet activity can be monitored and even a user's unique heartbeat can be identified.

While Apple may claim that this technology is merely there to help fanbois who lose their beloved toys, it's hard to justify the level of snooping Apple wants to enable. Perhaps Steve Jobs caught a re-run of The Matrix trilogy over the weekend and suddenly thought that was a good idea to incorporate.

Further questions remain, such as, after Apple acquires the data, what happens to it? Everyone knows that Apple is making a big push into advertising with its invasive Iad software, but what's to stop the company from selling on users' personal data to make a few more quid?

Then there's the question of data security. What if Jobs' Mob has a data breach? Not surprisingly the patent doesn't include any relevant information about such contingencies.

That said, this move could be an indication that Jobs really does know what his followers want. After all, they love to feel 'connected' with their beloved company and this seems a pretty effective way to do just that. Perhaps fanbois will be able to profess their adoration of Jobs knowing that he might actually get to hear it. µ