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dbee
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Location: korea
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 Posted: Sat Jan 14, 2006 8:06 am Post subject: iTunes installs spyware and violates own license agreement.. |
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Read this article at www.spybot.info. The article is in relation to an apple feature that installs on your iTunes and sends data back to various other computers on the net.
It seems that apple have been telling tall tales to their suckers ....err ... I mean customers. And that Mr Jobs seemed like such a nice fellow
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To find out if this is really harmful, let's take a look at what data was sent outside. We found both the artist and album name of each clicked song in the outgoing data stream, unencrypted. Now since this is the iTunes Music Store, they need to track your identity for valid purposes in the usual Store you manually open when you want to. If you've bought a song in the Store before, the iTunes Music Shop knows you, and it would be easy to associate the data of the currently playing song with that profile.
You may ask if it really is that bad if Apple knows this. That depends... Apple didn't mention what they do with that data. We requested a statement from Apple, but the German PR person was simply not available for us except for a form letter rejecting any accusations. Now there are a bunch of websites saying that someone, maybe even Steve Jobs himself, said that the data would not be used, but discarded. Maybe that even is right - but they lied to their users in the license agreement, and there's no proof that those rumors are true. Furthermore, there's the question where the data was sent to.
So where did it go to? We tested the Windows version inside out, and found a bunch of connections, but only to Apple itself and their mirrors at Akamai, which is legit. We then got the idea to test the Macintosh version, and indeed found connection to 2o7.net, which belongs to a company named Omniture. Omniture is a company for Web Analytics and Web site Statistics. On the one hand, this means that data may be transmitted to a third party even, which according to the license agreement should not happen, at least not without clearly expressed users' consent. On the other hand, why does Apple need an external company for analytics and statistics if they discard the information right after looking up related albums?
These doubts have caused us to give Apple a few calls, emails and faxes, expressing our concerns, asking for a statement and offering our help in getting an insight from an anti-spyware companies perspective. The only answer we received was a form letter making fun of the fact that we have no Macintosh version and giving us the clearly wrong standard answer that no personal data is submitted, and a link to their website showing how to disable it (you can find it in link list below this article).
Let's summarize it. Should you be paranoid? Unless you have a bunch of MP3s downloaded from file sharing networks maybe, in which case I guess you wouldn't want a company working close with music labels to know, you probably don't need to be. It's a violation of law, and it's a break-in into your privacy, but it's not yet such a big deal as the recent Sony story. But you should show Apple your dislike clearly before they take the next step on the intrusion ladder (by the way, did you know that Apple forces OS registration on you way harder than even Microsoft?). And our sign of dislike is the removal of the About iTunes.rtf file from iTunes, which is the one concealing this new spying feature.
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:12 am Post subject: |
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Grasping at straws.
��S�� |
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Gord
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:19 pm Post subject: |
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| AbbeFaria wrote: |
| Grasping at straws. S |
You have no issue with not only a company telling you what devices you can and can not listen to your music on, but also tracks when and where you listen to what? |
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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| Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:18 am Post subject: |
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| Gord wrote: |
| AbbeFaria wrote: |
| Grasping at straws. S |
You have no issue with not only a company telling you what devices you can and can not listen to your music on, but also tracks when and where you listen to what? |
I don't see how Apple is telling me what I can use to listen to my music. Unless you're referring to the AAC format from iTunes, then that's different. That's the format that allowed them to sell the music in the first place. The only difference is they enforce copyright laws where as you're under the same rules whenever you buy a cd, but you just don't have to follow them. Unless it's Sony. That, versus something like Napster or Yahoo Music where if you want to keep a song you have to stay signed up for life. The minute your subscription lapses you no longer have the right ot listen to the music. I'll take iTunes anyday.
And as far as them knowing what I listen to, it's less than a non-issue. If that's true and they are tracking how often I listen to Beck vs. Fiona Apple vs. Disturbed etc., then so the hell what. And if you've got a problem with companies knowing your personal information then you better not buy anything again. Ever. Never use a bank, a credit card, a debit card. Never show your id, never file taxes, etc. etc. etc. You could lay in bed comatose for a week and your name would be going through dozens of computers a day, all of which have nothing to do with your illness. Somewhere someone is keeping tabs on you. From the spyware on your computer to the government reading your emails and recording your cell conversations to the post office sellling your address to junk mail companies. Having your listening habits known about is the very least of your worries.
In the US there is no right to privacy. The constitution never mentions it. Is that fair? Not really, no. But until there's an amendment it's fair game.
-S- |
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Gord
Joined: 25 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 8:52 am Post subject: |
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| AbbeFaria wrote: |
| I don't see how Apple is telling me what I can use to listen to my music. Unless you're referring to the AAC format from iTunes, then that's different. That's the format that allowed them to sell the music in the first place. The only difference is they enforce copyright laws where as you're under the same rules whenever you buy a cd, but you just don't have to follow them. Unless it's Sony. |
In many (most?) countries, the law clearly allows for people to migrate music between formats. Countries like Canada and the U.S. have clearly specified that copying music in one's personal music collection to alternate formats is lawful for decades now, other countries like Australia are much more recent converts.
Apple's decision to try and prevent people from copying their lawful music collection is a business decision with no legal foundation.
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| That, versus something like Napster or Yahoo Music where if you want to keep a song you have to stay signed up for life. The minute your subscription lapses you no longer have the right ot listen to the music. I'll take iTunes anyday. |
I remember back when people used to have to sign up by the hour to use the Internet. Now, it's unlimited per month. It's what people generally want.
The biggest obstacle to Napster and Yahoo! Music hasn't been the "gosh! I have to pay every month?!" but rather that there has been a serious lack of portable music players which supported the subscription format (slowly increasing) and that the interface to both offerings are poor.
In my truck, I have an 80G hard drive controlled by a stereo faceplate and has a wireless network connection. Every morning at 3am, it tries to do an update by asking my computer if I added any new music to my music collection.
If the interface to Napster and other computers didn't suck so bad along with offering to automatically fill both my portable music player and truck with new songs, who wouldn't want that? Look at how popular satellite radio is and such a setup would murder it in terms of desirability.
Napster is $10 a month in Canadian dollars. Who doesn't spend $120 a year on CDs? You've got to pretty hardcore in downloading to avoid buying a half-dozen CDs a year. If it did what it should do, I'd buy it. But it doesn't, so I don't. Instead, in 2005 I spend $200 a month on rock, punk, jazz, and electronica CDs from Korea and Japan.
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| And as far as them knowing what I listen to, it's less than a non-issue. If that's true and they are tracking how often I listen to Beck vs. Fiona Apple vs. Disturbed etc., then so the hell what. |
If you would like, I can give you an application to install on your computer that would automatically tell me what you are doing at any time. What documents are open, when your computer is running, what files are being accessed, etc. Where would you like the line drawn? We can set it up so that your tagline gives realtime updates of everything you are doing.
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| And if you've got a problem with companies knowing your personal information then you better not buy anything again. Ever. Never use a bank, a credit card, a debit card. Never show your id, never file taxes, etc. etc. etc. You could lay in bed comatose for a week and your name would be going through dozens of computers a day, all of which have nothing to do with your illness. Somewhere someone is keeping tabs on you. From the spyware on your computer to the government reading your emails and recording your cell conversations to the post office sellling your address to junk mail companies. Having your listening habits known about is the very least of your worries. |
I have no spyware on my computer, thank you very much. Though while some things such as transactions are expected to leave footprints, Canada's privacy laws (for example) expressly forbid sharing of any information I don't expressly permit. The Royal Bank, for example, can't send me flyers advertising an investment opportunity in a new chain of adult toy stores because I used my bank card to buy a lovely set of restraints for the ladies.
And the big problem is also that the sending of info back is new. Let's say I had an iTunes account two years ago back when their privacy policy stated that no information was sent back to Apple. That's a pretty big about-turn. How do we correct this? Force Apple to go back? Had iTunes (iTurns... ha ha ha! ya, anyway) been doing this on day one, it would have ended up being a much smaller service. Zee bait and zee switch.
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| In the US there is no right to privacy. The constitution never mentions it. Is that fair? Not really, no. But until there's an amendment it's fair game. |
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. |
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dbee
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Location: korea
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| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:53 am Post subject: |
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Is that fair? Not really, no. But until there's an amendment it's fair game.
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spoken like a true apple user ...
'I don't care what you do as long as you make my computer shiny and color in the hole in my life with your apple corp. identity'. How is it that apple produces so many corporate drones ?
That's the one good thing about M$, they may have been satan's spawn, but at least everyone had a vague feeling of ill-will when they picked up a bloated, buggy, overpriced M$ product.
Apple on the other hand seems to give everyone a misguided, warm and fuzzy feeling.
BTW the issue here is not about apple collecting info on you, but rather it's about them using their iTunes product to send info directly from your computer to a third party company. This is against the law and a violation of the license agreement.
This is starting to remind me of 1984. The bit where the party member sees evidence that contradicts his beliefs and just banishes it from his conscience. WAKE UP ! |
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ulsanchris
Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Location: take a wild guess
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| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| THe last time i did a spybot search it turned up itunes as spyware and i think got rid of the code thatt sends the information. It supposedly fixed the spy ware problem and itunes still works. |
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AbbeFaria
Joined: 17 May 2005
Location: Gangnam
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dbee
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Location: korea
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 8:06 am Post subject: |
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APPLE SUCKS !!!  |
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