Apple has made some changes to its
iTunes software to address privacy concerns raised by bloggers over the included
MiniStore feature. The MiniStore feature sends the data about a selected track to the iTunes music store just to help make recommendations, but bloggers discovered that it also sends unique identifiers for a computer and iTunes account. They criticised Apple for not being more open about the data that was being collected or what was being done with it.
The revised iTunes will now warn users about the data being collected and let's them easily disable the recommendation feature. Apple issued a statement describing the changes made and ensuring iTunes users that nothing has been done with the collected data. The feature also sent back data on songs not bought from iTunes and made recommendations on similar tracks available in the store.
Source:
BBC News
Written by: James Delahunty @ 21 Jan 2006 19:23
