Apple has updated their privacy policy, and now has the ability to “collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.” If you tried to update any of your apps, or maybe download iBooks for the iPhone today, you probably hit a screen asking you to check out changes to the privacy policy. Here’s precisely what the text says:
To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.Some location-based services offered by Apple, such as the MobileMe “Find My iPhone” feature, require your personal information for the feature to work.
So what will Apple do with this info? The general assumption is that it will be used in conjunction with iAds to create targeted advertisements, based on businesses around you.
At present there is no option to opt-out of this, which is more than a little disheartening. I’m not particularly comfortable with any company tracking my location — not Twitter, not FaceBook and not Apple. I’m more than happy to let people who want it to have this info used, but at least give us a way out of it!
UPDATE: It appears there is a way to get out of this sticky situation — at least slightly. Apple is providing a way to opt out of targeted iAds, though they don’t say it’ll stop them scraping your location data. To do so, visit oo.apple.com from an iOS 4 device. It’s not functioning yet, but hopefully it’ll go live by the time iAds hit the streets.
“If you do not want to receive ads with this level of relevance on your mobile device, you can opt out by accessing the following link on your device: http://oo.apple.com. If you opt out, you will continue to receive the same number of mobile ads, but they may be less relevant because they will not be based on your interests. You may still see ads related to the contrent on a web page or in an application or based on other non-personal information. This opt-out applies only to Apple advertising services and does not affect interest-based advertising from other advertising networks.”
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Hopefully a jailbroken iOS will have an SBSettings toggle…