News

Apple Says it Does Not Use Info Sent By iTunes MiniStore

Thursday, January 12th, 2006 at 6:15 PM - by Staff

Apple's latest update to iTunes adds a feature known as the MiniStore, which displays recommendations from the iTunes Music Store based on the song currently playing. However, to do this, iTunes transmits the artist and song title, along with the user's personal iTunes account number, activity that some regard as a privacy violation along the lines of spyware.

iTunes will stop relaying such information to Apple if the user turns off the MiniStore, but Apple does not alert users about the data transmission when they upgrade the software. The company also does not indicate through the software what it will do with the information.

Writing for MacCentral, Rob Griffiths expressed dismay over the situation before later clarifying his article to explain that Apple only uses the information to update the MiniStore before discarding it. However, he still thinks Apple should disclose what iTunes is doing with the MiniStore and how the company will handle personal data.

Those concerns were echoed at the blog BoingBoing, where some readers were able to confirm that iTunes is indeed transmitting information to Apple. They would like the MiniStore turned off by default; currently, it's turned on by default when the user upgrades to the new version of iTunes.

13 comments from the community.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:36 pm

BoingBong?

Or BoingBoing?

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:51 pm

It doesn't matter if they only use it to update the ministore, they should have asked permission first, it shouldn't be the default setting. I hate "push" marketing, it is so spam like.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:00 pm

What's the big deal? Apple already has me name, email, phone number, address, and credit card number from registering and buying products from them. Should I really be concerned if they know what type of music I listen to???? Come on, this is crazy. What could they possibly do with knowledge that I am listening to "Tie Your Mother Down" by Queen (which I am). See, you all know it now. What are you going to do with it? People need to get over this "privacy" thing and realize that a huge coorperation like Apple isn't interested in your music habits, considering they alreayd have all of your personal information anyway.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:21 pm

So many companies do this. What's the big deal. I asked a dozen people -- co-workers and family members -- their thoughts and not a single one complained. In fact, most of them like the idea. As do I.

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kevdo said:

member since 09 Dec 2004 with 54 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:51 pm

The privacy concerns are an issue but to me the bigger issue is the useless space it takes on the screen. That's a much bigger problem with the mini store to me. Thankfully, it is easy to turn this "feature" off.

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Brutno said:

member since 28 Aug 2002 with 198 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:56 pm

To the two guest posters who think this is no big deal - apparently you two are too busy to realize the slippery-slope aspect of this, but it's there. This "feature" should be turned off by defualt, and Apple should have to: 1) Sell it to me so I feel it is of value and turn the feature on, and 2) Practice full disclosure, as should any company that operates on the internet. This is a simple right that anyone should have, especially for those not savvy enough to run Little Snitch or equivalent. This is not to imply that I do not trust Apple or its motives, but by promoting this they leave the door open for other, unscrupulous parties to misuse information. (....or worse - Sony Rootkit, anyone?)

Think about it - would you like someone peeking in your windows (without your knowledge, of course) to see what you, say eat for dinner, and then knock on your door to suggest dessert? I wouldn't - but maybe you would. All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing has never been more true. While this may not rise to that level, it's close enough for me.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jan 13, 2006 2:51 am

The Mini-Store IS very annoying and pushy. I thought Apple was cooler than this?

.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:38 am

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is common. Consumer behavioral data is collected, bought, and sold with everything else.

The only problem is that "opt in" is the implicit norm, not "opt out," and companies have paid lobbyists in government to make sure it stays that way. It might not be such a big deal if someone's eating, listening, or reading habits are collected, but sensitive information like finances and such are also included. In this day and age, listening and reading lists could also be construed to be sensitive.

In the end, it's nobody's business but your own, but it would be hard to function in everyday life without submitting to the process. I just hope Apple doesn't take it to the annoying level that Amazon does.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:19 am

Apple already has all the information they're collecting if you've bought anything from them in the past!

The only reason they're collecting it at any particular moment is so they can present new song info to you based upon what you're listening to at that moment. Obviously if you're listening to Madonna, they don't want to offer Beethoven, even if they know you've bought him in the past - since you're NOW listening to Madonna, you're in the mood for that type of music, not classical. Now, tomorrow, when you're listening to Beethoven, maybe you'll be more in the mood for classical, so they'll offer a more classical selection...

They don't need to keep this info - they've already got your buying history, so they know what you like! The ministore seems to me to be an impulse-buying kind of opportunity for customers. They obviously want to tap into the mood you're in at THAT moment so they can offer similar music.

Many people like more than one type of music, like Rock, or Classical or Jazz. But you're not always in the mood for just anything. At any particular moment, you may just want to listen to one type. If they present something similar, you'll be more likely to buy than if they present a different genre.

It's pretty simple, really.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:38 am

"Apple already has all the information they're collecting if you've bought anything from them in the past!"

What if you didn't buy the music you're listening to from the iTunes Music Store? Then Apple doesn't have that info.

But it would make sense for them to not keep that data, since we're talking about millions of people listening to billions of songs. They'd have to have a huge infrastructure in place for holding onto and sorting all that information.

Of course, grocery stores must have pretty good data collection centers to handle all the information they get when you use their shopping card for a discount (which is why they offer them instead of sending out coupons anymore; sure, it's easier, but it's also to collect info that they can sell). So Apple could have something similar, but I'm not aware of Apple having a past history of selling customer info for marketing purposes.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jan 13, 2006 9:49 am

I think there's a difference between the grocery store and Apple in the sense that the grocery store has an interest in keeping you as a customer (as opposed to you going to a competitor). Apple does too, of course, but there aren't that many competitors.

Apple probably doesn't want (or need) to spend the money on such a large data structure, since they can simply collect up-to-the-minute info on your music choices to achieve their goal of offering you music selections similar to your current likes. collecting, then dumping it when no longer needed is definately a cheaper model than selling such valuable info to a competing music store!

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squintbro said:

member since 23 Jul 2002 with 241 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:26 am

I love the "it's no big deal" comments. If this was Microsoft collecting the same information from a Windows program, us Apple users would be pointing our collective fingers and laughing at Windows users. Apple is wrong to sneak this feature in on iTunes.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:35 am

Brutno wrote:
Think about it - would you like someone peeking in your windows (without your knowledge, of course) to see what you, say eat for dinner, and then knock on your door to suggest dessert? I wouldn't - but maybe you would. All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing has never been more true. While this may not rise to that level, it's close enough for me.

I would not want someone looking in my window, because there is more hapenning there than what is on my table for dinner. But Apple is not looking in my window, they are just getting a written report about what I am having for dinner. If Apple was able to look beyond the currently playing song and look into my iMovies or my private photo collection in iPhoto, then yes there would be a problem. But this is not the case and I do not see a slippery slope here where Apple would be able to justify doing any of these other things in the future just because of the the mini store.

Having said that, it was a bad move to have it turned on by default. If only because they knew that people would react like this. Then again maybe they were counting on the reaction as a form of publicity for the new feature.

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