iTunes Spyware

Apple is getting into a little trouble with their new iTunes release:

From Kirkville: “Yesterday’s update to iTunes 6.0.2 comes with a surprise: it’s spyware and adware. … Apple has overstepped its limits, and this spyware (because it sends information to a server) and adware (because it displays information to attempt to sell you products) is a very serious breach of the trust I have long had in Apple’s products.”

Perhaps more troubling than the actual activity is the way that Apple has done it. From Boing-Boing: “As Marc at Since1968 points out, there’s no language in Apple’s privacy policy that addresses this specific behavior.”

That, for me, is the heart of the matter. In order to make good on the promise of ever better personalization, and to help consumers improve their Return on Attention, you need to collect information about them. If Apple were upfront about this, and provided a clear and easy way for people to either opt-in or opt-out (opt-in is better), this would never have become an issue. Interested consumers would have embraced the new feature, the same way they have embraced Attention Recorder.

Problems only arise when you violate consumers’ trust and take their privacy lightly.