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iTunes Includes "iSpy" Feature

January 13, 2006

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At this week's MacWorld expo, Apple proudly unveiled version 6.0.2 of iTunes, which it simply claimed "includes stability and performance improvements over iTunes 6.0.1."

Among these supposed improvements is the Apple iTunes MiniStore -- a localized "recommendation" engine that looks at what you listen to and then suggests additional songs and artists you might like. The MiniStore arrives turned on by default without asking a user's permission first.

What Apple didn't point out in all its hoopla over the new version is that the MiniStore not only makes recommendations but also automatically transmits your listening information over the Internet back to the Apple Mothership.

What Apple does with this information is unknown.

The company says it is not collecting data on its users -- at least not yet. But Apple has not disclosed what steps, if any, it is taking to prevent disclosure or leakage of the information to third parties.

The news follows the recent Sony BMG DRM fiasco, a part of which included an undisclosed "phone home" feature of its own.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) condemned Apple's listener-tracking as "part of a dangerous trend EFF has been witnessing in the digital music space market."

"When companies like Apple and Sony BMG start adjusting or installing software to micro-monitor our personal and private actions, even under the rubric of convenience, it is just one short stop down the road toward attempting to condition and control our behavior," EFF said.

EFF said the data collection would not be so objectionable if it were no so surreptitious.

"Allowing users to upload information voluntarily and expressly with adequate privacy protections is pro-user; surreptitiously siphoning it into a remote database without any privacy guarantees is not. It's time for Apple to pick a side of the line and walk it," EFF said in a statement.

EFF noted that users can turn off the Apple MiniStore by hitting Shift- Command-M, or choose Edit: Hide MiniStore. "EFF recommends that iTunes users do so until Apple at least comes clean about its MiniStore data practices," it said.

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