Company failing to live up to openness?

Apple should immediately disclose the details of the location data it is collecting from handhelds, says Germany's federal justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. The terms of the iTunes Store were recently amended to grant Apple and its partners the right to track the "real-time geographic location" of devices, specifically to "provide and improve location-based products and services." While in theory meant to support apps like Find My iPhone, users have no choice but to accept the terms if they want to use iTunes. Critics have also complained about the possibility of abuse or leaks.

Apple could potentially create personality profiles of users, the justice minister warns. The public should be made aware, she adds, of exactly what data is being collected, as well as what it's being used for, and how long it might be kept. Such concerns are in fact crossing party lines, as Hamburg's GAL-affiliated minister of justice, Till Steffen, argues that the matter demonstrates that data protection legislation is lagging behind Internet technology.

Germany's government is at least the second to direct its attention towards theoretical privacy threats created by Apple. In the US, the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus has asked Apple CEO Steve Jobs to account for the policy's sudden arrival, and also to answer questions such as how anonymity will be guaranteed. The executive has been given until July 12th to respond.

by MacNN Staff