To be fair, this is a country not un-familiar with people relocating due to disaster. See every year in florida (hurricanes) and every few years in california (earthquakes/fires) and every year in the midwest (tornadoes). Honestly, another disaster to force people to give up their livelyhoods would be just routine here.
This is basically a renewed version of the theory of "Divine Grace". Absolute Monarchs in the 16th and 17th century argued that God had made them rulers by His Divine Grace, and therfore considered their power to be absolute and without limits. They were above all laws. Enlightenment and civil revolution finally did away with this nonsense.
The difference is, you could do it properly by passing a constitutional amendment. While I don't believe this tapping should be occuring at all, I do find irony in crying about the administration not doing things the right way because they thought it would be too hard and too much red tape and on the other hand supporting a law wich in some respects is the congressional equivilent of what the administration has done.
Ok, now let's look at this from Apple's perspective. Your boss' son downloads $100 of music every month, and your boss pays that. Or they could offer a subscription service and only get $20 a month.
Explain to me again why apple should offer a subscription service?
While I personaly don't find.Mac to be worth the price, $99 is not particularly over the top in terms of expence. 1 gig of space, 10 gb transfer, email, backup utilities and video tutorials roled into a package that costs $8.25 a month. For reference the cheapest hosting package I found ($30 / year) gives you 250 megs of space and 5 gb of transfer. It's a mater of preference really.
Microsoft had a music store
Microsoft provided software to access said store and play MP3s
Microsoft added a feature to recomend new music based on what I was listening to at the time.
The feature was obvious and on the main window Microsoft provided an easy way to turn this feature off.
Just assume for a moment that this was Microsoft we were talking about. Can you imagine the uproar on this boad? Can you imagine yourself defending the fact that Microsoft was sending personal information mearly for 'statistical' purposes? You have got to be kidding me. Apple is no different from any other company. They will use this information for profit in any way that they can (including selling the information to other companies).
Yes, I could personaly see myself defending microsoft in this instance were the situations exactly the same. Never mind that we will ignore microsoft's track record vs apple, if:
Microsoft had a music store
Microsoft provided software to use that music store and play music
Microsoft implemented a feature in their software to recomend new music to you from the store based on the music you were currently listening to
The feature was prominent and obvious on launch of the software
Microsoft provided an option to disable the feature
then I would have absolutely expected their software to be sending some data to their servers to make the recomendations and I would have absolutely no problem with the existance of the feature OR it being on by defaut. It's a feature that many users would find useful or benneficial, it's a rather obvious feature to implement and quite frankly it's not harmful at all.
People have blown this shit way out of proportion because they don't read (it's listed in the features list of itunes), don't think (how else would they make recomendations without information from your music) and don't pay attention (there are 3 ways to turn this off).
If Apple is really not using this info for anything, they should provide a UI to disable it. If they don't, that's a clear indication that they plan to use your personal information for profit.
They do. They provide a key command, a menu item AND a button on the main window.
Why do you assume this means they no longer collect personal information?
Because a monitoring of incoming and outgoing network connections when using iTunes with the ministore closed shows the same informations that gets sent when the mini store is open does not get sent when the mini store is closed.
Now if you're talking about being able to use the iTMS withou them collecting any personal information at all, you're shit out of luck.
Re:Big Brother and the iTunes Company
on
iTunes is Malware?
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· Score: 1
I couldn't speak for other stores, but where I worked it was so that they could figure out where they needed more stores. If 50% of your customers are traveling >50 miles to get to your store, you might want to consider puting a store where those 50% are.
Re:Extremely easy to disable, and more info
on
iTunes is Malware?
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· Score: 1
I don't see how you can't realize it. Hell even my mother, who up until a year and a half ago didn't even know what a power button on a computer looked like understands the concept that in order for someone (or something) to make a PERSONALIZED SUGGESTION, they need information to identify YOU and what YOU might like.
There is no *need* for Apple to know what other music you have just to buy a track.
Then don't use the mini store, use the regular store. How hard is this to comprehend? If you want apple to make suggestions automaticaly, use the mini store, accept that in order to do that they need some info from you. If you don't want them to, don't use the mini store and shop from the iTunes store just like you would have for the past versions of iTunes.
And while you're browsing your own music, the MiniStore will automatically show you more music from your favorite artists that you can find at the iTunes Music Store.
Two:
Edit->Hide Mini Store or the button in the lower right corner or the iTunes main window.
Which is why you're about to give me your credit card number, expiration date, CCV number, name, billing adress and phone number. What? You mean you wont? But you give it to retailers? OMFG DOUBLE STANDARD!!!!!!!!!
Spyware by definition pulls data without your knowledge. If you don't know that in order for iTunes to suggest what other songs you might like it needs data from you, then you are by definition a fucking moron. And given that you can turn it off with a click, it's not invading anyone's privacy anymore than your home having no cutains on the windows is an invasion of your privacy.
Re:Extremely easy to disable, and more info
on
iTunes is Malware?
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· Score: 1
Except it's listed in the features section of the itunes website, in bold print, and you can opt out.
Re:Big Brother and the iTunes Company
on
iTunes is Malware?
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· Score: 1
Until you paid with a credit card.....
Having worked retail, it never ceased to amaze me the number of people that would bitch and moan about when we would ask for something like a zip code, and then turn around and hand us both a credit card and a drivers license (and not pay attention to what we entered in the system from those). Never mind that your credit card alone contains more information about you on it's little mag stripe than we could ever have gotten from your zipcode.
Re:Big Brother and the iTunes Company
on
iTunes is Malware?
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· Score: 2, Informative
1. Where does it say that? EULA? Some "About" option nobody ever calls? That would be deceptive -> spyware.
The web site. In plain english. In bold type. In the features list. That would be plain as day -> not spyware.
Re:Big Brother and the iTunes Company
on
iTunes is Malware?
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· Score: 1
OK, so explain to me how Apple's software is going to make suggestions to you about what other songs you might be interested in based on information stored on your computer without sending data across the network. Sure they could store localized ads, and then connect to a server to download new ads every time you open iTunes but do you really want Apple using your computer as a personal storage device for their ads? Talk about bloat.
Re:Big Brother and the iTunes Company
on
iTunes is Malware?
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
love these idiots who proclaim that the disclosure in the online docs (which appeared during a recent mandatory upgrade) is sufficient. Line 'em up..
Aside from the fact that people have checked that hiding the mini store does stop it from sending data, please explain to me where you would like them to disclose this? No one reads the EULAs so Apple put it in a FEATURES list for the program. If you can't even be bothered to read the features list, do you really give a shit what your program does? Furthermore, explain to me how this was a mandatory update? My old systems are still puttering along just fine without the new iTunes.
If it were proof, then you could easily prove it to everybody.
Not at all. Proof like all things in life requires the people doing the proving and the people having something proved to them to accept some basic foundations and assumptions. Without accepting those basic assumptions, you can not prove anything.
Slashdot Mirror
To be fair, this is a country not un-familiar with people relocating due to disaster. See every year in florida (hurricanes) and every few years in california (earthquakes/fires) and every year in the midwest (tornadoes). Honestly, another disaster to force people to give up their livelyhoods would be just routine here.
Get a horse
This is basically a renewed version of the theory of "Divine Grace". Absolute Monarchs in the 16th and 17th century argued that God had made them rulers by His Divine Grace, and therfore considered their power to be absolute and without limits. They were above all laws. Enlightenment and civil revolution finally did away with this nonsense.
The difference is, you could do it properly by passing a constitutional amendment. While I don't believe this tapping should be occuring at all, I do find irony in crying about the administration not doing things the right way because they thought it would be too hard and too much red tape and on the other hand supporting a law wich in some respects is the congressional equivilent of what the administration has done.
Ok, now let's look at this from Apple's perspective. Your boss' son downloads $100 of music every month, and your boss pays that. Or they could offer a subscription service and only get $20 a month.
Explain to me again why apple should offer a subscription service?
While I personaly don't find .Mac to be worth the price, $99 is not particularly over the top in terms of expence. 1 gig of space, 10 gb transfer, email, backup utilities and video tutorials roled into a package that costs $8.25 a month. For reference the cheapest hosting package I found ($30 / year) gives you 250 megs of space and 5 gb of transfer. It's a mater of preference really.
As I've said before, if:
Microsoft had a music store
Microsoft provided software to access said store and play MP3s
Microsoft added a feature to recomend new music based on what I was listening to at the time.
The feature was obvious and on the main window
Microsoft provided an easy way to turn this feature off.
then there would be no problem.
Just assume for a moment that this was Microsoft we were talking about. Can you imagine the uproar on this boad? Can you imagine yourself defending the fact that Microsoft was sending personal information mearly for 'statistical' purposes? You have got to be kidding me. Apple is no different from any other company. They will use this information for profit in any way that they can (including selling the information to other companies).
Yes, I could personaly see myself defending microsoft in this instance were the situations exactly the same. Never mind that we will ignore microsoft's track record vs apple, if:
Microsoft had a music store
Microsoft provided software to use that music store and play music
Microsoft implemented a feature in their software to recomend new music to you from the store based on the music you were currently listening to
The feature was prominent and obvious on launch of the software
Microsoft provided an option to disable the feature
then I would have absolutely expected their software to be sending some data to their servers to make the recomendations and I would have absolutely no problem with the existance of the feature OR it being on by defaut. It's a feature that many users would find useful or benneficial, it's a rather obvious feature to implement and quite frankly it's not harmful at all.
People have blown this shit way out of proportion because they don't read (it's listed in the features list of itunes), don't think (how else would they make recomendations without information from your music) and don't pay attention (there are 3 ways to turn this off).
If Apple is really not using this info for anything, they should provide a UI to disable it. If they don't, that's a clear indication that they plan to use your personal information for profit.
They do. They provide a key command, a menu item AND a button on the main window.
Or you know, you could turn the mini store off and poof, no more data to apple.
Try the link that says discover new music.
Why do you assume this means they no longer collect personal information?
Because a monitoring of incoming and outgoing network connections when using iTunes with the ministore closed shows the same informations that gets sent when the mini store is open does not get sent when the mini store is closed.
Now if you're talking about being able to use the iTMS withou them collecting any personal information at all, you're shit out of luck.
I couldn't speak for other stores, but where I worked it was so that they could figure out where they needed more stores. If 50% of your customers are traveling >50 miles to get to your store, you might want to consider puting a store where those 50% are.
I don't see how you can't realize it. Hell even my mother, who up until a year and a half ago didn't even know what a power button on a computer looked like understands the concept that in order for someone (or something) to make a PERSONALIZED SUGGESTION, they need information to identify YOU and what YOU might like.
It would seem rather obvious given what it does and oh yeah, it's on the FEATURES page of iTunes.
There is no *need* for Apple to know what other music you have just to buy a track.
Then don't use the mini store, use the regular store. How hard is this to comprehend? If you want apple to make suggestions automaticaly, use the mini store, accept that in order to do that they need some info from you. If you don't want them to, don't use the mini store and shop from the iTunes store just like you would have for the past versions of iTunes.
One:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/playlists/
And while you're browsing your own music, the MiniStore will automatically show you more music from your favorite artists that you can find at the iTunes Music Store.
Two:
Edit->Hide Mini Store or the button in the lower right corner or the iTunes main window.
Which is why you're about to give me your credit card number, expiration date, CCV number, name, billing adress and phone number. What? You mean you wont? But you give it to retailers? OMFG DOUBLE STANDARD!!!!!!!!!
The difference is, you can't turn off or stop gator double click. That ability to opt out makes all the difference in the world.
Many iTunes users are not technical and don't understand that this sort of feature requires a least a moderate amount of identifying information.
You know, I don't have much hope for the intelligence for humanity, but how the fuck else does one expect this to happen?
Spyware by definition pulls data without your knowledge. If you don't know that in order for iTunes to suggest what other songs you might like it needs data from you, then you are by definition a fucking moron. And given that you can turn it off with a click, it's not invading anyone's privacy anymore than your home having no cutains on the windows is an invasion of your privacy.
Except it's listed in the features section of the itunes website, in bold print, and you can opt out.
Until you paid with a credit card.....
Having worked retail, it never ceased to amaze me the number of people that would bitch and moan about when we would ask for something like a zip code, and then turn around and hand us both a credit card and a drivers license (and not pay attention to what we entered in the system from those). Never mind that your credit card alone contains more information about you on it's little mag stripe than we could ever have gotten from your zipcode.
1. Where does it say that? EULA? Some "About" option nobody ever calls?
That would be deceptive -> spyware.
The web site. In plain english. In bold type. In the features list. That would be plain as day -> not spyware.
OK, so explain to me how Apple's software is going to make suggestions to you about what other songs you might be interested in based on information stored on your computer without sending data across the network. Sure they could store localized ads, and then connect to a server to download new ads every time you open iTunes but do you really want Apple using your computer as a personal storage device for their ads? Talk about bloat.
love these idiots who proclaim that the disclosure in the online docs (which appeared during a recent mandatory upgrade) is sufficient. Line 'em up..
Aside from the fact that people have checked that hiding the mini store does stop it from sending data, please explain to me where you would like them to disclose this? No one reads the EULAs so Apple put it in a FEATURES list for the program. If you can't even be bothered to read the features list, do you really give a shit what your program does? Furthermore, explain to me how this was a mandatory update? My old systems are still puttering along just fine without the new iTunes.
If it were proof, then you could easily prove it to everybody.
Not at all. Proof like all things in life requires the people doing the proving and the people having something proved to them to accept some basic foundations and assumptions. Without accepting those basic assumptions, you can not prove anything.