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Apple Curtails Tracking By iTunes

Posted on: Thursday, 19 January 2006, 12:00 CST

By John Boudreau, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Apple Computer responded to a small uproar over privacy concerns regarding its latest version of iTunes, announcing Wednesday that it does not keep information about a person's purchases and clearly explained how to turn off the new "MiniStore" feature.

The MiniStore, located at the bottom of the new iTunes screen, tracks the music and video individuals listen to and watch, and offers suggestions that match a person's tastes. Though users could turn it off before, the notice on iTunes -- located in the MiniStore window -- clearly explains how to do it.

"We've listened to our users and made access to the MiniStore an opt-in feature," said Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr. "Apple does not keep any information related to the contents of our users' music library."

Last week, Apple was sharply criticized by some bloggers who were upset with the service because it tracks a person's behavior with a unique identification number, and did so without notifying consumers.

"I applaud Apple's relatively quick reaction to this issue by providing a clear and concise explanation of this feature," said Kirk McElhearn, author of several books on Macintosh computers who flagged Apple's response on his Kirkville blog on Wednesday.

"It shows that we bloggers do have some input out there," he said in an interview. "It's important for people to stand up for the little things."

Contact John Boudreau at jboudreau@mercurynews.com or (408) 278-3496.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

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