New Apple Privacy Policy Says Location Data Collected

By Carl Bagh: Subscribe to Carl's RSS feed

June 23, 2010 12:04 PM EDT

Sting's number "Every move you make...I'll be watching you" might apply to Apple's recently released privacy policy.

In its policy statement, Apple says it will collect "precise, real time geographic location" of your Apple mobile device, and that such information will be used for marketing purposes and to improve location-based services.

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The privacy policy also says, "To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services."

Some of its features like MobileMe "Find My iPhone" requires specific personal information for the feature to work. Apple also says it will collate non-personal data such as location, language, zip code, time zones and unique device identifier associated with the device. It would also track activities on its Web site.

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Customers do have the option to stop third-party apps from collating location information. It has added a location services page under "settings" to make that easier. There is also an opt-out for of the location services, though that disables any product updates.

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The policy statements come just days after iPad owners' email addresses were harvested by hackers from a group called Goatse security, through a loophole in AT&T's Web site. The group also revealed certain security glitches inherent in the Safari browser.

In the wake of revelations about Facebook's privacy settings, and the invetigation of Google for the data gathered from the Street View service, many organizations have expressed renewed concerns about privacy.

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