Genius recommendations for apps was one of the big new items announced for the iPhone at yesterday ‘s Apple event.  It ‘s one that I ‘m excited to get to know better, and I think many folks are keen to use. It ‘s worth noting, especially given the recent controversy over Pinch Media and other […]
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Turning On Genius for Apps Also Turns On ‘Spying’

Sep 10th 2009 by

Genius for apps on iPhone

Genius recommendations for apps was one of the big new items announced for the iPhone at yesterday ‘s Apple event.  It ‘s one that I ‘m excited to get to know better, and I think many folks are keen to use.

It ‘s worth noting, especially given the recent controversy over Pinch Media and other companies ‘ analytics and data tracking code in iPhone apps and whether this is spyware, that when you choose to turn Genius on, you are agreeing to exactly the same sort of ‘spying ‘ that kicked up the recent fuss.

The big difference of course is that Apple makes you aware of this right away when you go to turn the Genius feature on.  It tells you just below the ‘Turn On Genius ‘ button that turning it on will ‘send information about the apps you download to Apple ‘ and offers a Learn More link that presents the full Terms of Service, which you can also choose to email to yourself for easier reading.

Here is the full text of those Terms of Service, with some sections highlighted by me, which are relevant to the whole data tracking issue we ‘ve talked about in recent weeks:

iTunes Store
TERMS OF SERVICE

When you opt-in to the Genius for Apps feature by touching the ‘Agree ‘ icon below, Apple will, from time to time, automatically collect information related to the applications on your device, such as your time spent with each application and the number of times each application is launched. This information will be stored anonymously and not associated with your name or iTunes account. When you use the Genius for Apps feature, Apple will use this information, as well as other information, such as your application download history, to give personalized recommendations to you.

Apple may use this information and combine it with aggregated information from other users who opt-in to this feature, your iTunes Store purchase history data, your App Store download data, aggregated application download data from other users, and other information like customer ratings of applications, to:

¢    Provide you with App recommendations regarding applications, media, and other products and services that you may wish to purchase, download, or use.

¢    Provide recommendations to other users.

At all times your information will be treated in accordance with Apple ‘s Customer Privacy Policy which can be viewed at: www.apple.com/legal/privacy/.

Once you opt-in to the Genius feature, you will be able to create Genius recommendations on that device.

If you would prefer we not collect and use information from your device in this manner, you should not enable the Genius feature. You can revoke your opt-in choice at any time by turning off the Genius feature from the App Store Account page on your device. If you have elected to share Genius for Apps information from multiple devices, you need to turn off the Genius feature from each device.

This is pretty much just as you might expect this to work.  I don ‘t see any great surprises in there, or anything that I object to.  It ‘s an obvious trade-off needed in order to provide (hopefully intelligent and useful) app recommendations in future.

Anybody object to this data collection?  Opting out of Genius because of it?

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