
roll on Palm and Google brother
it is just toooo funny - not:
while Apple is getting the flak from the geek bloggerati such as the , Google collects every keystroke you make (http://tinyurl.com/krdyam) and Palm is tracking your every movement.
If you're a Palm Pre user, it appears that your phone is telling Palm where you are, which apps you're using, how long you're using them, and when those apps crash. So says a blog post by one Unix-savvy Pre investigator. Debian-developer Joey Hess told The Reg that he had no idea Palm was uploading his personal data until he …
Engadget has a pic of a first time setup, user agreement type screen that straight up tells you it's going to collect location data.
It says "allow Google's location service to collect anonymous and aggregate location data. Collection will occur regardless of whether any applications are active"
There follows Agree and Disagree buttons so you can opt out. Controversy FAIL.
So far all I can see is that Palm are doing what every OS manufacturer should do, which is gather metrics on the use of that system, in order to improve it.
Notification? mmm, maybe it would be nice, but its a phone, I don't want the slim resources wasted on a notification feature only the paranoid care about.
I'd be more worried about this if I were you. Under US telecoms legislation and the domestic spying (Sorry, anti terror) laws brought in by the Bush admistrration, if Pre gather this information on you then the Feds can more or less demand that it's handed over. Some of it they don't even need a warrant to get.
Suppose that you have an app on your phone that the Feds don't like, like that iPhone app that tells you where the legal marijuana points are, or one which tells you where public access wifi networks are with admins don't record usage data (Essentially anonymous internet access), or if your GPS data shows that you visited a neighborhood with a crystal meth lab in it? The Feds can get this data and your GPS data off of Palm and can violate the Fourth Amendment in all kinds of funky new ways.
So you do not have any of the following:
A mobile phone of any description
A computer with an internet connection
A modern (RFID) passport
A credit/debit card
A motor vehicle with an anti-theft tracker (or even a GPS on certain marques)
A motor vehicle with legal plates (can you say ANPR?)
Recently purchased clothes or other commodities (RFID again)
A bank account
A job with a defined place of work
A bin
A face
Eyes
Fingerprints
DNA
Yes, "the man" could use any of the above to track/monitor you. Some are more real time than others, of course.
I used part of your post -"Suppose that you have an app on your phone that the Feds don't like, like that iPhone app that tells you where the legal marijuana points are"- in translation party (http://translationparty.com/#1365921).
The final result was: "iPhone applications, mobile applications, the federal government to legalize marijuana, I hope."
Ludicrous :)
Why the troll? I wasn't able to find an excuse to use the Paris icon, and the troll also has funny eyes.