Geek break

Apple released a bunch of nice stuff on Tuesday, the (awkwardly named) MacBook Pro providing me with a nice upgrade path from my venerable TiBook. The 6-month-early switch to Intel was a pleasant surprise. Good going, Apple.

An unpleasant surprise comes from an iTunes update, which introduces spyware-like behavior as an optional but default feature. The added mini-store subwindow provides users with song suggestions based on their clicks within their music libraries. Here's a screen shot:



The song suggestion thing involves iTunes contacting Apple with information about the song and the user. An Apple source claims that the information is discarded. But intrepid investigators quoted at BoingBoing have found that the packets sent to Apple contain users' Apple IDs, the permanent customer codes used to track all interactions with Apple, which are tied to such information as name, address and credit card number. It bothers me that Apple, which now has rather close dealings with the lawsuit-happy music and movie industries, might know what I'm listening to, without having told me this. If Apple's really promising to neither keep nor share such information, I want that promise in writing.