iTunes 3 Spyware?

[monotheism]

iTunes 3 spyware?

Am I the only one who see's that this wonderful little program is spying on us? Why would I care to rate my songs? Why would I care what 25 songs are played the most? Most of us don't, But the Record Industry(RIAA) does.

Those evil little demons working for the RIAA really want to know what songs we're playing("Top 25 Most Played", "Recently Played"), how often we play them("Play Count"), and most importantly how much we like these songs("My Rating"). Why would they want this information you might ask? So that the RIAA has a MUCH better demographic of what people are doing with there music, So they can generate more money selling us products, The holly Dollar. If they know what songs we enjoy the most, then they can increase the marketing and production of related products that we the sheep, the consumer will likely purchase. All this info stored in a small iTunes file for discreet sending away to Apple.
I don't know about you, But Im 100% not ok with big business spying on me, my computer, What I do and when I do it is none of there friggn business.
I have no explanation of why Apple would be involved in such a dirty back stabbing plan as this downright invasion of our privacy, maybe something to do with the iPod licensing, I don't know. What I do know is that this is wrong and should be stopped.

Now that this theory is out in the air, what should the next step be?, Yet again I have not a answer, Just a comment on the state of the mac union.

...

Just because your paranoid doesn't mean that there not out to get you.

 

[iH8Quark]

Re: iTunes 3 Spyware?

Originally posted by monotheism
iTunes 3 spyware?

Am I the only one who see's that this wonderful little program is spying on us? Why would I care to rate my songs? Why would I care what 25 songs are played the most? Most of us don't, But the Record Industry(RIAA) does.

Those evil little demons working for the RIAA really want to know what songs we're playing("Top 25 Most Played", "Recently Played"), how often we play them("Play Count"), and most importantly how much we like these songs("My Rating"). Why would they want this information you might ask? So that the RIAA has a MUCH better demographic of what people are doing with there music, So they can generate more money selling us products, The holly Dollar. If they know what songs we enjoy the most, then they can increase the marketing and production of related products that we the sheep, the consumer will likely purchase. All this info stored in a small iTunes file for discreet sending away to Apple.
I don't know about you, But Im 100% not ok with big business spying on me, my computer, What I do and when I do it is none of there friggn business.
I have no explanation of why Apple would be involved in such a dirty back stabbing plan as this downright invasion of our privacy, maybe something to do with the iPod licensing, I don't know. What I do know is that this is wrong and should be stopped.

Now that this theory is out in the air, what should the next step be?, Yet again I have not a answer, Just a comment on the state of the mac union.

...

Just because your paranoid doesn't mean that there not out to get you.

wtf???

there's already a top rated / most played list, it's called the BILLBOARD 100!!!!

 

[desdinova]

Anything the RIAA does(Real Idiots and ******s) would not surprise me at all. It does seem to be out of character for Apple though. I also don’t think Apple has any love for the RIAA. However, if it did turn out to be true I wouldn’t be terribly surprised, just very disappointed. Yet another reason not to subscribe to dot mac.

 

[adeptboy]

troll troll troll diddlee troll troll troll

hey, do you have any proof of this other than random paranoid speculation? do you even know how to use a packet sniffer? i'll bet you're one of those people who believes that we didn't land on the moon, aren't you?

-adeptboy

<frequent lurker/rare poster>

 

[alex_ant]

All this info stored in a small iTunes file for discreet sending away to Apple.

Do you have any evidence of this happening? Your observation would be keen if it were true, but I think the foil hat you're wearing to keep the spy satellites out of your head is affecting your better judgement.

Show me the relevant packet logs please.

 

[JuneBug]

Dude don't start putting up the same post on macrumors and spymac...I am pissed I even wasted my time to write this.

 

[G4scott]

now that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard... Seriously, go get a life. They couldn't pull a conspiracy out of iTunes if they let the producers of the X-Files screw with it...

The rating is so that iTunes will know which songs you like, and the play count just records how many times you have listened to a certain song, so that you can sort them by your favorite song, or the most played. It's purely for user convenience, not for Apple or the RIAA to spy on you...

Give it up...

 

[ShaolinMiddleFinger]

So you're telling me that you're not gonna use your iTunes, then... besides....can't you delete those lists anyway...

 

[blogo]

I would love to see an X-files episode about iTunes 3

 

[Beej]

'noid boy, 'noid boy, na nah na nah nah!

If you're going to post something like this, at least phrase it a bit more like "could it be possible that..." rather than "it has to be stopped..."

Did you think it possible that these "spyware" data collectors may in fact be useful features to hundreds of thousands of users? I know I like them all a lot.

Go hide in your dark little bomb shelter and watch your X-Files box sets again.

 

[mac15]

we all bag out M$ for spying, but are apple really doing it also, we all know they are thatsd dam good at hiding stuff from us, so just maybe

 

[King Cobra]

Do you feel the same way about Audion being "spyware"?

Honestly, posting shít like that will only get you in trouble.

Besides, do you even realize that there are more spyware programs out there for windoze? The best example would be BearShare. Like LW and Acqu., it's a P2P program, but it's spyware. And it's available for windoze (the last time I checked).

Why would an mp3 player have spyware on it?

I'm not sure if you are uptight about missing the lottery by one number, or if you missed your chance to meet someone at the café, but get a ƒücking grip.

I realize my first impression was bad, but I have learned from it. Maybe you can to.

 

[shadowfax0]

I think you got two things confused, namely, your computer and your TV...

 

[awrc]

Re: iTunes 3 Spyware?

Originally posted by monotheism
Am I the only one who see's that this wonderful little program is spying on us?

Quite possibly. Maybe if I get out my tinfoil hat so I can tune into the secret signals, though...

I thought it was a stupid idea when iTunes came out too, but I've since found myself taking an occasional peek to see if there's any surprise patterns emerging. All I've concluded so far is that I've got a lot more albums than I actually listen to.

Those evil little demons working for the RIAA really want to know what songs we're playing("Top 25 Most Played", "Recently Played"), how often we play them("Play Count"), and most importantly how much we like these songs("My Rating").

Well, if that's the case they're gonna get a helluva shock from my Top 25. Two EPs worth of Bochum Welt, some stuff from the new Propaganda Outside World rarities comp, and some stuff from the belatedly released Associates album The Glamour Chase..

So that's one obscure Italian artist, one group that disbanded in its "classic" form around 15 years ago, and one group where the singer committed suicide over five years ago. All obviously strong contenders for the RIAA's marketing machine to consume and repackage using the latest in video compositing (AAAH! An explanation for Apple's purchase of Shake!) and animatronics (expect Apple, as the RIAA's enforcement arm, to reveal heavy investment in this area soon, as they replace some of the more fanatical Mac zealots with mindless pre-programmed androids incapable of reason and thus utterly indistinguishable from the originals) as the latest in pre-fabricated pop. Claudia Brücken may be in her late 30s or even early 40s by this point but, hey, she's got a navel she can bare too!

Take into account the fact that only one of the four titles is currently available in the US and that none of the artists were ever tremendously popular anywhere, and they've got a sure-fire winner on their hands.

Why would they want this information you might ask?

Because they're just very obvious and general samples of the sort of smart playlist you can create in iTunes? I know I couldn't live without my Smart Playlist that plays any Severed Heads tracks that have been played 3 to 5 times, but not in the last three months, and only if the song name begins with 'D'. I'm sure the RIAA are just rubbing their little hands with glee at getting hold of that information for their new Satellite Unplayed Severed Heads Favorites Beginning With 'D' channel, but the typical iTunes collection might not contain many titles that match that Smart Playlist, thereby making it seem less than useful as an example of the power of Smart Playlists.

Hmm, iTunes 3 bug - first time I put in the values in the "is in the range" condition it replaced both values with really outlandish numbers, like 13008 instead of 5. Haven't been able to repeat it. Maybe it's a Secret RIAA Code!

I have no explanation of why Apple would be involved in such a dirty back stabbing plan as this downright invasion of our privacy, maybe something to do with the iPod licensing, I don't know. What I do know is that this is wrong and should be stopped.

Oh, I have an explanation, but it concerns speculation on your mental stability and/or use of mind-altering substances, so I'll present this one instead:

Do you have any evidence of Apple being involved in a dirty back stabbing plan like this? Any mysterious outgoing connections to www.riaa.com? Or do you think they piggyback the pilfered information on "requests" to cddb2 (who are obviously in league with the RIAA because, well, who isn't?) for track listings? The reason I ask is that without something resembling evidence, you're unfortunately likely to be mistaken for a paranoid loon.

What if I was to say that I believe that the wide screen iMac was developed by aliens from Alpha Centauri whose eyes are on stalks and who thus need the wide screen display, and that nothing inside the case actually does anything, except for one tiny glowing nodule that beams images directly into your brain to prepare you for the invasion.

Believable? No. Any evidence? No. It thus diiffers from your theory only in the degree of unbelievability of the claims made.

Now that this theory is out in the air, what should the next step be?

Your first step should be presenting a shred of evidence to back up your claim. Then, after you've established that there is in fact a regular daily transmission of your listening habits to RIAA Secret HQ, you can foil their evil plans by deliberately listening to music that you hate.

Just because your paranoid doesn't mean that there not out to get you.

"They're", not "there". Oh damn, blown my cover in the League Against Anti-American Spelling yet again...

 

[Gelfin]

Re: iTunes 3 Spyware?

Originally posted by monotheism
Now that this theory is out in the air, what should the next step be?, Yet again I have not a answer, Just a comment on the state of the mac union.

Well, the "next step" is clearly for everyone to have a good laugh at your expense.

The step after that is for your resident skeptic to disprove your nutball theory by sticking a packet sniffer on his Mac and verifying that no network connections are initiated to any external site when launching the app, playing a song, changing a rating, accessing the "recently played" or "top rated" lists, or exiting the application. iTunes 3 is not talking to anybody. As far as why anybody would care about rating their own songs, ever think you might want to sort your music collection according to how much you like the tracks? Duh. I'd actually prefer a slider from 0 to 100 for better granularity, but it's a good start.

Just because your paranoid doesn't mean that there not out to get you.

It's "you're" and "they're." How do people get out of grade school without knowing this? More to the point, while your paranoia doesn't prove they're not out to get you, it wouldn't be paranoia if it was even remotely likely that they were. If you have a weird theory, it's up to you to come up with a way to get the strong evidence necessary to prove it. Throwing it out as a "what if" issue and expecting everyone to gasp and say, "hey, you're right, that could happen" just winds up making you look a bit stupid.

 

[Sherman]

iTunes 3 isn't spyware dammit. Apple wouldn't do that. They need all the trust they can get in their base consumers (us Mac people that love em' no matter what) and making iTunes 3 spyware would completely destroy that, in fact, if iTunes was, I might just go out and buy a PC just to spite Apple.

Die.