Palm Spies on Customers Via Pre
August 13th 2009 14:49
Category: Mobile Phones
As an owner of a Palm Pre, the news that Palm has been caught spying on their Pre customers is a little worrisome. Granted some of the information they were collecting seemed simple enough, I'm pretty sure, I don't want them watching my GPS location details.
I full understand why Palm may want to check into which apps are being used, the length of time and frequency the apps are being used, and and errors that the apps may be having.
But, why do they need to know my GPS location?
Although, the privacy policies do not mention that the data can be transmitted and watched, but they do mention that Palm has the right to gather geographical data about the phone usage based on location. This is all well and good, but there are many that want to know why they were not told that the company was gathering the information and that the phones were being watched.
Personally, it's a breach of privacy, in my opinion, but if it's in the TOS, then there's not much that can be done about it, I presume.
There are means that Palm Pre users can turn the features on and off, but the policy doesn't state exactly how users can turn the data collecting services on and off and t o which services it actually applies to. And even still, should users of the Palm Pre really have to manually do that? Or should we just trust that the company is spying on our phone usage to better the apps and features of the cell phone?
I personally, feel that Palm would not spy on users unless the information is being gathered for purposes that will better the Pre usage features and abilities, but at the same time, there is no reason why Palm should not have explicitly told its Pre users what they were doing besides just burying the terms about collecting the data in their privacy policy.
I full understand why Palm may want to check into which apps are being used, the length of time and frequency the apps are being used, and and errors that the apps may be having.
But, why do they need to know my GPS location?
Although, the privacy policies do not mention that the data can be transmitted and watched, but they do mention that Palm has the right to gather geographical data about the phone usage based on location. This is all well and good, but there are many that want to know why they were not told that the company was gathering the information and that the phones were being watched.
Personally, it's a breach of privacy, in my opinion, but if it's in the TOS, then there's not much that can be done about it, I presume.
There are means that Palm Pre users can turn the features on and off, but the policy doesn't state exactly how users can turn the data collecting services on and off and t o which services it actually applies to. And even still, should users of the Palm Pre really have to manually do that? Or should we just trust that the company is spying on our phone usage to better the apps and features of the cell phone?
I personally, feel that Palm would not spy on users unless the information is being gathered for purposes that will better the Pre usage features and abilities, but at the same time, there is no reason why Palm should not have explicitly told its Pre users what they were doing besides just burying the terms about collecting the data in their privacy policy.
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