Zero Privacy, Apple Apps, and Other URGENT News

From ABA Journal:

Puerto Rico Federal Case Alleges that Apple, Apps, Invade Privacy

Last week, two women filed a federal complaint against Apple and various apps developers, accusing them of intentionally seeking users’ private smartphone information and sharing it with third-party advertisers.

The suit, which seeks class-action status, was filed April 7 in the District of Puerto Rico. According to Wired's Gadget Lab blog, plaintiffs Natasha Acosta and Dolma Acevedo-Crespo argue that the allegation, involving both iPhone or iPad apps, violates the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. According to the complaint (PDF), apps that engage in the alleged behavior include Dictionary.com and Pandora, a media player.

According to Gadget Lab, iPhones don’t transmit customers’ names, but information can be identified by a string of unique numbers, known as the “unique device identifier.”

That information, combined with location, age and gender data, could easily show someones real identity, says John Nevares, a San Juan lawyer who represents the plaintiffs.

“When you put those together they’re able to transfer to a third party all your personal information so they can contact you later on and try to sell you something,” Nevares said.

This just in, we're getting reports from some crazy scientists that the North Pole, despite popular opinion, is actually still pretty frikkin cold. That and we have a first-hand account of one woman's visit to Hell, and she states emphatically that it is still crazy hot. Wow, all shocking news.

I was just telling my brother about this. We are being monitored a lot more than you'd like to know. And it's probably best that most people remain blind to their lack of privacy. It's bound to make a lot of people angry. After thinking about it some, It occurred to me it's just like digital content ownership.

Just like content it's not a totally unequal relationship, since demand for free content is so high (typical of a commidity, or abundant economy), it leaves some companies with little choice. They're extracting value out of the hooks they have, which is usually giving away content for free. So we are sort of asking for it. I'm just saying. This is what you get for the "it just works" experience.

Don't get me wrong, I'm one of the few people bad mouthing Apple these days. What do you expect from a platform owned and controlled by one company? You know what they always say ... What happens in the garden stays in the garden.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: Wagner Machado Carlos Lemes

Legal iPhones coming to Puerto Rico

Well sort of. While there are already a few die hard Apple minions using first generation iPhones on the island, the effort they had to go through to accomplish the feat truly shows their obedience to the cult of Steve Jobs. Recently Jobs announced his continued evil-genius plans to the world in the annual Apple World Wide Developers Conference.

As many expected, Jobs announced the second generation iPhone, complete with 3G, GPS, and a new software SDK to promote the development of iPhone applications. In addition, Jobs announced the expansion of the distribution of the iPhone to 77 countries. Unfortunately, while many anticipated Puerto Rico would be among those countries, ultimately it was not. According to AAPLinvestors, a collective of Apple, Inc. investors and traders, while Puerto Rico was originally included in the list, it was removed. While there has been several promises made that the iPhone would be sold through Claro or AT&T, for now, Puerto Ricans will not be able to buy iPhones in Puerto Rico.

But the good news is that we can now legally "use" iPhones in Puerto Rico. Like silly things like laws, rules, or restrictions have stopped us before. Am I right, mi gente? Anyway, now we can buy an iPhone in the United States, but in order for it to work in Puerto Rico without roaming fees, it must be activated with a 787 area code. I'm not sure what are the steps needed to do the activation, so once the new phones become available in July, hopefully the process to activate them in Puerto Rico will become more common knowledge.

The Apple Handheld Juggernaut rolls on...

In anticipation of the new iPhone 3G announcement, The Macintosh News Network reported that:

Apple is likely to sell 45 million iPhones by 2009, according to analysts from research firm Piper Jaffray, who raised their price target on Apple shares a whopping $20 -- from $140 to $160. "We believe Apple can sell 45 million iPhones in calendar year 2009," the analysts said. "While this may seem like a bold prediction, we believe a number in this area is not as far of a reach as some may think."