“Speaking at last night’s D8 conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs singled out Flurry as a reason for changing privacy policies,” ,” MacNN reports. “‘Some company called Flurry had data on devices that we were using on our campus; new devices,’ according to Jobs. ‘They were getting this info by getting developers to put software in their apps that sent info back to this company! So we went through the roof. It’s violating our privacy policies, and it’s pissing us off! So we said we’re only going to allow analytics that don’t give our device info; only for the purpose of advertising. After we calm down from being pissed off, then we’re willing to talk to some of these analytics firms,’ Jobs added. ‘But it’s not today.'”
MacNN reports “Farago explains that Flurry has been in touch with Apple, and is taking several steps to assuage concerns. The newest one is an omission of device data from tracking.”
Read more in the full article here.
That’s the way to tell em Steve!
Job’s is putting them in a corner for a time out.
Not good being named by Steve Jobs as a company that Apple is concerned about. Might want to hold off on that IPO…
Warning:
Do not take liberties with Steve Jobs. He has a loooooooooooooooooooooong memory and an army of die hards to count on – Ask monkey boy and his barber’s pet boss
Thank you, Apple, for taking user privacy concerns seriously, when it seems no other tech company does. Your “old-fashioned” stance on this issue suits me and a lot of other folks just fine.
Maybe the solution is not with Flurry, it’s with any developer that embeds third party SPYWARE in their apps. As in, “You don’t get to be part of the Apple Developer program if you do this”. Period.
“So we said we’re only going to allow analytics that don’t give our device info; only for the purpose of advertising”.
Bravo Steve. Become the internet’s trusted source. This is the real secret of the future that I think Steve and Apple already gets and that Google and MS may have already lost the war on: user trust.
If Apple shows they can be trusted by users, which they have a pretty good record of, that will be BIG, and not too far down the road. Facebook is already crumbling in the face of user trust, and Google is starting to follow them unfortunately with a surprisingly cavalier attitude about privacy (among other recent examples, Google Buzz), and once you’ve blown a customers trust, it’s very hard to ever earn it back. Also, as more and more of the internet is comprised of a female audience this is already becoming much more of a concern. They take privacy much more seriously than we males do out of necessity. The internet companies that don’t take their trust seriously do so at their own peril. Women have looong memories.
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Based on Steve’s last keynote, I believe this is exactly where Apple is going. He made a big deal out of saying Apple respects your privacy, and subsequent emails he’s written to people make me think he’s already way ahead of the rest of us in his thinking on this, as usual.
If Apple comes in and says trust us, means it, and lives up to it, look out.
@ Farago
One does not “collect analytics.” Analytics is a process or the science of applying operations research techniques to optimize organizational practices. See Analytics Magazine.
I agree with lurker…
If developers embed ANYTHING that is prohibited by the iPhone/iPad developers agreement, they should be outright banned!
Oh, and they should get kicked in the nuts by a nun too… You know, because getting kicked in the nuts by a nun would suck… Not more an just getting kicked in the nuts in general, but because it would just really, REALLY suck!
Moofing along:
Re: Google’s surprisingly cavalier attitude about privacy:
Two day ago, when surfing to YouTube’s home page, ( http://www.YouTube.com), I got a message divulging the identities and personal info ( user names and email addresses) of two users Google states who I may know…
It looks like Google is continuing to mine and share confidential user data…
BTW, just out of curiousity I look to see who Flurry’s partners are.
Second on the list, AT&T;…
Sigh…
“Some company called Flurry had data on devices that we were using on our campus; new devices… So we said we’re only going to allow analytics that don’t give our device info”
Better read that again. This is not about your privacy but Apple’s privacy. It reads to me that Flurry was pulling device data from those new iPhones, AppleTVs etc.
As a user of Flurry, I appreciate the information it provides about my customers…. BUT Steve was right on the money about privacy… My users should be fully aware that I am collecting app usage information. Whatever way Flurry decides to go, I am going to add notification and freedom of choice to my app users, letting them know I am collecting usage info for my advertisers.
breeze:
At the very least it makes you wonder a little. I’m still trying to give them the benefit of the doubt and just hoping it’s out of ignorance or mistakes and not on purpose, but I think you still have to be more than a little concerned. Like I mentioned I think this is going to be a big issue just down the road.
Flurry should be banned from the App store in my opinion.
It’s very very bad for privacy and the user does not know anything about what’s going on.
GRANDxADMIRAL you should be ashamed of yourself. I hope you clearly state in your App-description thar you imbed Spyware in your Apps so users can avoid them.
Karlv,
You are exagerating by calling the methods by which I’m collecting info as “Spyware.”
Flurry allows you to set markers when your user taps a button, visits a place, or completes a task in your app. You can then see, anonymously, what your users do when using your app.
You CANNOT see anything outside of your app. Specifically, private user information.
Regardless, I will be adding details in the description about the methods I’m keeping track of users actions within my app.