iOS 4 became available yesterday for download and with that download comes a new privacy policy which by default, lets Apple track where you are and provides that real time information to partners and licensees. What this means is that the new ad system, iAd can be use your location data to customise ads on your phone.
iAd does have an “opt-out” policy allowing you to not send your location based data to the company. In doing so you’ll still see iAd ads, but the relevance of the ads will be dropped a little and wont work based on location.
To opt out you need to visit on the device you are using and select the relevant options. The policy changes can be seen below although the whole document is huge. What we have here is the parts related to location tracking and iAds.
To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.
Some location-based services offered by Apple, such as the MobileMe ‘Find My iPhone feature, require your personal information for the feature to work.
Apple and its partners use cookies and other technologies in mobile advertising services to control the number of times you see a given ad, deliver ads that relate to your interests, and measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns. If you do not want to receive ads with this level of relevance on your mobile device, you can opt out by accessing the following link on your device: . If you opt out, you will continue to receive the same number of mobile ads, but they may be less relevant because they will not be based on your interests. You may still see ads related to the content on a web page or in an application or based on other non-personal information. This opt-out applies only to Apple advertising services and does not affect interest-based advertising from other advertising networks.
It makes you wonder if this is really a problem or not. Companies already know a lot of information about you from how you browse, what you do on your computer. It seems like this is just 1 step further with many steps to follow till we have to give everything away.
What are your thoughts? Will you be opting out?
Via: SlashGear
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