Edible Apple

In late June, US representatives Edward J. Markey and Joe Barton expressed concern regarding Apple’s updated privacy policy which it felt did not adequately explain Apple’s stance on collecting and using information about users’ geographic location.

They subsequently sent Apple a number of questions it wanted answered, which included some of the following:

1. Which specific Apple products are being used by Apple to collect geographic location data?
2. When did Apple begin collecting this location data, and how often is data collected from a given consumer?
3. Does Apple collect this location data from all consumers using Apple products? If the answer is no, please explain which consumers Apple is collecting information from and the reasons that these consumers were chosen for monitoring.
4. How many consumers are subject to this collection of location data?
5. What internal procedures are in place to ensure that any location data is stored “anonymously in a form that does not personally identify” individual consumers?

And less than a month later, Apple whipped up a response and fired it back to both Markey and Barton, who both seem to be pleased.

Reps. Markey and Barton sounded mostly satisfied by Apple’s response. “Apple’s responses provided additional information about how it uses location data and the ability of consumers to exercise control over a variety of features on Apple’s products, and I appreciate the company’s response,” Markey said in a statement, and added that he would “continue to closely monitor this issue.”

Added Barton: “While I applaud Apple for responding to our questions, I remain concerned about privacy policies that run on for pages and pages. I hope every business that uses information for advertising and marketing purposes will work toward more transparency and complete disclosure about their practices, as well as robust security for the information they hold.”

You can check out Apple’s response in its entirety below.

apple response to markey-barton

via CNET