Palm Pre users watch out. Palm may know a lot more about you than you would like to share.
Programmer Joey Hess found that Palm Pre’s operating system webOS sends his GPS location back to Palm every day. Hess also found code that sends Palm data on which WebOS apps he has used each day, and for how long he used each one.
“Since Palm has lawyers, they have a privacy policy, which covers their ass fairly well regarding all this without going into details or making clear that the above data is being uploaded,” wrote Hess on his blog.
In its defense, Palm says the data is used to offer better results to users. For instance when location based services are used, the Pre collects information to give users relevant local results in Google Maps, says Palm.
Palm takes privacy very seriously and offers users ways to turn data collecting services on and off, ” says Palm in a statement. “Our privacy policy is like many policies in the industry and includes very detailed language about potential scenarios in which we might use a customer’s information, all toward a goal of offering a great user experience.”
Palm actions triggers questions about consumer privacy and the extent to which handset makers developers are gathering and using data about buyers’ behavior. Still in this case, some of the concerns may be overblown, says Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research.
“It was Sun CEO Scott McNealy who said in 1999 ‘You have zero privacy. Get over it‘,” says Golvin. “While that is certainly overstated it is also true. Consumers, in general are concerned about privacy but look at the number of people who are willing to give up every detail of their personal lives for the opportunity to win a big screen TV.”
Palm launched the Palm Pre on June 7 exclusively on the Sprint wireless network. Despite some criticism around its battery life and display, the phone has been appreciated for its sleek hardware and the webOS operating system. Palm built webOS from scratch for the Pre.
As with most phones and computers, the Pre reports back to Palm with data when an application crashes. But where Palm may have erred is in how it discloses to Pre users that it is collecting data. Individual apps on the iPhone, for instance, often check in with users asking for permission to use location. The iPhone itself has a setting that allows users to turn location services on or off.
“The question here is the level of granularity when it comes to seeking permission,” says Golvin. ” If the permission on part of the user is overarching, which seems to be the case with the Palm Pre, then it is a rather crude way of doing things.”
Palm, so far, is yet to respond to user concerns. The company is yet to spell out clearly how users can opt out of this data sharing service. The company has also not disclosed if it is sharing the information it collects with Sprint or other third parties.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com
Posted under Gadget Reviews
This post was written by publisher on August 13, 2009
