How does Apple Genius work?
The Apple iTunes Genius feature can create personalized play-lists for your iTunes library and provide you with recommendations regarding media and other products that you maybe would like to buy.
How does Apples itunes Genius functionality work?
Apple is making no secret out of what Genius does, you can find it all here:
http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/appstore/us/terms.html
We would also strongly suggest that your read Apples Customer Privacy Policy here:
http://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/
When you enable Genius iTunes will start to send from time to time from your computer via Internet the following data to Apple:
- information that can be used to identify all media in your iTunes library
(media purchased through iTunes and media obtained from other sources.) - including for example play history and play lists
Apple is saying clearly that this information will be stored anonymously.
Apple will not only combine your information with the information collected from other Genius users. Apple will additionally also make use of:
- your iTunes Store purchase history data,
- aggregated purchase history data from other iTunes Store users,
- and other information obtained from third parties (whatever these may be)
to do the following:
- Create personalized play-lists for you that fit to your current iTunes library (that Apple at that stage knows all about)
- Provide you with recommendations regarding media and other products and services that you maybe would like to buy. Comment: there is a fine line here that is separating advertisement from good advice.
- And obviously the information you provided to Apple in the context of the itunes Genius feature will be from now on leveraged to provide recommendations regarding products and services to other Genius users.
If you do not want Apple to get all this information about your Music Library there is a simple solution: just do not enable Genius in iTunes.
In Apple´s own words:
“If you would prefer we not collect and use information from your device in this manner, you should not enable the Genius feature. You can revoke your opt-in choice at any time by choosing to turn off the Genius feature from the Store menu on your computer. Upon opting-out, iTunes will no longer send information about your iTunes library to Apple.”
It looks like Apple is not stating somewhere that it will ever remove any of your data that it received when you enabled the Genius functionality in iTunes. Therefore you should probably assume that the information you sent to Apple will stay with Apple (anonymously) even when you should ever revoke your opt-in choice for Genius at one point in the future.
Bookmark Buttons
September 21st, 2009 at 10:49 pm and is filed under Issues explained, Recommended Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Subscribe via Feed Burner
