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October 22, 2014

Apple Knows Everywhere You Search. But Do You Care?

What is ‘good for the goose is good for the gander’ has been an expression that business rarely lives up to, so in this case, I’m going to get on my soap box.

California is a great place for free thinking and re-engineering ideas. Sometimes the ideas are so elegant that they are viral and pervasive. Other times they are sneaky and have a sinister side that makes expressions like “don’t be evil” laughable.

The discovery that Apple is tracking all your searches regardless of what search engine you use is an interesting story. But equally interesting is the fact that the story about the FCC doing a study on political tweets is getting greater scrutiny than Apple tracking everything.

The problem with revelations is, who is the victim? Politicians can get upset with the FCC study (but will probably be interested in the data it yields). Consumers have a hard time gathering concerns given the plurality of searches. Some searches about “marijuana” are okay in Colorado, but in New Jersey, not so much. And anyway, do you want to go on record about that?

For the phone companies, the rule of the land was Consumer Proprietary Network Information [CPNI] restrictions, which basically keep the carriers in the tone and not the content. 

As the FCC continues to identify its role in the future and terminates the PSTN, should they be the content police, and does that include the devices and not just the network?

With private sector jobs being the priority by politicians and Big Data being an umbrella for this kind of “service”, it’s clear not much will be done.

Interestingly, the dichotomy between this and Net Neutrality also seems to be lost. If it is okay for the device folks to know your searches and destinations, why is not the same for the carriers?

In my humble opinion, the old rules need to be removed.





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