The Apple Core: iTunes Phones Home

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Date: Monday, January 16th, 2006, 08:00
Category: The Apple Core

little-snitch.jpgApple used the Macworld Expo in San Francisco last week to announce a new version of iTunes, version 6.0.2, that “includes stability and performance improvements over iTunes 6.0.1.” One of the “improvements” is the iTunes MiniStore which an interesting little piece of code that looks at what you’re listening to and suggests artists and songs that you might like. The main issue with the iTunes MiniStore is that it arrives turned on by default. Didn’t Apple pay attention to the whole Sony BMG Music rootkit fiasco?
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.


little-snitch.jpgApple used the Macworld Expo in San Francisco last week to announce a new version of iTunes, version 6.0.2, that “includes stability and performance improvements over iTunes 6.0.1.” One of the “improvements” is the iTunes MiniStore which an interesting little piece of code that looks at what you’re listening to and suggests artists and songs that you might like. The main issue with the iTunes MiniStore is that it arrives turned on by default. Didn’t Apple pay attention to the whole Sony BMG Music rootkit fiasco?
Read the rest of the story on my ZDNet Blog: The Apple Core.

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  • jim

    macosxhints already found this to be false.
    http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060111071001306

  • http://www.holistic-tech.com Dan Ridley

    WTF? Comparing this to the Sony BMG rootkit seems incredibly over the top.

  • http://www.holistic-tech.com Dan Ridley

    Okay, I read Kirkville’s article, and I still think the MiniStore is just one step away from a non-issue. Better disclosure would have been nice; and default-off or default-ask would’ve been nice.
    But to compare it to the BMG rootkit…? The rootkit presented an attack vector for third parties. It was completely undisclosed. It was not uninstalled when removing Sony BMG’s software. My first hunch is that you need to do more reading on the rootkit, because perhaps you don’t realize just what league it’s in.
    If you do understand it, and you still think the MiniStore issue is anything remotely close to the same league of customer hostility, I’m flabbergasted.