What Apple knows about you
Got an iOS device? If yes, then Apple knows a lot about you.
Your identity
Apple knows your age, name, gender, date of birth, marital status, email address, telephone number, zip code, city, state, country and home address as soon as you register for an Apple account.
Your credit card information
Apple has your credit card information (and credit score) since you buy applications, music and movies from iTunes and the App Store (even if you only download free apps)
Your outdoor location
Apple uses the GPS, Cell Tower Triangulation and WiFi access points in your iOS device to know your current and frequent locations, feeds this data to iAds to give you ads based on where you are.
Your indoor location
Apple uses iBeacon or Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for micro-location geofencing, a highly accurate monitoring system for locating you inside buildings and malls.
Your behaviour
Your purchases allow Apple to understand you and your behaviours as well as when you buy, how much you buy, what triggers your buying behaviours and so on (just look at what the Genius recommendation service does)
Your movement
Apple’s M7 movement coprocessor uses your device’s accelerometer, compass and gyroscope to keep track of your motion. It knows when you’re running, walking, driving and even sleeping.
Your face
Apple knows how you look since the pictures that are taken with your iOS device are stored on their iCloud servers. Apple can run these images through facial recognition algorithms and recognize you in images taken by other devices such as your friends’.
Your voice
Apple stores your questions, messages and stern commands which you whisper to Siri for up to two years.
Your fingerprint
Apple stores your fingerprint in order for you to unlock your device and for prompt payments on iTunes and the App store.
That’s a lot of data to capture, mix together with data from iTunes customers/subscribers and their listening habits, and make available to advertisers and content producers.
Apple wants this information. The more Apple knows about you, the more it can tailor your experience and keep you coming back to Apple for devices and services.
Unfortunately!
Apple is reportedly the latest company to join US government’s PRISM data mining program.
NB: This post is not intended to make people hate Apple, I for one love Apple and use an iPhone 5, iPod, Mac Mini, and a rMBP on a daily basis.
