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MCN TECHNOLOGY
MAY 2011 • VOL 2, ISSUE 3
development company Chalk. “I don’t know how to control it and allow consumers to have the flexibility and convenience they’ve come to rely on with smartphones.” The mobile market is expanding rapidly. US mobile advertising revenue reached an estimated $A508 to $A600 million in 2010, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an online advertising trade association. A Morgan Stanley report found smartphone sales will outpace sales of desktop and laptop computers combined by 2012. Morgan Reed, executive director of the Association for Competitive Technology, an e-commerce trade association, said the user data collection is not new. “The amount of data a single mobile app collects is tiny compared to what Safeway knows about you if you have a card,” said Reed, whose organisation testified at the hearing on May 10. But Franken and privacy advocates say smartphones get more details than other methods of user data collection: Androids and iPhones have unique identifiers, and the location data they collect is richer because people typically carry their phones with them most of the time. “All phones carry what’s essentially a Social Security number,” said Justin Brookman, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Consumer Privacy, who will testify Tuesday. “With
Mobile phone users must be careful about the information their phone shares
location, they get precise information, which can be scary. You don’t necessarily want dozens of companies tracking where you go.” A Wall Street Journal article in December found that of 101 popular iPhone and Android apps, 56 transmitted the phone’s unique ID to third parties without user consent while 47 transmitted the phone’s location. Franken declined to speculate on legislation he may propose following the hearing, but he has hinted that apps’ failure to disclose what user information is shared could be a ripe first target. “Certainly people just have the right to know what information is being shared about them,” he said. The Apple tracking controversy, coupled with a massive data breach by Sony’s PlayStation Network last month, is putting internet and mobile privacy in the spotlight and under the congressional microscope.
After reports that Apple was storing more than a year’s worth of detailed data, the company issued a fix that cut storage time to only seven days. Apple also said its iPhones and iPads were not gathering exact location data. William McGeveran, a University of Minnesota law professor specialising in the internet and privacy, said the Apple incident is a wake-up call for people who didn’t know what
was happening. “If you’re an exceptionally private person, you’re not checking in on FourSquare or tweeting up a storm,” said McGeveran. “But you probably still are using your phone.” Schlueter said app makers worry that Congress will pass laws that wind up stifling innovation. “As an app developer, I don’t trust that Congress can keep up with the technology any better than common sense
and morals are sort of doing that now,” Schlueter said. A first step, he said, might be to require user consent before sharing data. “As consumers, we need to say to ourselves ‘This is what I’m receiving in exchange for my information about where I am,’ “ Reed said. “Is it worth it? Most say yes, especially the under-40 set.” AAP
Photo: AAP
WASHINGTON – Today’s mobile phones can double as a GPS, a restaurant finder, a video game system or a social media hub. Those technological leaps over the past few years have brought the world to users’ fingertips, but at what cost? The same technology also can gather detailed data profiles of users to share with outside advertisers, transmitting a user’s location, age, gender and even the phone’s contacts back to mobile phone companies and third parties – all without the user’s knowledge. Senator Al Franken and others in Congress, alarmed at revelations that phones store such data, have called for hearings to examine whether more privacy laws are needed, with representatives from Apple Inc and Google Inc testifying. “The basic thing is really to protect people’s right to know who’s gathering what information about them,” said Franken, chairman of the recently created Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, which is leading the hearings. The information gathering creates a dilemma for application makers, since the most popular mobile programs need location and other data to function properly. Pinpoint location data is what allows mobile phone users to find one another on FourSquare or locate a store or restaurant through Google Maps or Yelp. “I definitely feel like it’s a double-edged sword,” said Nic Schlueter, co-founder of app-
Photo: Stock
Experts grilled on phones’ data collection
More friends made online than in real life Angry Birds lands in Chrome web browser Angry Birds has finally come to the web
LONDON – The average person has double the amount of online friends than physical ones, a UK study has revealed. And people tend to be more open, confident and honest with their virtual friends than their “real” counterparts. The study, commissioned by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, shows that people typically have 121 online friends compared with 55 physical friends. The research revealed that the internet provides a vital lifeline to people unable to physically socialise as much as they’d like. “For most people, the internet is a way of keeping in touch with loved ones and friends but for people who are isolated
due to illness, it plays a more vital role and can often act as a lifeline,” said Helen Oxley, consultant clinical psychologist at Wythenshawe Hospital. “In wider society, the ways in which friendships are formed and nurtured is changing with people recognising that they can develop deep, meaningful connections with others that they’ve never met, and may never meet. “People with illnesses often rely on the internet’s ability to facilitate friendships as they blog and use networking sites as a way of coming to terms with, and dealing with their illness. It can foster a sense of social connection for those who can frequently feel isolated,
which is important to psychological wellbeing.” The results also reveal that 30 per cent of those quizzed spend at least two hours a day on social networks interacting with friends. And one in 10 people has also either met their best friend online or believe they will meet lifelong friends on the web. The findings highlight how social introductions are also changing. Only five per cent would ask for someone’s phone number whereas 23 per cent are more likely to ask for an email address or a full name with the intention of adding them on a social network. AAP
SAN FRANCISCO – Rovio’s Angry Birds is landing on Chrome in the first version of the addictively popular smartphone and tablet game tailored for play on a computer web browser. “We wanted to bring Angry Birds to the web for a long time,” Peter Vesterbacka of Finnish software firm Rovio said while launching the new version at a Google developers conference in San Francisco. “One of the reasons we’ve been angry is we haven’t been able to bring this to the web, until today.”
Vesterbacka stepped on stage during a conference keynote at which Google engineers showed off Chrome browser improvements that included ramped-up graphics speeds for smooth rendering of imagery in games. “We are bringing Angry Birds to the biggest platform of the web, and it’s one of the best versions we built to date,” Vesterbacka said. “It really rocks, as you will see.” Once the application is installed in a Chrome browser, the game can be played in its entirety even if a computer is
not connected to the Internet. “It will make those flights more bearable,” said Vesterbacka, who is referred to as Rovio’s “Mighty Eagle.” Angry Birds has shot to pop culture stardom and launched Rovio into worldwide fame. Millions of smartphone and tablet computer users have downloaded the game and are tapping away at their devices, catapulting cartoonish birds into absurd fortresses built by little green pigs who have stolen the birds’ eggs. AAP