Markey, Barton Query Apple on Data Collection

Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Tex.), co-chairs of the House Privacy Caucus, have fired off a letter to Apple in response to reports that it has changed its privacy policy to require users of Apple products like iPads and iPhones to allow the company to collect and share data on their "precise geographic locations."

They are concerned in part because of the limited ability of Apple product users to opt out of revisions in its terms and conditions that include agreeing to the sharing.

They are the same legislators who sought information from Google on its collection of geographic data from unsecured WiFi nets. Google has said that collection was inadvertent.

In a letter to Apple CEO Steve jobs, they ask for answers to a number of questions, including what products are being used to collect data, when Apple started collecting it, how many people it affects, and whether it is sharing that data with carrier AT&T.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.