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Cydia creator releases tracking opt-out for jailbroken iPods and iPhones
Opened Cydia on your jailbroken iPod Touch or iPhone today? If so, you probably noticed an item on the front page about PrivaCy "Opt-Out."
Recently there's been a lot of talk about app developers like Pinch Media harvesting analytics from users of their applications. There are plenty of good reasons for them to do this -- such as learning how to make their applications better.
Still, some people aren't too keen on this kind of tracking. So Pinch contacted Cydia's Jay Freeman to address the situation. Freeman and BigBoss together contacted the three other providers -- Flurry, Medialets, and Mobclix. In his words, they "not only [gave] their blessing, but also their technical expertise in disabling their systems.
After installing PrivaCy, you'll see a new option in your settings screen. Tap it, and the screen above appears. Opting out is as simple toggling on/off.
Who knows, maybe some day Apple will allow a similar toggle for users of non-jailbroken devices. Feel free to weigh in on that thought in the comments.
Recently there's been a lot of talk about app developers like Pinch Media harvesting analytics from users of their applications. There are plenty of good reasons for them to do this -- such as learning how to make their applications better.
Still, some people aren't too keen on this kind of tracking. So Pinch contacted Cydia's Jay Freeman to address the situation. Freeman and BigBoss together contacted the three other providers -- Flurry, Medialets, and Mobclix. In his words, they "not only [gave] their blessing, but also their technical expertise in disabling their systems.
After installing PrivaCy, you'll see a new option in your settings screen. Tap it, and the screen above appears. Opting out is as simple toggling on/off.
Who knows, maybe some day Apple will allow a similar toggle for users of non-jailbroken devices. Feel free to weigh in on that thought in the comments.
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsRohit KapurAug 22nd 2009 3:03PM
(I felt bad, Lee, that there are no comments, so I thought I'd give my two cents)
Apple's got a long way to go before it can have the liking of customers who know what's going on behind the billions of downloads of apps. It's kinda like beating a dead horse, repeating over and over about how the App Store needs a complete overhaul.
Oh well. At least it looks like Schiller's actually wanting to do something about it these days. . .
2late2dieAug 22nd 2009 9:49PM
Why should Apple change anything when they're making money hand over fist? As long as people keep buying their stuff and paying for 20 different flashlight and fart apps while pretty much ignoring the way Apple treats any app that in some way threatens their business (no one outside the techblogs has heard of google voice, or the fiasco surrounding it, or even cares at all about this), they've got no incentive to do anything but keep things the way they are.
The only reason Schiller's been acting all "benevolent" lately is because of the FCC involvement.
AlokAug 23rd 2009 10:09AM
Not only are the developers tracking the usage habits, they are also tracking how people are getting those apps for FREE on their jailbroken devices. This should help people to use these free apps on their jailbroken devices without any fears :)