Hmm. It appears that Palm is a little too interested in what its Palm Pre handset users are up to. A Sprint customer, Joey Hess, discovered that his phone had been happily chirping away sending his info to Palm.
From The Telegraph:
The software developer said that log files for the handset show that his phone has been sending data back to Palm on a regular basis.
Mr Hess said that although the data was sent over a secure link, it contained information about his location, and a list of the applications installed on his handset. It showed how long he spent using those applications, and sent back crash data whenever applications unexpectedly quit.
The information was sent to Palm over a secure channel. Which would mean something if he had consented to the aforementioned monitoring.
Now, I understand crash reports and the like but, this appears at least from the article and the buzz on the tubes to be more than that. At least with crash reports on Microsoft and Apple systems there is a go no go option presented to the user as to whether or not they want to send.
Palm said its privacy policy was similar to many others in the industry. “[It] includes very detailed language about potential scenarios in which we might use a customer’s information, all toward a goal of offering a great user experience,” said the company in a statement. “For instance, when location based services are used, we collect their information to give them relevant local results in Google Maps. We appreciate the trust that users give us with their information, and have no intention to violate that trust.”
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.