back to article US Senate weighs in on phone tracking

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has asked the bigger phone platforms to explain their policy on tracking customers, ahead of hearings on the subject scheduled for 10 May. The Committee has written to Microsoft, Nokia, RIM and HP as well as Apple and Google, but only the latter two have been asked to attend the hearings …

COMMENTS

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  1. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Unhappy

    Best of luck!

    "A public debate on the subject is long overdue, and we can only hope that the 10 May hearings will provide just that."

    Best of luck! The weasels are all shareholders on various AD agencies and marketing companies so it's unlikely they will rock the boat too much. All that juicy info is being stored up just in case it can freely sold to the highest bidders.

    I am literally a number and I certainly am no longer a free man.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Witness Testimony

    Why, when we can drive a car just by thinking it can we not detect when someone is lying or obfuscating. I'd fully support 2 testimonies, one straight up and another with them all doped up to get them chatty.

    Then all you would have to deal with would be crafty companies feeding their rep misinformation.

  3. sisk

    I get it

    At first I was confused trying to figure out why the Senate suddenly seems to be showing interest in our privacy, but then it hit me. Most likely all 100 Senators have smartphones. They aren't concerned with our privacy, they're concerned with THEIR privacy. After all, it wouldn't do for the cell phone companies to have a list of what bedrooms they spend time in when not at home.

  4. dssf

    FINE TIME...Fine lies...

    Part of me wants to say "Put the FBI and CIA on these phones and then publish the findings. SURELY, you can bet your ass AND it's hole that Google & Apple & ms are sharing this data with developers, even probably letting them access our notes and calendars behind our backs... Then, whent they lie, whip out the FBI/CIA facts and then fine the companies $1,000 per breach per user when notes, calendars, and any personal/local data is fed back to or allowed to be sucked back by developers, legit or crackers."

    Another part is cynically thinking "They KNOW the answer, and this is just smoke and mirrors..." If the phone makers do collect or allow collection via remote means, they'll just label it secret/need-to-know and we'll all (or most of us) will daily donated to the data scoop if our phones are on daily and we put personal info on them.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Title

      I wouldn't say it is behind our backs. You signed up for it when you bought an Apple product. Why do you think all your music has to be on iTunes? So they can associate what apps you buy with what music you listen to.

      Apple is like Facebook. When you put a picture up on Facebook, Facebook owns the rights to it, not you. Apple owns all of your data and their success is setting a scary precedent for the industry.

  5. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    Surely it's obvious?

    They're tracking people so they know where to build the wind turbines: self driven from the hot air...

  6. Jim Noeth
    Unhappy

    Actually ...

    Actually, they're interested in what data is being collected so that they (the government) can use that information to further control us.

  7. Figgus
    WTF?

    Not their effing job!!!

    This is as fracking stupid as the baseball/steroid inquisitions Congress made. It's not their job, but it got them good press so the politicians were all over it. There is no way Congress needs to have any say in Major League Baseball or in the runnings of a specific company.

    If they were passing a law banning steroids or smartphones, then they should be getting info to make sure the law is just and proper. Crap like this is just grandstanding, though, when the 800lb gorilla in the room is the economy, not what stupid rights the sheeple are forfeiting to Lord Jobs and his crew just to have an iShiny.

    1. Ray Simard
      Thumb Down

      @Not their..

      There's one hell of a difference between how something like Major League Baseball manages its own business and how something like Apple sticks its nose into ours.

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