Palm Responds to Pre Privacy Concerns
The Palm Pre and webOS has been accused of violating user privacy. Apparently, a developer has examined a portion of webOS code that reports information back to Palm. The smartphone maker decided to tackle the issue head on and protect its reputation by releasing this statement:
"Palm takes privacy very seriously, and offers users ways to turn data collecting services on and off. Our privacy policy is like many policies in the industry and 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. 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 webOS;code has been accused of retrieving and sending these information to Palm:
- Location
- apps users used and for how long
- App crash logs
- Installed apps
However, there is still no info on how exactly end users can opt out of these data-sharing services. No explanation on why Palm would want to know which applications users have downloaded and are running have been released.
Tune in to this blog for more developments on this issue.
