The Ghost in Your iMachine

Steve Jobs and the Apple corporation have a surprising number of conspiracies woven into their history. The first Apple computer was sold in 1976 for $666.66, which was enough to allow theorists to spin a few Antichrist urban legends.

666 is a mark of the devil, and the apple logo is a nod to the forbidden fruit. Steve Jobs is the serpent, we are the newly created human about to fall from grace. The end of the world will occur because you wanted to fit a boombox, a computer and a telephone in your back pocket. But, I’ll berate the world for its addiction to consumerism on another day. Today let’s focus on the privacy invasions and spying committed by this multi-billion dollar corporation.

It’s no secret that most of your Internet/smart phone activity is heavily tracked and monitored by the corporations providing these services we’ve come to need on a daily basis. I personally think the line should have been drawn years ago regarding privacy invasion, but the quest of the latest technology often outweighs privacy rights, at least during and immediately following your purchase.

Let me introduce you to Traitorware, a privacy-destroying system that Apple developed and submitted to the patent office in 2009. Intended to lock out unauthorized users, Traitorware will be able to take photos of its users, record their hearbeats and track their location. Your voiced could be recorded, even when you’re not making a call, and your Internet use can be closely monitored. Apple would also be able to identify (and subsequently “punish”) users who attempted to jailbreak or alter their devices.

A story broke earlier this year after users discovered that Apple was tracking GPS movements (complete with timestamps) for everyone using the iOS4. The information is unprotected and uncrypted and available on any computer or device synced with your phone or iPad. Steve Jobs responded saying the claim that Apple tracks its users is false. They’re merely “collecting data”.Experts point out that there’s little reason for outrage. The scariest thing about this is that Apple never deletes the data. Other companies, like Google, only store this info for a short time before deleting it.

Depending on how much you love and need your Apple products, you might be willing to part with some of your privacy to enjoy your spying, content-controlled iProducts. Think long and hard about it though before you give up your privacy and allow the Man easy access to everything about you.