Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
From what I understand about the functionality, if you don't upgrade to iOS 4 you won't have the necessary frameworks for iAds to work. This means that although you won't be seeing iAds, this is only because you can't install the apps that include them anyway.

I personally think 'privacy' concerns are very much overrated (seriously, I don't care if every ad firm in existence knows every detail of my life. What are they going to do - kill me with targeted advertising?) Having said this, I do think the way they are going about this is entirely contrary to the objections Steve Jobs raised recently about companies collecting data about users. Opt out? I thought the mantra was opt in. Even opting out doesn't necessarily mean Apple won't gather data on you. The language here only states that they won't use that data to refine the ads they display to you. IMO, they don't get to say they take their users privacy seriously until they themselves take their users privacy seriously. As it stands the message is that they only take their users privacy seriously when a competitor does the exact same thing they are doing. Then it's apparently a big deal.
 
It is Opt-In

Anyone complaining that this should be an Opt-In option is missing something fairly crucial. It is.

You know when you agreed to those terms and conditions? Yep. That was you opting in. The fact that you're being offered the chance to opt out of recieveing targeted ads is a nice touch but in the end you already agreed to the terms and agreements offered.

So you have a choice - which is more important to you?
 
More's the pity.

Anyone complaining about privacy issues but yearning to live under a communist or socialist government has to go read about the Stasi and the KGB.

You can debate the rights and wrongs of capitalism, democracy, socialism and communism - that's a great conversation right there - but I'd love to see anyone argue that Communist regimes are or have been in any way admirable in their approaches to personal privacy and civil rights.

People freak out about targeted ads while wishing that a single, all powerful, state organisation would run all aspects of their lives. Classic.
 
I put myself out to mute the ads on the radio, record everything I watch on TV and fast forward through, I avoid the irrititants in the street trying to shove their future litter and landfill content into my hand.


Oh, you mean like that iPhone you're holding in your hand? :rolleyes:

It amazes me how many people rail against these oh-so-spooky and odious capitalist constructs, all while tapping these messages from what is probably the pinnacle of capitalism and materialism if there ever was one. From day one, the iPhone platform was designed to drive profit, and to drive sales through iTunes. Initially it was primarily for music and video, but it expanded to Apps, some of which the people on this thread would refuse to pay for. So how does the developer make money? You guessed it: ads.

If you're going to pretend to have not bought in already, I hope you at least the decency to admit your hypocrisy to yourself, even if you refuse to admit it here.

Here's what I'll admit to: I love my iPhone, and I think if someone is going to serve me ads, it may as well be the creator of the platform. I have no issue with iAds. They're no different to me than the ads being served on macrumors (again, funny how people rail so hard against ads and yet do so on a forum that is financed by ad-driven content and would not be here without it).

If ads going to be served to me anyway, I may as well see ones that are relevant and perhaps even useful.
 
The more people opt-out of targeted ads, the less valuable the adspace will become. The less valuable the adspace becomes, then the less you will see ads for big brands ... Pixar movies, Coke/Pepsi, Netflix etc. Instead you'll see more 'get rich quick', 'lose weight fast', 'find your soulmate' type junk ads.

Don't opt out.
 
Anyone complaining that this should be an Opt-In option is missing something fairly crucial. It is.

You know when you agreed to those terms and conditions? Yep. That was you opting in. The fact that you're being offered the chance to opt out of recieveing targeted ads is a nice touch but in the end you already agreed to the terms and agreements offered.

So you have a choice - which is more important to you?

Again, I'm not personally a privacy alarmist but then I don't think that's even the point here. There isn't special logic that gets applied when speaking about an Apple product. If you want to use this logic, ad mob is always opt in. You have a choice when you purchase an app that serves ad mob ads and by choosing to purchase and use that app you have opted in. If this were true, Steve Jobs discussion about user privacy and how he doesn't like how the competitors handle it would be entirely refuted. No reason to protect consumer's privacy from app developers and the ad networks they use - the users are all opting in when they buy the app, right?

The issue is that Apple is holding others to a higher standard than they themselves seem willing to meet.
 
Every time you reinstall, update, clear your cookies, you will have to opt-out again.
Data-collection like this could easily be opt-in, can be done on first use, just as location is already doing.
 
Anyone complaining about privacy issues but yearning to live under a communist or socialist government has to go read about the Stasi and the KGB.

You can debate the rights and wrongs of capitalism, democracy, socialism and communism - that's a great conversation right there - but I'd love to see anyone argue that Communist regimes are or have been in any way admirable in their approaches to personal privacy and civil rights.

People freak out about targeted ads while wishing that a single, all powerful, state organisation would run all aspects of their lives. Classic.

I never complained about privacy issues, I complained about being bombarded with ads.

Privacy is over rated in my opinion (and not the same as civil rights), I think if people were more open it would be easier to develop our society in a scientific and progressive manner (or Socialist if you will, which in my opinion has never yet existed). No 'democratic' government could be accused of having a high standard in their regard to privacy; they are just more covert about it.

I would rather a state organisation (ie one by the people for the people - hmm remember that idea; how quaint) would run my life than the motivations of a (very) few mega rich manipulative industrialists and bankers. But as you say "that's a great conversation" and one I shouldn't have bought into so flippantly in response to Tampa Tom.


Oh, you mean like that iPhone you're holding in your hand? :rolleyes:

It amazes me how many people rail against these oh-so-spooky and odious capitalist constructs, all while tapping these messages from what is probably the pinnacle of capitalism and materialism if there ever was one...

...If you're going to pretend to have not bought in already, I hope you at least the decency to admit your hypocrisy to yourself, even if you refuse to admit it here.

Here's what I'll admit to: I love my iPhone, and I think if someone is going to serve me ads, it may as well be the creator of the platform...

...If ads going to be served to me anyway, I may as well see ones that are relevant and perhaps even useful.

I don't have an iPhone. However, that's not the point. I also love technology and don't believe its advancement is limited to being developed in a society that relies on consumerism and its promotion of such through advertising.

Anyway even within our current political complexion I still stand by my initial statement:

I would gladly pay double for products that I don't get advertised through.
 
this is what I got when I tried with my new 4 just now!

Unsuccessful Opt Out
This device is not running iOS 4. iAds are only served to devices running iOS 4.
To opt-out of iAds on a device running iOS 4, you must enter the following address into the device's web browser:
http://oo.apple.com
If you have multiple Apple mobile devices running iOS 4, you will need to opt out on each device.
If you still encounter difficulties, please visit the support website at: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4228
 
I would rather a state organisation (ie one by the people for the people - hmm remember that idea; how quaint) would run my life than the motivations of a (very) few mega rich manipulative industrialists and bankers. But as you say "that's a great conversation" and one I shouldn't have bought into so flippantly in response to Tampa Tom.:
Go look at Venezuela and North Korea, see how well the people are doing, being ruled by one, unaccountable person. Then get back to me.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.