From the San Diego Reader: Cruz Medina's Apple iPod was stolen, so why doesn't Apple want to help get it back? Well, it collects serial numbers of stolen iPods, and can recognise them if they connect to the iTunes Music Store. And if the thief buys music, it has their billing details....
The story notes:
An anti-Big Brother attitude runs through the technological community. On the Forum section of AppleInsider.com, a site devoted to Apple news and sales, the majority of members were against the idea of Apple's tracking iPod use. A member-user named "Ebby" had the idea of checking iPods and iTunes accounts against a list of stolen iPods but later argued, "It is when you store information on a user, tie it to an account, or can gather other information by the frequency of iPod use...that's when my problems arise." Ebby concluded, "The level of stuff they have to do to start cracking down would scare me, and I wouldn't get involved."
Comment: Presumably "Ebby" also avoids using mobile phones, TiVo style recorders, credit cards and search engines, among other things.....
