The L.A. Times ran an interesting article about the new Federal Trade Commission(downloads) report, “Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade”, followed up on a February 2012 report, and concluded that “Yes, many apps included interactive features or shared kids’ information with third parties without disclosing these practices to parents.”
I think this is issue is intriguing on many levels, but of central concern is the fact that as we go about our daily business (or play, as the case may be), we leave a data trail, sometimes unwittingly.
One of the themes of this blog is to make statistics relevant and exciting to students by helping them understand the data that’s right under their noses. Or inside their ears. The iTunes library is a great place to start.
For awhile, iTunes made it easy to get your data onto your hard drive in a convenient, analysis-ready form. Then they made it hard. Then (10.7) they made it easy again.
First the good news:
And now the bad: It costs you $50/ year for your data to truly belong to you. For a ‘premium’ membership, you can visit your data as often as you choose. If only Andy had posted sooner, I would have saved $50. But, dear readers, in order to explore all avenues, I spent the bucks. And here’s some data (screenshot–I don’t want you analyzing my data!
