They know what we are listening to

A privacy diminishing potential
Consumers do care, said Larry Ponemon of the Ponemon Institute, which studies privacy sentiment among consumers.  In a study of 541 iPod owners conducted recently, 39 percent said they agreed with a statement indicating iPod and Apple were committed to protecting their privacy, but 22 percent said they disagreed, and 40 percent said they were unsure.  Fully one-third said they would stop using their iPod if there was just one security or privacy breach that resulted in the leakage of their personal information; and 80 percent said information about their music tastes was "sensitive information" that "very few people should know about."

Apple did not respond to requests for interview for this story.

"It is a technology that could be privacy diminishing," Ponemon said.  "People are starting to become more sensitive to things that relate to your hobbies, interests, your reading habits.  To some people, that's really sensitive. ... What music they listen to may be a surrogate for what political beliefs they have."

Or it could be used one day for price discrimination, said Acquisti. A company that knew your favorite artists would likely know you would be willing to pay a little more for their music, he said.

Feared chilling effect
Robert O'Harrow, a Washington Post reporter and author of No Place to Hide: Behind the Scenes of Our Emerging Surveillance Society, worries that while companies like Gracenote may be completely sincere in their current intentions to protect user privacy, the amazing data they gather could some day be turned on consumers.

"If the data is there, at some point, I'd bet somebody would find a way to make use of it in the particular, not just the general," he said.  While he hasn't studied Gracenote, O'Harrow is an expert in marketing practices, and fears the chilling effect that could be produced if people know someone else knows their musical tastes.

"Those joyful moments when you are listening to Jimmy Page, maybe they aren't as carefree anymore," he said.

The CDDB started its life as the ultimate Internet creation -- like the operating system Linux, it was the effort of the Internet volunteers, who merrily contributed lists of song titles and album information. Later, when the service was commercialized by Gracenote, there was controversy, as the firm engaged in legal battles with smaller, non-commercial competitors, like FreeDB.org.  In 2001, the firm was briefly in the headlines again, as it announced it would start selling its data to marketers. Aside from those brief moments of notoriety, Gracenote itself has remained largely anonymous.

Gracenote's Shantz says the firm doesn't make money from marketing musical tastes. Instead, the firm is devoting much of its energy to "automatic playlisting" technology, which will help music fans make sense of their massive music collections.  Playlists for the car, for romantic nights, for 80s parties, should be easy to use, she said -- but currently, they are a little too tricky for most consumers.  The firm is designing hard-disk drive car stereos that automatically have a "play the top 100 songs in this city" feature, for example, or simply "play more songs like this one."

But O'Harrow and other privacy experts think consumers need to remain vigilant in the face of companies like Gracenote and their ability to gather very personal data.

"Read their privacy policy closely and be properly skeptical if there are any loopholes for them. Be aware the rules could change next month," O'Harrow said.  "Part of the zeitgeist of our times, whether to trust or not to trust -- like Groucho Marx said, 'Trust everyone, but always examine the dice.' "

Bob Sullivan is author of  Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic.

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