50 percent of iPad users willing to send personal info to publishers

Selling you and your information to advertisers often seems like the only viable way to make money both online and through digital mediums these days. Google does it, as well as a whole host of other companies relying on advertising to make a dollar.

When the publishers came to Apple, demanding access to iTunes subscription info, Apple stood its ground, and eventually agreed to pass on information should readers opt-in. Most, including myself, laughed at the idea of opt-ing in to sell your soul to publishers. Turns out, 50 percent of people using digital magazines on the iPad have opted into sending information to publishers. According to Forbes, Apple’s VP of Internet Services Eddy Cue also confirmed the opt-in information and numbers.

This news opens up two very real questions. First, do people really realize exactly what they’re opting in to when prompted to do so by these magazine applications? The answer is a resounding yes. The Push Notification that prompts you to share your information reads, ” Share Your Information? The developer would like your name, email, and zip code so they can send you messages about related products in accordance with their privacy policy.” Everyone should realize exactly what Apple’s sending to publishers, but what those publishers do with that information isn’t as easy to find. I doubt publishers are lining up to tell us how they’re selling our information for profit.

Personally, I click Don’t Allow. What about you?

The second question is actually not a question at all. Instead it sounds better as a statement. Holy crap, do people trust Apple! Apple, at least in my opinion, has done a lot to gain my trust. The fact that they even stood up to publishers to protect my personal information originally was a nice gesture, one I’ll remember for a long time. If 50 percent of people are willing to let Apple send information to publishers, it certainly tells of the trust people have in the company. Do you think people would let other services or companies do the same thing? I doubt it.

Article Via Forbes
Photo Credit: norio_nomura

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld and TechHive.