Is That The Ministry of Love In Your Pocket, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

January 20, 2010 2 Comments

For whatever reason, I just now found out that the White House has their own iPhone app. I was reading Mashable’s post (“State of the Union Address to Be Streamed Live on White House iPhone App”)

It mostly features content from the already impressive whitehouse.gov: all the blog posts, newsroom items, photos and videos of everything from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’s press briefings to Obama’s appearances and government PSAs.

But wait, there’s more! According to Mashable, the app has a price that makes everybody happy – it’s free! – and it’s “elegant and simple.”

How “Big Brother Loves You” is that? George Orwell (author of “1984“) must be rolling in his grave at the thought of Big Brother giving citizens a way to bring him with them wherever they go.

Frankly, I’m shocked that I’ve missed any (rather, was there any?!) rucous about this app from folks like the EFF or right wingers about why giving The Man his own comfy spot in your pocket, where he could theoretically and technically do things like track your whereabouts at all times; monitor who you call, how long you talk to them, how many times you call them; capture data on any other apps you have on your iPhone (financial records? SMS messages? The books you read?) is a giant red flag.

Obviously, the Government can do these things already, but just think about how much simpler it would be for the average iPhone toting citizen to invite them to a one-stop shop for all of their personal data?

I’m being partially tongue-in-cheek with this stuff and I’m not conspiracy theorist, but it does make you wonder: How do we really know they (along with all iPhone apps for that matter) aren’t collecting all of your personal data, the moment you install this app to your iPhone?