apple's itunes is spyware

The big problem, however, is that the new Mini Store feature installs spyware on your PC or Mac. In order to offer up targeted advertising, the Mini Store examines the music you're currently playing and transmits that information to Apple, which then provides relevant ads. iTunes never mentions that it's doing this, nor that it's also secretly transmitting the user's unique iTunes account information along with the song data. The revelation about Apple's secret transmissions has even the staunchest Apple supporters questioning their allegiance, as this isn't exactly the kind of behavior they'd expect from Apple. RealNetworks yes. Microsoft, maybe. But not Apple.

--from paul thurrot
(in email)