In a story up now on PC Magazine, Oliver Kaven reports on the latest controversy about data collection. By using a packet analyzer, he found that the newest version of iTunes, v6.0.2, is indeed sending information about you back to the company. Apple claims that none of this information is kept and that it is just used to automatically send you targeted advertisements and discarded. Still, for the thousands of newbies that just bough (or were given) iPods this holiday season, this is distressing news.

Oliver wasn't able to suss out what information is being sent because it is encrypted. Whatever it is, the industry would be well-served by creating some common standards for personal information sharing. And making those standards public enough so that users didn't have to find out from bloggers that their song preferences are being beamed over the Net. A clear, click-though disclaimer in something other than 3-point type would have avoided this mess.