Apple to use call and email data for trust scores to combat fraud

Apple CEO Tim
Cook.
Drew Angerer/Getty
Images

• Apple is going to start using your phone call and email
  data in an attempt to combat fraud.
• The data will give devices a “trust score,” and it
  could help Apple detect fraudulent transactions, reviews, and
  accounts.
• The plans were spotted when iTunes quietly updated its
  privacy policy.

Apple will start using call and email data to calculate trust
scores for your devices in a bid to combat fraud.

First spotted by Venture Beat, a new provision has quietly
appeared updated in the iTunes Store privacy
page:

“To help identify and prevent fraud, information about how you
use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls
or emails you send and receive, will be used to compute a device
trust score when you attempt a purchase. The submissions are
designed so Apple cannot learn the real values on your device.
The scores are stored for a fixed time on our servers.”

Essentially, Apple will assign devices “trust scores” based on
phone call and email data. Gizmodo said this could help Apple
police fraudulent purchases, reviews, and accounts. But as
Apple makes clear, the data won’t sit on its servers forever.

The update comes at a time when US lawmakers are asking Apple how
it handles the personal data of its users. Apple CEO Tim Cook
has been consistently strident in his view that hoarding personal
data is a bad thing,

“We felt strongly about privacy when no one cared,” Cook said in June. “We could
not see the specific details, but we could see that the building
of the detailed profile on people likely would result in
significant harm over time.”

Business Insider has contacted Apple for comment.