Apple (AAPL) really is in the deep stuff now.
Sure, a Congressional hearing will be held soon on whether it is tracking iPhone and iPad owners. And yeah, suddenly a half dozen or so countries are investigating Apple. And there’s a class action suit.
But the real big deal is South Park has taken a shot at Apple and co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs over Trackergate in this week’s premiere episode of the cartoon series’ 15th year. The HUMANCENTiPAD episode, which can be viewed online, combines the iPad and the Dutch horror film, The Human Centipede: Three humans, one digestive tract and one iPad.
Maybe Minnesota Sen. Al Franken ought to air the episode during his May 10 hearing to examine what Apple and Google (GOOG) may be up to. The Invasion of the Privacy Snatchers controversy has been a bit of a horror show for the emerging apps industry.
Last week, British researchers reported they had found an unencrypted, hidden file on iPhones that stores location data. Users could not opt out.
Apple was slow to respond as politicians grandstanded.
Finally, Jobs Wednesday told the New York Times: “We haven’t been tracking anybody…Never have. Never will.” Jobs, on medical leave, told the paper Apple would fix the mistakes in a free software update that it would release in the next few weeks.
But South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wasted no time in grabbing the issue by the throat.
In the episode, Kyle Broflovski, one of the South Park characters, is shocked to learn that he is one of the few people in South Park who doesn’t read iTunes Terms of Service. “You are telling me that every time you guys download an update for iTunes, you read the entire terms and conditions?” Kyle asks his buddies.
Check it:
Kyle finds himself being tracked by Apple goons, “business casual G-men,” even though he “turned off all (his) Apple stuff.”
John Cook said in Geekwire: “You know you’ve got a PR situation on your hands when the South Park creators get involved. Apple is no stranger to the biting wit of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and the latest episode of South Park takes full aim at Steve Jobs and some of the recent iPhone location tracking issues.”
