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The new mini store suggests music purchases based on the contents of the users' own library, therefore some data is sent to the store in order to fetch details of the relevant suggestions.

The possible security implications of this was raised by Mac OS X Hints and by blogs including Boing Boing.

'I am certainly not comfortable with Apple shoulder-surfing me while I listen to digital music, particularly if they're doing so without my meaningful, informed consent and without disclosing what they intend on doing with that data,' wrote Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow.

However Apple has reportedly assured Mac OS X Hints that none of the information it receives is collected or stored. And an 'Apple official' (said to be Steve Jobs himself) confirmed this to Macworld US.

It has also been confirmed that hiding the mini store also turns it off and no information is sent.