[emj]

The theory is that making your computer less finger printable and hence less unique is near impossible compared to a iPad you wipe on every use (you still have to use the iPad for other things). https://panopticlick.eff.org/ is pretty scary I'm almost always unique unless I do a trick like that.

[squarefoot]

An iPAd or any mobile device, including Android or Windows Mobile ones, runs mostly off closed software and drivers. You can wipe it completely but if the network device firmware instructs it to send a small magic packet somewhere to tell which terminal is that and where to find it, you're lost. If it had eavesdropping malware on it, it will be installed back with the next upgrade. Unless one can set up packet inspection and filtering on a mobile network, and manufacturers release everything (hardware+firmware+software) as open source, there's no way to have security on any mobile device, including those sold as super secure. This sadly also applies to bench PCs too, although the choice of the OS to install and being able to implement filtering lessens the problem just a bit.