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Have you heard of the iPhone location tracking scandal?
This story broke a few days ago and is causing quite a kerfuffle. Apparently there is a small database file that stores every location you've ever been to with your iPhone/iPad 3G. The file is uploaded to Apple on a regular basis and is backed up to your computer every time you sync the device.
And Google does something similar with Android phones. Apparently the difference is that the iPhone keeps the location information seemingly forever, the Android phones keeps it for a fixed number of days then I guess it overwrites the oldest info.
Apple claims that it is there to 'improve the user experience', but when you get down to it, it's going to be used to better target advertising and better relate geographic activities available.
Part of the outcry is that 'Apple is tracking your every move!' How does Apple benefit from knowing where I am at any given time? They don't in the specific, they do in the aggregate. They can't sell advertising based on one person's movement, they can in the aggregate. At the same time Apple/Google is tracking your movement, so is your cell carrier. They know precisely where you are whenever your phone is turned on, and it is logged and archived for a long time. Look at what happens if there is a murder investigation: law enforcement subpoenas cell provider records, and they can geomap your whereabouts before, during, and after the murder. I used to work for a taxi company, and our system tracked every car's movement with GPS lat/long coordinates, and we could geomap and timestamp a vehicle's movements to the point of seeing them drive around the block, we did this occasionally when customers called in complaints.
And since the table is backed up every time you sync your phone, if someone steals your laptop, they can know where you go! I think this is kind of a silly argument. If someone steals your laptop, unless they are a government agency or involved in corporate espionage, why would they care? They want the value of the laptop that they can sell it for. I have a password on my laptop, and I'm considering encryption, so I'm not too concerned about it. And theoretically if they steal or find your phone, they can track your location! But it's easy to lock an iPhone and program it to self-destruct the data if the correct code is not entered in X attempts. There's also software via MobileMe that will track your phone's location and allow you to remotely lock it or wipe it.
And it just came out that if you have a Mac and use Apple's Safari browser, it also tracks location data there.
So your cell phone company has the location info, your cell phone maker has less precise location info. How important is it?
I really don't know. The data in the iPhone is stored in a SQLLite database. I'm wondering if you could open a SQLLite program, open the database, zero the contents, and then restore the phone from the backup, thus zeroing the data on the phone.
I think that we'll probably see Congress writing some letters to Mr. Jobs asking for an explanation, and it wouldn't surprise me if in a couple of months there's an iOS update that has better geolocation opt-out features. Regardless, your cell provider will always track your location, they're legally required to for emergency 911 services.
Oh, and if you're interested, there's an app that you can download for the iPhone that will read this table and geomap it, so you can see where it has tracked your location.
Myself, I don't own an iPhone yet, supposedly the iPhone 5 will launch later this year, probably August-ish. I'll look at them at that point and get either a 4 or 5. I don't think I'm particularly concerned at this point, especially since you're always going to be tracked by your cell carrier. It's going to be used to target advertising, something that I'm very good at ignoring, it's just another one of life's little annoyances.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/iphone-location/
NPR also has a story on this: (heck, all sorts of sites have stories on this)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/20/135570632/researchers-apples-iphone-keeps-track-of-every-little-place-you-go
Yes, you can turn off location tracking in your phone's preferences, but it doesn't really disable this particular thing. The option just prevents applications from accessing location info, and it's questionable if it actually does that.
And Google does something similar with Android phones. Apparently the difference is that the iPhone keeps the location information seemingly forever, the Android phones keeps it for a fixed number of days then I guess it overwrites the oldest info.
Apple claims that it is there to 'improve the user experience', but when you get down to it, it's going to be used to better target advertising and better relate geographic activities available.
Part of the outcry is that 'Apple is tracking your every move!' How does Apple benefit from knowing where I am at any given time? They don't in the specific, they do in the aggregate. They can't sell advertising based on one person's movement, they can in the aggregate. At the same time Apple/Google is tracking your movement, so is your cell carrier. They know precisely where you are whenever your phone is turned on, and it is logged and archived for a long time. Look at what happens if there is a murder investigation: law enforcement subpoenas cell provider records, and they can geomap your whereabouts before, during, and after the murder. I used to work for a taxi company, and our system tracked every car's movement with GPS lat/long coordinates, and we could geomap and timestamp a vehicle's movements to the point of seeing them drive around the block, we did this occasionally when customers called in complaints.
And since the table is backed up every time you sync your phone, if someone steals your laptop, they can know where you go! I think this is kind of a silly argument. If someone steals your laptop, unless they are a government agency or involved in corporate espionage, why would they care? They want the value of the laptop that they can sell it for. I have a password on my laptop, and I'm considering encryption, so I'm not too concerned about it. And theoretically if they steal or find your phone, they can track your location! But it's easy to lock an iPhone and program it to self-destruct the data if the correct code is not entered in X attempts. There's also software via MobileMe that will track your phone's location and allow you to remotely lock it or wipe it.
And it just came out that if you have a Mac and use Apple's Safari browser, it also tracks location data there.
So your cell phone company has the location info, your cell phone maker has less precise location info. How important is it?
I really don't know. The data in the iPhone is stored in a SQLLite database. I'm wondering if you could open a SQLLite program, open the database, zero the contents, and then restore the phone from the backup, thus zeroing the data on the phone.
I think that we'll probably see Congress writing some letters to Mr. Jobs asking for an explanation, and it wouldn't surprise me if in a couple of months there's an iOS update that has better geolocation opt-out features. Regardless, your cell provider will always track your location, they're legally required to for emergency 911 services.
Oh, and if you're interested, there's an app that you can download for the iPhone that will read this table and geomap it, so you can see where it has tracked your location.
Myself, I don't own an iPhone yet, supposedly the iPhone 5 will launch later this year, probably August-ish. I'll look at them at that point and get either a 4 or 5. I don't think I'm particularly concerned at this point, especially since you're always going to be tracked by your cell carrier. It's going to be used to target advertising, something that I'm very good at ignoring, it's just another one of life's little annoyances.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/iphone-location/
NPR also has a story on this: (heck, all sorts of sites have stories on this)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/20/135570632/researchers-apples-iphone-keeps-track-of-every-little-place-you-go
Yes, you can turn off location tracking in your phone's preferences, but it doesn't really disable this particular thing. The option just prevents applications from accessing location info, and it's questionable if it actually does that.
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I object to my Ipad tracking my location, though. I don't know how this information could be used to hurt me, but there's no way it could be used to HELP me-- other than the advertising industry's definition of "help," and they can go to hell. Therefore I don't want MY resources, any of my resources, devoted to it.
Besides, the ability to track me is a security risk. Knowing I go to certain places on a regular schedule gives somebody the ability to attack me there, or more likely to break into my home while I'm elsewhere. The risk of this is pretty small, but it is at least theoretically possible, and it would be better to kill this before it grows.
Except this is Apple. The Leader has said he wants to know where your iphone has gone, and The Leader has only your best interests at heart. And as all the Apple Fanboys say, if there's anything about your Apple you don't like, whatsoever, you should shut up and sell it. Stop badmouthing The Leader, who is enlightened, and loves you, and knows what is best for you. Instead, go buy a Windows device that will suit you better.
Which is why most peple do.
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Random violence isn't predicated on knowing where and when your target will be somewhere, they just pick a target and wait until they're in a semi-private place. Targeted violence implies some planning and at the minimum the resources of one focused person.
There is a non-zero risk, but I think the actual risk is rather small. The people most likely to steal your stuff are looking to sell it. They might look at the contents of your computer or iPad for porn or possibly for financial/credit card information, but mostly they're just going to try to hock it for cash. I think it's going to be government agencies or corporate espionage who could have a use for this location data.
I see no sense to an iPad tracking location, though I can see Apple's rationale. It's a 3G device, it connects to cell towers, therefore the information is available so let's track it. That doesn't make it right, by any standard.
Like I said, I expect there will be a patch that will kill that file or put in better privacy guards, like encryption of said file. Myself, I've never enabled location tracking on my iPod Touch. Many apps ask for it, I deny them all. For example, The Weather Channel app wants to know my location. I have Cloudcroft programmed as the default. Half the time I access that app I am checking another city, so what difference does it knowing my current location make? Plus, if I told it my current location, it'd be off by 150 miles, which I find endlessly amusing.
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From WWDC 2010, the purpose of the cache is for offline use, and to minimize network calls. Since it's the same code on both iPhone, iPod Touches, and iPads, the WiFi part in particular is important, since not all the devices may have 3G data connections at all times. The example they gave at the presentation was an iPod touch user pulling out his device while at the conference and locating a nearby restaurant using the free WiFi there. By searching in an area, Apple also sends down the relevant WiFi access points in the area to feed into the cache. When the user leaves the conference center and drops off the data network, the Maps program can still show a pretty accurate location, allowing the person to navigate to the restaurant. If he takes any photos or video along the way, it's all geotagged too if the user enabled that feature.
For Android, (and likely every other phone with AGPS) the cache is there to minimize the times the phone has to go and ask over the data network to get the initial seed data for the real GPS. Apple took it a little father to also help out their GPS lacking devices.
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Makes sense. I think what they need to do is shorten the cache reuse duration, because they're currently (apparently) is no limit as to how long the cache is maintained. It was added with iOS 4, so it's a relatively new addition.
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That's pretty much my feeling. Most people's lives are pretty boring from an outside perspective, I'm sure mine is. If someone wants to break in to my house and rob me, there's much easier methods to figure out where I am than stealing my (nonexistent) iPhone and figuring out my patterns.
no subject