iPhone tracks users' movements

[quasar]

Apple iPhones and 3G iPads are secretly recording and storing details of all their owners' movements, researchers claim.

Location data is kept in a hidden, unencrypted file according to security experts Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden.

With the right software, it can be used to map exactly where a person has been.
Apple has yet to comment on the revelation, however there is no suggestion that it has been uploading or using the information.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13145562

However, although the practice is not explicitly flagged-up, it appears to be covered in the company's terms of use.

"We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier, location, and the time zone where an Apple product is used so that we can better understand customer behaviour and improve our products, services, and advertising"

I knew that ordinary mobiles can be traced while they're turned on, but this seems to be constant monitoring - which is great from a marketing perspective to be able to 'sell' services etc in your current location, but not so hot as far as privacy rights. It's a bit like being 'tagged' but without the criminal record...

 

[quasar]

Me too!

When you think about it, it means they know which shops, gay bars, clubs, cruising areas etc you've been to. This information could also be handed over to authorities if subpoenaed. Whilst I don't mind companies collecting general usage information, I draw the line at my whereabouts being constantly monitored.

 

[Lefty]

Quasar,

I think this belongs in the Crap Excrement and Poop forum...

as it could get to the level of stuff being slung and that is

a venue better equipped and experienced. I would strongly

recommend EVERYONE google or whatever George Soros before

they say or decide anything of a political, financial or life changing

commitment. I am apolitical. The subject is not.

Think "V" and consider afraid, very afraid.

 

[Yves]

The NYTimes has an interesting article on this issue. There is quite a bit of misinformation.

Your iPhone Is Tracking You. So What?
David Pogue
April 21, 2011

Have you heard the news? Two researchers have discovered that the iPhone keeps a minute-by-minute, time-stamped log of everywhere you go. That’s right: Your phone is tracking you. So is the cellular version of the iPad.

This news, inevitably, has triggered quite a bit of breathless alarm online. Ooh! Apple is spying! Ooh! The government is tracking! Ooh! Big Brother is watching!

The news has also triggered quite a bit of misinformation.

First of all, from what we can determine, this information isn’t transmitted anywhere — to Apple or anyone else. Instead, it’s stored only on your own computer, in a buried and layman-incomprehensible form, in the backup that iTunes creates each time you sync your phone or tablet. So no, Apple is not tracking you, and neither is the government.

The one legitimate concern, therefore, is that someone else with access to your computer could retrieve the information about your travels and see where you’ve been. Your spouse, for example. The researchers also mention “a private investigator,” but that’s a little silly. A PI is going to break into your house to inspect your iTunes backup? If your computer is that accessible, you’ve got much bigger problems.

(...)

I realize, however, that a lot of people either (a) do have something to hide, or (b) just fundamentally object to anyone or anything knowing anything about their day-to-day habits. These people must live in excruciating anxiety — or would, if they ever stopped to realize that their credit-card companies know about everything they buy, their banks know the intimate details of their expenditures and debts, and their phone companies know everyone they call. (And, by the way, the phone companies know everywhere they go; all cellphones track your movements. The only difference here is that the information is stored on your computer instead of the cellphone company’s.)

(...)

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/your-iphone-is-tracking-you-so-what/

 

[AbnormalDann]

I was a bit concerned until I saw on CNN (as in the above post) Apple doesn't have access to the info, they'd need access to your computer directly.

 

[Callum2011]

OMG I have an iPhone :|
I'm only 18 haaa

 

[Thad1527]

Note this tracks where THE PHONE has been, not where the person has been. Don't expect this to confirm alibis.

 

[Lefty]

Abie D and Thad et al:

I am not an electronics man...........hells bells, AM Radios and Crystal
sets were hot when I was a kid...Now they have machines that can
pick a voice print from dozens ascribe it and the words to a single
individual, electronically identify you anywhere any time or even go
"Satellite" on your ass, down to its freckles ... if someone
wants to bad enough.

I am not one of the winger heretics..........the operatives are Can and
Want...read about old George Soros...and his buds...Mr. Pogue attempts
to assuage concerns with phrases like "from what we can determine" and
avers neither Apple of the government is stalking you.

The point not being what they are doing today, but what they or someone
of nefarious intent CAN do. Holocausts come in all sizes, shapes and in a
variety of flavours.. mostly because people think and say things like those
indignant words..." Well, I never " when they should possibly go and think
... Well, I never YET.

This is only meant as food for thought friends......I have rads on both sides
of the field here...Winnowing can be harrowing EH?

 

[joshBTW]

When you think about it, it means they know which shops, gay bars, clubs, cruising areas etc you've been to.

I don't think your location can be that precise if it's just tracked by the network cells, they don't track you by GPS. They can see what town you're in though.

I think people are overreacting, but it's wrong for them to track people without informing/asking them anyways.

 

[Lefty]

okay josh...

you go tell 'them' it is wrong, that it is not nice and a no-no.

We will GPS you and NavSat your meeting ... just in case a

person or persons take umbrage and act against you and your

chastisement.

 

[Lefty]

Jimmy

I am just a dumb old horse

and the changes are fervid and rapid

Not a kook and I hope you are not a horses ass.

My postings were only food for thought

not fact, fiction, or any combination thereof.

 

[quasar]

I don't think your location can be that precise if it's just tracked by the network cells, they don't track you by GPS...

That's what I wasn't certain of. If they are triangulating your position, or just going by the nearest mast or if they were using GSP chips.

 

[GamerBear]

I don't think your location can be that precise if it's just tracked by the network cells, they don't track you by GPS. They can see what town you're in though.

I think people are overreacting, but it's wrong for them to track people without informing/asking them anyways.

I don't know but that Find my iPhone finds the precise location of your phone. I tested it out on me and it was exact location.

 

[joshBTW]

I don't know but that Find my iPhone finds the precise location of your phone. I tested it out on me and it was exact location.

I don't know about Find my iPhone but on the pictures of the saved locations you could barely tell the town the person was in unless it was a big city.

 

[GamerBear]

I don't know about Find my iPhone but on the pictures of the saved locations you could barely tell the town the person was in unless it was a big city.

I put my iPhone in the garage, went to my computer went to Apple's website. Put a dot on the map of where it was, zoomed in all the way and put it on satellite where it shows an aerial picture of the map. The dot was on the garage area so I knew it was spot on.

Brought the iPhone back into my room and did it again, the dot was now where my room was in my house. So I figured if iPhone is capable of giving that kind of information someone could easily make an app of this sort of thing. That's why on some apps I have the Location Services turned off like on Twitter or another app that shows your location.

 

[Lefty]

Thank you Brandon.

Again, this dumb old horses subjectis open to to conjecture

Form follows Function No? Can conclusion follow too?

THINK

Conception Inception Deception...........reality.

 

[GamerBear]

Thank you Brandon.

Again, this dumb old horses subjectis open to to conjecture

Form follows Function No? Can conclusion follow too?

THINK

Conception Inception Deception...........reality.

Well it can be scary since I know of an app where if you have it opened in the background it will still be there and so if a person has the app they will know where you live cause the app shows your location.

So if you have a stalker or ex-boyfriend who wants to find out where you are....it won't be hard to find you cause your iPhone is turned on.

 

[joshBTW]

I put my iPhone in the garage, went to my computer went to Apple's website. Put a dot on the map of where it was, zoomed in all the way and put it on satellite where it shows an aerial picture of the map. The dot was on the garage area so I knew it was spot on.

Brought the iPhone back into my room and did it again, the dot was now where my room was in my house. So I figured if iPhone is capable of giving that kind of information someone could easily make an app of this sort of thing. That's why on some apps I have the Location Services turned off like on Twitter or another app that shows your location.

I know Find my iPhone is precise, what I don't know is whether it activates the GPS on the background or uses something else. The images of the maps with the location tracking were not that precise and it probably doesn't work like Find my iPhone, so you guys don't have to worry about being tracked down to the gay clubs

 

[GamerBear]

I know Find my iPhone is precise, what I don't know is whether it activates the GPS on the background or uses something else. The images of the maps with the location tracking were not that precise and it probably doesn't work like Find my iPhone, so you guys don't have to worry about being tracked down to the gay clubs

That's just it, you will never know if the app will that give out information in the background. Usually I will close the program when I'm at home or at a friend's house. That way I know, but also when a program app is using GPS signal or giving out GPS signal is the arrow on the upper left hand corner. I had that GPS app Waze open when I was staying with the boyfriend at a hotel and in the left hand corner was the purple arrow it stayed there on my phone until I closed my Waze down, so it will stay in the background until you close the app all the way. But this was during the first time of me getting the phone so I'm glad I found out at the beginning instead of now.