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iPhone tracking

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    iPhone tracking

    It's an outrage!

    Just seen a map of my movements over the last year, including those frequent trips to the naughty hellfire gentleman's club.

    Apple is under pressure to explain why the iPhone tracks and stores users' movements in a hidden file.
    Apple under pressure over iPhone location tracking - Telegraph

    Download the app here to see where you've been

    petewarden/iPhoneTracker @ GitHub
    "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

    #2
    I'm quite glad I don't have an iPhone, that's excessively intrusive.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by TykeMerc View Post
      I'm quite glad I don't have an iPhone, that's excessively intrusive.
      Well I'm sure all ISP's are tracking the same sort of info re what you've been look at on the internet, just a question of how they deal with it.

      And I'm not sure if all GPRS enabled devices are trackable and their locations saved, who knows? Apple can't even locate my old iPhone 3G, donated to my elder son, despite all the 'Find my iPhone' stuff being enabled, so I'm not sure any of this will actually *work*

      Comment


        #4
        Well, the Telegraph's version is definitely one of the more badly-written takes on this non-story I've seen so far.

        The iPhone has always done this - the only difference in iOS4 is where the file is stored, which was changed to allow third-party apps to access the Location Services APIs while running in the background. Oh, and it changed from a property list file to a SQLite file. Note: third-party apps don't have access to the database itself, only to the APIs the database exists to support. Also, you the user always have absolute control over which apps can use your location data. Furthermore, Apple imposes very strict requirements on how such data is used; in particular, third-party apps that try to send this data off your device without it being necessary to support explicit functionality (e.g. looking up a restaurant near you) will be banned from the app store.

        The existence of this file and the full details of its contents has long since been described at conferences, is detailed in a paper published by the IEEE, and is explained in a book published last year.

        To make it crystal clear: Apple is not tracking people's location. If you have a location-aware Apple device then it logs this data as it is used to support location-awareness. The data is not sent to Apple. It gets backed up to your computer when you sync your phone because, well, backing up data to your computer is the main reason for syncing your phone.

        I modified the app the two "discoverers" provide, which currently only shows data relating to which cell phone towers you are near, to also show the supposedly more-precise wifi location data. Even then, looking at the entire dataset from my phone for the last year, there wasn't a single datapoint nearer than thirty yards to my flat, where the phone has spent the majority of its time. Nor were there any datapoints that would allow anybody to work out which pub I drink in, nor any that would allow one to determine what client offices I have worked in. FYI, the database doesn't include any data from the GPS system, which is needed to get highly accurate location data.

        I might get around to using the vague data to triangulate positions, but the app as posted doesn't do that. I've exported the data to XML, so I can use XSLT to convert it to KML and show it on Google Maps. In fact, I'm thinking of putting that facility online as a free service.

        Oh, and FWIW, it also shows me as having supposedly been in places I've never visited, or even been within fifty miles of. Even better, I managed to get to and from those places at greater than the speed of light, if the timestamps are anything to go by.

        More info, sadly lacking in scaremongering but replete with facts: https://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2...ing-discovery/
        Last edited by NickFitz; 21 April 2011, 17:48.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by TykeMerc View Post
          I'm quite glad I don't have an iPhone, that's excessively intrusive.

          In all my years as a surfer I've never seen the likes of it Mr Pullings, by god that's trollmanship
          "Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience". Mark Twain

          Comment


            #6
            There is a good reason for it: imagine you lose your keys/wallet, at least with this you can trace your route back...

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
              To make it crystal clear: Apple is not tracking people's location. If you have a location-aware Apple device then it logs this data as it is used to support location-awareness. The data is not sent to Apple. It gets backed up to your computer when you sync your phone because, well, backing up data to your computer is the main reason for syncing your phone.
              Interesting take on it:

              Like Google, Apple maintains a global database of the locations of Wi-Fi networks. They use this to get an estimate of your location without using GPS. For example, if your handset sees three hotspots which have MAC addresses that Apple knows are within a certain city block in London, it's a fair bet you're in that city block.

              We know how Google collected their location database: they recorded them world-wide while they had their Google Maps Street View cars driving around the globe.

              Where did Apple get their location database? They used to license it from a company called Skyhook. How did Skyhook obtain this information? Well, they had their own cars drive around the world, just like Google.

              However, the Skyhook database is expensive. So beginning with iPhone OS 3.2 released in April 2010, Apple started replacing the Skyhook location database with their own location database.

              And the real question is: How did Apple create their own location database? They did not have cars driving around the world. They didn't need to. They had existing iPhone owners around the world do the work for them.

              If you run a modern iPhone, it will send your location history to Apple twice a day. This is the default operation of the device.
              Actually, iPhone sends your location to Apple twice a day - F-Secure Weblog : News from the Lab

              I'm not bothered anyway, if someone really wanted to do something dodgy with my vague locational data I'd expect it'd be easier for them to bribe Orange Bob out in Bangalore on 50 Rupees a day where all my Orange data is being stored rather than Apple Tex out in Cupertino on 500 Dollars a day.
              "I hope Celtic realise that, if their team is good enough, they will win. If they're not good enough, they'll not win - and they can't look at anybody else, whether it is referees or any other influence." - Walter Smith

              On them! On them! They fail!

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by Incognito View Post
                Actually, iPhone sends your location to Apple twice a day - F-Secure Weblog : News from the Lab

                I'm not bothered anyway, if someone really wanted to do something dodgy with my vague locational data I'd expect it'd be easier for them to bribe Orange Bob out in Bangalore on 50 Rupees a day where all my Orange data is being stored rather than Apple Tex out in Cupertino on 500 Dollars a day.
                Although:
                This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services.

                Seems like a reasonable way to crowdsource the business of refining the location database - and, as you say, the ideal source of information about an individual's location is the mobile network operator's database which does explicitly tie your location data to your device, and thus to your identity. You don't even need a smartphone for that; any mobile will do.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by NickFitz View Post
                  Seems like a reasonable way to crowdsource the business of refining the location database
                  You mean it's reasonable to use devices fully paid by users who never agreed to such a thing? It's not like Apple gave them away for free or with a discount subject to users agreeing to such tracking.

                  It's sure totally dumb to do such things to your own loyal custom base.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by AtW View Post
                    You mean it's reasonable to use devices fully paid by users who never agreed to such a thing? It's not like Apple gave them away for free or with a discount subject to users agreeing to such tracking.

                    It's sure totally dumb to do such things to your own loyal custom base.
                    Who never agreed to it?



                    How can they do this? By asking for your permission first. There is an opt-in process during initial iTunes installation, but the prompt is highly misleading:



                    The iTunes prompt talks about helping Apple with Diagnostics information. It says nothing about recording your locations. If you take the time to read Apple's Privacy Policy, it does explain what they are doing:

                    To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners
                    and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the
                    real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device.
                    This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally
                    identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and
                    improve location-based products and services.

                    We believe the new secret location database found on the devices is connected to this functionality. Apparently iPhones always collect your location information, even if it's not getting sent to Apple.
                    "I hope Celtic realise that, if their team is good enough, they will win. If they're not good enough, they'll not win - and they can't look at anybody else, whether it is referees or any other influence." - Walter Smith

                    On them! On them! They fail!

                    Comment

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