iPhone Tracking

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

' Apple can legitimately claim that it has permission to collect the
data: near the end of the 15,200-word terms and conditions for its
iTunes program, used to synchronise with iPhones, iPods and iPads, is
an 86-word paragraph about "location-based services".

It says that "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. For example, we may
share geographic location with application providers when you opt in
to their location services." '


http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/20/iphone-tracking-prompts-pr=
ivacy-fears

' looked for similar tracking code in [Google's] Android phones and
couldn't find any '


http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

' What=92s so bad about this?

The most immediate problem is that this data is stored in an easily-
readable form on your machine. Any other program you run or user with
access to your machine can look through it.

The more fundamental problem is that Apple are collecting this
information at all. '

It will be intersting to see what the courts make of this. I understand
that judges tend to look at "take-it-or-leave-it" contracts much less
favorably than true contracts where both sides hash out the terms.


Google does optionally (upon your request) store your location history
on their servers (keyword "google lattitude"). I'm not sure that makes
it all that much safer. Any android program that can learn your google
password could in theory get at this data. I bet many folks would fall
for an android program asking their google password.

On the other hand, cell phone companies have been collecting cell-tower
based location info for ages. This article talks about some judges now
requiring search warrants for accessing that data. That seems to imply
that the data was free for the asking at one point.

http://www.llrmi.com/articles/legal_update/2011_us_cell_records.shtml

-wolfgang
--
Wolfgang S. Rupprecht Test your IPv6 compliance: http://test-ipv6.com/