Is Your iPhone Tracking Your Location? Discussion

[EdGreen]

The recent news of the iPhone and iPad having a hidden file that keeps track of the device's location has led many to believe that a clear breach in privacy has been made by Apple. Is Apple tracking its users? No. But there's a little more to it.

Read the full content of this Article: Is Your iPhone Tracking Your Location?

Related Articles:

• White iPhone 4 Gets a Hard Release Date
• Apple iOS 4.3.2 and iOS 4.2.7 Released for AT&T and Verizon iPhone
• Apple iPhone 5 Might Debut this September

[KSD]

i read that on yahoo a couple days ago and these are the things that really piss me off. They go against many things that America has stood for in the past...such as privacy.

[LandSurveyor]

See? You're not paranoid. They're really watching you.

If it hadn't been hidden, this wouldn't have sparked such outrage.

I would also begrudge the amount of memory storing such data would take.

[Mi An]

If it hadn't been hidden, this wouldn't have sparked such outrage.

I figure it's kind of the opposite. If it had been hidden a little better, using encryption for example there would at least be less reason for outrage. As it stands now, anyone with an iPhone has to rethink their security situation, because a map of their goings is sitting on their desktop waiting to be harvested. Forget malware. It's the people you know who'll use that to screw you. Spouses, "friends", roommates, etc, and anyone who thought they were fine because they weren't leaving sensitive info on their computer is very, very wrong.

[KSD]

i also thought about the data too....i am sure that takes up like a gig of space over a year.

EDIT: i am not parnoid LS...crap where is my foil hat.....

[EdGreen]

There's no real breach of privacy really. The info collected on the phones stays on the phone or whatever computer you sync to, that's it. It's not like a list pops up on your phone saying "McDonalds in Springfield @ 1:15am".
The files on the phone that were discovered were very hard to find, very hard get to and completely unreadable by anyone less than a Unix level developer with the proper apps to decipher it.
and the amount of hard drive space it takes up is microscopic.

It is odd though that one of the guys who wrote the paper and have started this little panic are the ones posting their free app to make it readable to anyone with a Mac.

[Mi An]

It is odd though that one of the guys who wrote the paper and have started this little panic are the ones posting their free app to make it readable to anyone with a Mac.

Not to me. Better to have the info out in the open than just being passed around in dark corners so people can't take steps to protect themselves or force Apple to stop being so careless with their private information.

[Ed Hardy]

I don't think this was automatically some kind of nefarious scheme. But I'd really like to know why Apple thought it was a good idea to create the file with this location information on it. What was its purpose?

-

[KSD]

the fact that no one was ever told about it is what really bothers me....it makes apple appear they are hiding something and doing something devious

[Hook]

I don't think this was automatically some kind of nefarious scheme. But I'd really like to know why Apple thought it was a good idea to create the file with this location information on it. What was its purpose?

-

I'm guessing, potentially the same purpose as cookies on a browser. There are businesses I'm sure that down the road would pay for this data, not to track an individual, but to track iPhones in general. Where do people go, where do they shop,etc. For now they may be just collecting the data, but sooner or later they will make money exploiting it.