iPhone tracks your movements

encroaching technology that can track our every move is something we shouldn't worry about, because we should trust implicitly the people who have control over these technologies to use them morally.

I'm not worried about it, so my reaction is to antagonize those who might be

oh absolutely bro

The people in control are in it for profit and there is no reason to trust them. Your gmail is free because the extra profiling provides value. I don't trust Google with my data because of the long term effects all this gathered data can have, because all that gathered data is beyond my control. If I use gmail, my mail is not under my control anymore. If someone wants to read it and can convince Google it has the right to do so they can do it. There is another way, which is to get out of the lazy disempowered clienthood and don't just hand over your data and logs to Mark Zuckerberg & co. I'm not saying the nontechnical public has much easy alternatives to Facebook and Gmail right now, but I disagree with the "we're all going to be slaves anyway, so why bother" attitude. There are people working on changing that for the broad public. And this has nothing to do with tinfoil hats. It's about a model that makes no sense. That you put giant corporations in control of the data while the technology we have allows us to deprecate that.

But anyway that's not even what this is about. Having a local log of your location history on your phone is especially a privacy issue because I, governments or anyone else can take your phone and figure out where you were at what time. You might not mind, but there are people that do mind but don't know about it because they didn't opt-in and can't even opt-out.

i don't have an iphone or anything but this sounds exciting, so i will write down all the places i visit and send the list to the apple office so they aren't deprived of my valuable data

  On 4/21/2011 at 4:51 PM, Ego said:

 

But anyway that's not even what this is about. Having a local log of your location history on your phone is especially a privacy issue because I, governments or anyone else can take your phone and figure out where you were at what time. You might not mind, but there are people that do mind but don't know about it because they didn't opt-in and can't even opt-out.

I don't do anything wrong, i don't have anything to hide. The only people who would be concerned about this are miscreants and criminals who break the law, they knew what they were getting into when they downloaded that torrent of Machete, it was illegal!

  Quote

If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever. Then imagine the entire populace exclaiming how beautiful and harmless the boot is and how if you complain about it you're a paranoid loon

George Orwell, —Part III, Chapter III, Nineteen Eighty-Four

fixt

if the item i've just seen on tv was valid and well researched, all of iphone users signed up an agreement where apple states that it has the right to deliver personal data to the appropriate authorities in case of national security concerns and such.

fail.

yes, absolute fail because as we all know each and everyone of us has a lawyer to help us decipher the legalese of any such contract before signing it. Of course Eugene, i can be rest assured that you've understood 100% every single agreement you've ever signed.

of course i don't.

but such issues are consumers' fault to begin with, blaming evil corporation instead of own stupidity is kinda lame. the whole consumer culture is based on ignorance..

this is fucking hilarious. Fucking apple.

Sorry if jazz.

*inserts intended chill-pill anally*

  Quote

iOS location tracking file likely a bug, Apple could address issue with next udpate

 

By Neil Hughes

Published: 12:00 PM EST

A file that stores a detailed history of the approximate location an iPhone or 3G-equipped iPad has been is a result of a bug in the iOS operating system, and could be addressed by Apple in the next iOS update, according to a new report.

 

John Gruber of Daring Fireball commented on the controversial location tracking log Thursday. Though he cautioned that he doesn't have a "definitive answer" as to why Apple is storing users' location data in a database file, he has been told it is in fact an error.

 

"My little-birdie-informed understanding is that consolidated.db acts as a cache for location data, and that historical data should be getting culled but isn't, either due to a bug or, more likely, an oversight," Gruber wrote.

 

"I.e. someone wrote the code to cache location data but never wrote code to cull non-recent entries from the cache, so that a database that's meant to serve as a cache of your recent location data is instead a persistent log of your location history. I'd wager this gets fixed in the next iOS update."

 

Though the tracking file has existed since iOS 4 was released last year, and was even recognized before, the information gained traction on Wednesday when a pair of security researchers detailed the issue. They found that the iPhone and 3G-capable iPad are "regularly recording the position" of the devices and saving them in a hidden file.

 

The data in the consolidated.db file is backed up and restored through iTunes, and can even be transferred to a new device when syncing. Though the information is not shared with Apple or anyone else, the researchers view the file as a potential security threat, as anyone with access to the file could know where a person has traveled since owning an iOS 4-powered device.

 

Because data collection started with the release of iOS 4 last June, the file can be a comprehensive collection of locations with tens of thousands of data points stored. The location is believed to be determined through cell-tower triangulation, which is less accurate than GPS.

 

The researchers, Peter Warden and Alasdair Allan, have provided a free tool to the public that allows users to look at their own stored location data. Users are also advised to encrypt their iOS backups through iTunes to maximize security.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/04/21/ios_location_tracking_file_likely_a_bug_apple_could_address_issue_with_next_udpate.html

I'm not doing anything,they can follow me all they want.

I would be more worry if i were a terrorist or something.

  On 4/20/2011 at 11:01 PM, jefferoo said:

I guess I have to become a vegan, burn my iPhone, bra and drivers license.

This presents a difficult problem, because becoming a vegan presupposes that you use an iPhone.

.

iPad thai, iPhởne soup?

.

Right now is such a good time to be a stalker.

lol so true

i often wonder how many tech savvy parents employee these types of tracking methods on their own kids.

I avoid Apple products like the plague. It feels like you're paying a fee for permission to borrow their shit.

  On 4/22/2011 at 10:12 AM, Awepittance said:

i often wonder how many tech savvy parents employee these types of tracking methods on their own kids.

or bosses tracking their employees

  On 4/21/2011 at 11:37 AM, oscillik said:

  On 4/21/2011 at 1:12 AM, luke viia said:

i wonder if android does this

 

and if so, i wonder if my phone is telling a mysterious database that i'm a boring loser who rides the same bus every day

 

  Ars Technica said:

What the cellco has on you is now basically being mirrored in a file on your iPhone or iPad without any kind of encryption, and is also being copied to your computer. (Allan and Warden say that, according to their research, no other phones log triangulated cell locations in this way, including Android phones.)

 

the article quoted above

not entirely true

Oh and regardless of if you use a "smart" phone or not, your cell phone provider is tracking you anyways.

And people can put a pretty good approximation of where/when you shop by your debit/credit card records.

So yeah, i know you've all been screaming about those invasions of privacy for a long time.

Oh wait, they're not apple...

yeah, I was going to mention the debit/credit card thing...along with such benign helpers as grocery store 'membership cards,' facebook (but we all knew about that one), etc...

people just need to wise up about their privacy in general

Privacy is an illusion if you're using all the amenities the modern world offers

  On 4/21/2011 at 5:48 PM, Awepittance said:

  On 4/21/2011 at 4:51 PM, Ego said:

 

But anyway that's not even what this is about. Having a local log of your location history on your phone is especially a privacy issue because I, governments or anyone else can take your phone and figure out where you were at what time. You might not mind, but there are people that do mind but don't know about it because they didn't opt-in and can't even opt-out.

 

I don't do anything wrong, i don't have anything to hide. The only people who would be concerned about this are miscreants and criminals who break the law, they knew what they were getting into when they downloaded that torrent of Machete, it was illegal!

The law isn't always on your side. Even in democratic countries the power of corporate lobbies can be a great danger to your freedom. Piracy is actually a good example. The power anti-piracy organizations have acquired is ridiculous and they incessantly make attempts to get more of it.

If an Egyptian/Libyan protester took his iPhone with him through all protests and curfew violations, that location-data on the device can be a great threat to him.

  On 4/22/2011 at 4:38 PM, hautlle said:

Privacy is an illusion if you're using all the amenities the modern world offers

I disagree. Hardware and software can be tailored for privacy. The issue of service providers (telecom, ISP's, etc) is more difficult to solve. I think there are 2 ways to keep those companies from keeping too many information:

- Legislation to protect your information from others (and limit the surveillance of the government.) This is probably the only route for banking. Ofcourse, this already exists but is not always sufficient and is often threatened by fear of terrorism, child porn & other political weapons that create emotional responses amongst the people.

- Opening up the markets. I believe Sweden now has an ISP that doesn't keep logs (or at least anonymizes the logs.) In a truly free telecom market, I can see this as a good way to differentiate yourself from competition.

I'm not saying complete privacy exists, I'm just saying it's something I'm prepared to stay vigilant about. Because if we're not careful, a government with Orwellian ambitions wouldn't even need to place the surveillance equipment. People will just buy it themselves.

Awepittance was being sarcastic.

People already buy it themselves. facebook has 500 million users, there are however many billion cell phones in the world (all of which can locate you by using cell tower triangulation), people use credit cards/debit cards without any thought to it.

That people harp on about this (wildly inaccurate and hardly new (as detailed here)) technology to "track" you is hyperbole.

The simplest explanation is probably two-fold - one (and this is a certainty): this is what Apple uses for location services, it's how you find your phone if it's been stolen. two (and this one is a guess): this is probably how apple targets ads for locales.

Finally, if you opt out of Location Services - the file isn't updated.