iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go

Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronised.

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

We are going to need iphone location scramblers and all wear disguises for the ubiquitous video cameras, but only if we have something to hide.

Personally I find this amazing. Could it be used as a rescue tool?

BEEN Telling ya that for years, since Washington state started testing with On-Star...
Can't wait (well I can) for the first post title reading "I got a tax bill for the miles I drover last month"
WAKE-UP! WI. is looking into it now...
be back with story.

Governor ponders mileage tax
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=148600

Hey, Let's Tax People for the Miles They Drive
http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/03/25/hey-lets-tax-people-for-the-miles-they-drive/

Mileage Tax Considered By Obama Transportation Secretary LaHood
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/20/mileage-tax-considered-by_n_168506.html

And it might also help save kidnapped people or catch stupid criminals.

Much adieu about nothing. I don't do anything I want to hide. I appreciate knowing I can be located.

NOBODY NEEDS TO KNOW WHERE I'M UNLESS IT'S THOSE I WANT TO KNOW.

More big brother figures coming from kresspin.

For what it's worth, Al Franken among others is concerned.


Security experts have expressed concern that the data is unencrypted and easily readable by anyone with access to a smartphone or tablet -- perhaps after one is lost or stolen -- or to the synching computer.

Franken, who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, was appointed chairman in February of the newly-created Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.

"Anyone who gains access to this single file could likely determine the location of a user's home, the businesses he frequents, the doctors he visits, the schools his children attend, and the trips he has taken -- over the past months or even a year," said Franken in the letter to Jobs

Insert standard "It's Obama's fault, and it's 'Big Brotherism' by the Federal Government" bulls*** here: ___________________________

While iPhone and iPad owners waffled between Skynet jokes and genuine concern over yesterday's confirmation that the devices may be mapping their every move, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., got down to business, firing off nine pointed questions in a two-page open letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

The tech-savvy senator cuts to the chase — the fact that iPhones and iPads running iOS 4 record and store users locations in unencrypted files is serious. Sen. Franken's letter begins:

Sen. Al Franken wrote: I read with concern a recent report by security researchers that Apple's iOS 4 operating system is secretly compiling its customers' location data in a file stored on iPhones, 3G iPads and every computer that users use to "sync" their devices. According to the researchers, this file contains consumers' latitude and longitude for every day they used an iPhone or 3G iPad running the iOS 4 operating system — something logging their precise geo-location up to 100 times a day. The researchers who discovered this file found that it contained up to a year's worth of data, starting from the day they installed the iOS4 operating system. What is even more worrisome is that this file is stored in an unencrypted format on customers' iPads, iPhones and every computer a customer has used to back up his or her information.

It's not clear why Apple is recording this information, though the researchers believe Apple is doing it intentionally. Apple hasn't released a public statement, nor has the company responded to reporter requests for comments.

Here's what Sen. Franken wants to know:

01. Why does Apple collect and compile this location data? Why did Apple choose to initiate tracking this data in its iOS 4 operating system?

02. Does Apple collect and compile this location data for laptops?

03. How is this data generated? (GPS, cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi triangulation, etc.)

04. How frequently is a user's location recorded? What triggers the creation of a record of someone's location?

05. How precise is this location data? Can it track the users location to 50m, 100m, etc.?

06. Why is this data not encrypted? What steps will Apple take to encrypt the data?

07. Why were Apple consumers never affirmatively informed of the collection and retention of their location data in this manner? Why did Apple not seek affirmative consent before doing so?

08. Does Apple believe that this conduct is permissible under the terms of its privacy policy?

09. To whom, if anyone, including Apple, has this data been disclosed? When and why were these disclosures made?

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20 ... e-tracking


http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20055 ... ditorPicks

(About halfway down the page is a step-by-step on how to encrypt the data to at least make it harder to read once it's backed-up to your computer...It doesn't solve the problem of being unencrypted and easily readable from the iPhone/iPad directly, but at least it's a start...) The article also explains that at this time it's not possible to turn off this tracking.


Yeah, I'm outraged... I want to know why Apple & Steve Jobs put this functionality into my phone without letting me know or giving me the option to turn it off... (The same way I get outraged when I read how Zuckerberg keeps exposing people's private data in Facebook without their assent...and which is why I do not have a Facebook account, or a MySpace account, or a Twitter account, or any other kind of social-networking account...)

But this has NOTHING to do with the Federal government...

And if you're concerned about this... You're going to love this:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-200 ... g=mncol;1n

And you don't REALLY think Michigan is the only state using this?

I am more disturbed by the ability of law enforcement to download call data. That would seem to be a violation of civil rights.