irishtimes.com - Posted: April 21, 2011 @ 9:03 am
Ciara O'Brien
In case you missed it, the iPhone (and iPad) apparently tracks its location and saves it to the phone, complete with handy little time stamps. So everywhere you go, it takes a record of it. A stalker’s dream, wouldn’t you say?
I don’t think anyone is too surprised that they can be tracked by a phone that contains location services. And if you have anything like Find My iPhone on your handset, you can pinpoint your phone’s location in real time.
But it’s the level of data retention that has raised some eyebrows, plus the danger posed by potential access to the file. And even if you switch off your location services, the phone will still keep track of you, because it uses data triangulated from mobile towers rather than the built-in GPS.
Apparently no other smartphone keeps the same creepy log of all your movements, so congratulations, Apple, you’ve scored another first. Though I doubt it’s one that will be making it into STeve’s next keynote, somehow.
If you’re interested to find out just what’s stored on your iPhone, have a look at the application here.
Apple iPhone secretly tracking user's privacy: Security researcher
The Times of India
WASHINGTON: Apple has been accused of putting customers' privacy at risk after security researchers found that their iPhones were tracking users' locations and saving every details to a secret file.
The researchers found the device saves the latitude and longitude of users' locations, along with a time stamp, then copies the data to the owner's computer whenever the two are synchronised.
This means anyone who stole the phone or gained access to the computer it is paired with could build a detailed picture of the owner's movements.
"Apple has made it possible for almost anybody - a jealous spouse, a private detective - with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you've been," the Daily Mail quoted Pete Warden , one of the researchers who discovered the file, as saying.
It has also emerged that Apple's iPad device also records location data...[Full Article]
