iPhone Secretly Tracks and Reports Where You Go

[Lumi]

iPhone Secretly Tracks and Reports Where You Go

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-->Christina Warren
Mashable

April 20, 2011

Two security researchers have discovered that Apple?s iPhone keeps track of a user?s location and saves that information to a file that is stored both on the device and on a user?s computer when they sync or back it up in iTunes.
The researchers, Pete Warden and Alasdair Allan, discovered the hidden file while collaborating on a potential data visualization project. ?At first we weren?t sure how much data was there, but after we dug further and visualised the extracted data, it became clear that there was a scary amount of detail on our movements,? Warden told The Guardian.

You can watch Allan and Warden?s discussion about the data and how it can be surfaced in this video:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GynEFV4hsA0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[dawgball]

This is fear-based marketing at its best.

Scare everyone about the iPhone tracking where you go, and oh by the way we have an application to make that data useful......

 

[Lumi]

How much do you about this technology?

 

[dawgball]

How much do you about this technology?

Which one? The tracking software, or the application the "researchers" who released this story are trying to sell?

In the grand scheme of things, it's not my area of expertise.

I think Apple should have disclosed that it was in the OS update when it was released. My pure guess is that it probably was hidden in one of those extremely long Terms that we all auto-OK. But, in the end, from the things I have read the tracking software is not overly harmful.

On a closing note, I am not an Apple defender in most instances. I just think this is overblown news.

But, illuminati, I love the stuff you post. Keep it comin'

 

[gardenweasel]

wonder why it`s in there to begin with?...what purpose would it serve?...

and more importantly,why they weren`t forthcoming about it...

wonder what other little idiosincracies are hidden inside all our gadgets?...

 

[Woodson]

This is nothing new. We use tracking data for work as I mentioned a few months back.

 

[gardenweasel]

This is nothing new. We use tracking data for work as I mentioned a few months back.

your company uses it to keep track of where their employees are?...j

 

[dawgball]

and more importantly,why they weren`t forthcoming about it...

This is business as usual with Apple. They aren't forthcoming about anything.

 

[gardenweasel]

This is business as usual with Apple. They aren't forthcoming about anything.

just curious...not a gadget guy.....i bow to you`s guys expertise...:0008

 

[Lumi]

Which one? The tracking software, or the application the "researchers" who released this story are trying to sell?

In the grand scheme of things, it's not my area of expertise.

I think Apple should have disclosed that it was in the OS update when it was released. My pure guess is that it probably was hidden in one of those extremely long Terms that we all auto-OK. But, in the end, from the things I have read the tracking software is not overly harmful.

On a closing note, I am not an Apple defender in most instances. I just think this is overblown news.

But, illuminati, I love the stuff you post. Keep it comin'

As I have stated before Dawg,

I installed this "Stuff" on Military Vehicles many moons ago, using Linux Based System Computers

Years before that, in the Ronny Reagan Army i was trained in Tactical Satellite Communications, so I am very in tune to this type of tracking software.

This is the TACSAT stuff I used to do.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hYDGMj3xJQU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

BACK IN THE 80'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dawgball]

I installed this "Stuff" on Military Vehicles many moons ago, using Linux Based System Computers

Years before that, in the Ronny Reagan Army i was trained in Tactical Satellite Communications, so I am very in tune to this type of tracking software.

Very cool. Did you continue in this field? The skillset you have from doing it "manually" is something that is becoming less and less available in developers today.

I refer to many developers now as "framework" developers. I love having frameworks available for my teams to use, but I don't like the fact that most new developers are incapable of going outside of the framework when something goes wrong.

Now we have frameworks layered on frameworks which is further removing programmers from the core understanding of what is really being done.

<just for a little random tangent> :0074

 

[Lumi]

No,

I am in the Healthcare field now

 

[dawgball]

No,

I am in the Healthcare field now

Healthcare IT?

 

[Lumi]

Nursing Homes, Long Term Healthcare

I can send you a link if you like?

Email is my yahoo username on my profile

*******@yahoo.com or get it from Jack

 

[Lumi]

Apple, Google Phone Home, Says WSJ

Apple, Google Phone Home, Says WSJ

Apple, Google Phone Home, Says WSJ





DUH !





WHAT TOOK THESE ASS HATS SO LONG TO FIGURE THAT OUT?







By Tiernan Ray

This is the other shoe dropping.
Following a revelation earlier this week by programmers that Apple?s (AAPL) iPhone maintains a database on the device of the locations an individual has traveled with the phone, The Wall Street Journal?s Julia Angwin and Jennifer Valentino-Devries write today that both Google?s (GOOG) and Apple?s operating systems are transmitting some location data back to the companies.

?According to new research by security analyst Samy Kamkar, an HTC Android phone collected its location every few seconds and transmitted the data to Google at least several times an hour,? the authors write.

:facepalm: :nono: :facepalm: :nono: :142smilie :142smilie :142smilie

 

[IE]

old news......


How To Cover Your Tracks
If you're concerned about your locational information winding up in the wrong hands, there are several actions you can take. First, you can delete all of your previous backups in one swoop by opening iTunes Preferences, clicking the Devices tab, and deleting the appropriate backup. Second, you can do what Apple arguably should have done already: encrypt it. It's easy: click on your device in iTunes, scroll to the bottom the options page, tick the box "Encrypt backups," and set a password. If Jeff had an angry ex, this would stop her from doing what I did with his iPhone (and discovering all that inter-borough love). For those who don't like the idea of their iOS device chatting with Apple at all, you can prohibit all communication by disabling Location Services (in Settings), though you may find that many apps are less useful without it. Finally, setting a passcode on your iPhone is good policy, no matter what. It stopped me from syncing his iPhone with my laptop and it will keep the rest of your information private.