"How Apple Tracks Your Location Without Consent, and Why It Matters"

[jayfish]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/04/how-apple-tracks-your-location-without-your-consent-and-why-it-matters.ars

"As far as we can tell, the location is determined by triangulating against the nearest cell-phone towers. This isn’t as accurate as GPS, but presumably takes less power," they wrote. "In some cases it can get very confused and temporarily think you’re several miles from your actual location, but these tend to be intermittent glitches."

Users don't get to decide whether their locations are tracked via cell towers or not—unlike GPS, there is no setting that lets users turn it off, there's no explicit content every time it happens, and there's no way to block the logging. So, whether or not you're using GPS, if you're using your iPhone as a cell phone, you are being tracked and logged constantly without your knowledge. This is why my trip to Hong Kong wasn't logged (because I had all cell connections turned off while GPS was on), but my stop-over in Tokyo Narita on the same trip was logged (I had turned on my phone to make a quick call, but did not use GPS).

Of course, the fact that this data exists somewhere is nothing new. Cell companies have been tracking this triangulation information for their own purposes for years. In the US, however, regular people cannot access that data—law enforcement must obtain a court order before they can get it for an investigation, and your jealous spouse can't get it from the wireless company at all.

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.) And, if you leave iTunes on the default syncing settings, your iPhone backups aren't being encrypted on the computer either, making tools like iPhone Tracker possible.

Who thought this was a good idea? I'm glad I've avoided the iPhone craze.

[Ezlivin]

1. You'll need to avoid the "technology craze" to be safe

All smart phones track you. All of them record this data.

Read this for more worries: http://www.itworld.com/legal/157655/michigan-state-police-use-device-search-driver-cell-phones-during-traffic-stops

Read about the "nifty" hardware here: http://www.cellebrite.com/forensic-products.html?loc=seg

And make sure you log-off your computer when you are done today!

[jayfish]

4. Did you read the story?

No other phone keeps a permanent, unencrypted record of your location data on the phone. Those records are then mirrored to any PC you sync with and left in a unencrypted state. I'm also a little miffed about this "oh well, that's the way it goes" and "everyone does it" attitude when it comes to privacy.

[JuniperLea]

12. This is the key part people are not seeing...

PERMANENT record.

Yeah, the attitude is "curious" as well.

[Ezlivin]

15. Yes

And I'm very, very concerned about privacy. I'm a card-carrying of the ACLU.

And I've eschewed smart phones 'til now.

One problem is that the user of the phone had to agree to this (http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iphone.pdf) and therefore he/she should have known that this was occurring.

But you and I both know that countless people click on those little EULAs every day without reading a single word of them. In fact most of the contracts that we agree to we don't even read!

Did you take a moment to follow the links I provided? Then you'll probably ramp up your concern a notch or two....

It looks like we'll have to live like Ted Kaczynski if we really want privacy nowadays.

[KittyWampus]

2. This is true of all "smart phones", isn't it?

[jayfish]

5. No. -NT-

[KittyWampus]

16. "Cell companies have been tracking this triangulation information for their own purposes for years"

[FLPanhandle]

3. Anyone using technology with built in GPS and is surprised by this?

This isn't the age of privacy especially when you can install apps such as Loopt that will broadcast your location to your friends.

You don't want to be tracked, don't use the technology.

Any expectation of privacy with these devices is naive.

[jayfish]

6. I swear; did anyone RTFA?

This is not GPS based. There is no warning or Opt-out and it cannot be turned off.

[FLPanhandle]

9. I'll ask again. Are you really surprised by this?

The ability to locate a cell phone by triangulation of cell towers is built into the software allowing you to switch from tower to tower while driving and not dropping a call.

Of course it can't be turned off, it's just stored in Apple phones but it's stored in the data from the cell providers regardless of phone.

[Puzzler]

7. It's true with any cell phone... always has been.

[jayfish]

8. OMG!!

Fuck it, I give up.

[JuniperLea]

10. I hear you...

What we have here is another corporation keeping an eye on us... and when you try to bring it up, you get all sorts of excuses. Curious, isn't it?

[MineralMan]

14. I have a cell phone and a Kindle.

The cell phone is off unless I want to make a call. The Kindle I only use to read Project Gutenberg books, so I have it's wireless feature turned off all the time. The battery lasts lots longer.

However, none of this has to do with anyone tracking me. They'd be supremely bored. I suppose they might steal my favorite fishing spots, though.

Oh, yea, I have a handheld GPS. I use it only to find out how fast my boat is going once a year, to make sure nothing has changed. Then I leave it at home the rest of the time.

I'm not a mobile technology sort of guy.

[Puzzler]

18. If you have a handheld GPS with its own internal maps ...

... then you cannot be tracked. You are not broadcasting anything. All your GPS unit is doing is "listening" to several GPS satellites that are in a "fixed" orbital position (fixed relative to us). It's essentially just a highly accurate radio receiver.

[MineralMan]

24. Doesn't matter. I turn it on, check the speed of my boat, and turn

it off. I have no use for it otherwise, but it's a very accurate marine speedometer. When I'm trolling for fish, I check my speed. When I catch a fish, I check my speed. Then, I can duplicate the speed, if I wish. The lakes I fish on are as familiar as my hands, so I don't care about my exact GPS location.

Incidentally, this GPS was free. I found it on my front lawn. I asked the neighbors. It wasn't theirs. So, I put new batteries in it, and it's mine. It's older, and out of production, but I have no idea why someone dropped it on my lawn. I had just been thinking, though, the day before, that I'd like to have a GPS for the use I described. Maybe that was it. :rofl: It came to my lawn through telekinesis.

[JuniperLea]

22. I have a cell phone and a BlackBerry with a cell phone...

I only have the BBerry because my employer pays for it... it has a NY area code, a posh neighborhood I'm told;)

I have no doubt there are tracking systems in newer cars as well.

I'm not doing anything exciting either, but I still don't like the idea of Big Brother watching so closely... and keeping a permanent record.

[Drale]

11. Seems like no ones listening today doesn't it?

[Cronus Protagonist]

19. I have a Samsung Jack

It does not record my location information and upload it to my computer unencrypted. Unlike the iPhone, which does.

[FLPanhandle]

23. You do know that the cell companies have that data though, don't you?

The difference is the Apple also stores in on your personal device, but it's always been stored externally regardless of type of cell phone.

[Cronus Protagonist]

26. The boyfriend can't read what's on the cell network

And a snooping computer douchebag can't either. With an iPhone, not so much; your pants are down.

Apple users with iOS4 can even pull it all up on a map, with tens of thousands of data points... how useful would that be to a jealous girl or boyfriend? lol


http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-iphone-ipad-ios-wvideo.html

[FLPanhandle]

27. If you are worried about others reading your cell phone, then password protect it.

And put a password on your computer too.

If you don't want your boyfriend to read your emails, see your facebook msgs, read your text msgs, or see your location then definately don't tell him your phone or computer password.

[Cronus Protagonist]

28. I'm not, I don't use a MAC

Perhaps your post was misplaced. You need to reach these iPhone users who don't know their jealous freeper boyfriend might be mapping their whereabouts...

[Puzzler]

17. In Canada you need a warrent to obtain the information from the phone company.

It's not quite a nefarious as it sounds, since by their very nature, cell phones have to switch from cell to cell (that's one of the reasons cell phones only need very short antennas). It's also why so much data transmission can be carried within one cell site.

[obxhead]

13. Apple: The wholesome, family friendly, quality first company!

:popcorn:

[MineralMan]

20. The last sentence of the article asks:

"So, is there anywhere you've been in the last year that you don't want anyone to know about?"

The answer, for me, is no. I can't say that there is.

[Ezlivin]

21. You gave Apple your consent when you signed the SLA

Location Data. Apple and its partners and licensees may provide certain services through your iPhone that rely upon location information. To provide and improve these services, where available, Apple and its partners and licensees may transmit, collect, maintain, process and use your location data, including the real-time geographic location of your iPhone, and location search queries. The location data and queries collected by Apple are collected in a form that does not personally identify you and may be used by Apple and its partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. By using any location-based services on your iPhone, you agree and consent to Apple's and its partners' and licensees' transmission, collection, maintenance, processing and use of your location data and queries to provide and improve such products and services. You may withdraw this consent at any time by going to the Location Services setting on your iPhone and either turning off the global Location Services setting or turning off the individual location settings of each location-aware application on your iPhone. Not using these location features will not impact the non location-based functionality of your iPhone. When using third party applications or services on the iPhone that use or provide location data, you are subject to and should review such third party's terms and privacy policy on use of location data by such third party applications or services.

From Page 1, Section 4, Paragraph B of the SLA: http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/iphone4.pdf

[jayfish]

25. Once again; the collection talked about is outside the scope...

of the SLA. It cannot be turned off, cannot be opted out of and is stored in an unencrypted state on your phone and PC.

[Occulus]

30. DU's Apple fanboys REALLY don't like that we know this, do they?

Saw on another thread some other fanboy telling us all not to be so paranoid.

I'm so sick of the Cult of Apple. "Company X can do no wrong" is precisely why our country is in the mess it is in the first place.

[frylock]

29. get an android!!1

man that felt good! :rofl: