Researchers Discover that Your iPhone Tracks You

[Tharic-Nar]

As far as smartphones go, the iPhone is without a doubt, an incredible product. It allows its users to easily research data, watch movies, listen to music, and take advantage of the billion apps that exist in Apple's App Store. In some cases, it might seem like the iPhone is the perfect device, but is it? If you're at all a fan of privacy, then according to a couple of researchers, it's not.

You can read the rest of our post and discuss here.

 

[Greg King]

In no way am I surprised by this. It does make me a bit uneasy but ultimately, I don't have anything to hide. That doesn't mean I want my whereabouts to be tracked every second of every day.

I suppose this was inevitable but it's still disappointing.

 

[Kougar]

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.

Glad that they made a point to underscore this... cellular companies have tracked this for ages and are still actively seeking ways to capitalize on location awareness for location specific ads, coupons, and whatever else they can think of.

But still, it is disconcerting this data is now easily available for anyone with intent able to grab it. There are plenty of nefarious uses for such data... whether to learn someone's habits, or simply to know when they are not at home to rob the place are two ideas that come to mind.

 

[Rob Williams]

There are plenty of nefarious uses for such data... whether to learn someone's habits, or simply to know when they are not at home to rob the place are two ideas that come to mind.

I couldn't agree more. To be honest, a lot of the time the data wouldn't be up-to-date, given you have to sync with iTunes to get the information on the PC, but even so... there's a lot of information about someone being stored here, and it's just not right. For personal use, it'd be actually kind of fun to take advantage of such data, but the security nut inside me hates the practice, and hopes that Apple comes forward and admits its screw-up.

 

[Rob Williams]

It turns out Android phones do the same thing, except the data is a lot harder to access:

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news...cation-cache-too-but-its-harder-to-access.ars

 

[2Tired2Tango]

This shouldn't surprise anyone...

Really... between win7's spyware and GPS chips in phones, the idea that information is stored should come as no surprise whatsoever.

 

[Doomsday]

The Big broother is always watching us!

 

[Optix]

In Soviet Russia, cell phone tracks you!

 

[Kougar]

For an idea of just what can be done with such tracking, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...63261679848814.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories makes for a rather startling read.

 

[Doomsday]

For an idea of just what can be done with such tracking, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...63261679848814.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories makes for a rather startling read.

Whoaa!!