Tracking File Found in iPhones

[amborin]

Tracking File Found in iPhones


The locations of an iPhone as tracked on a single trip between New York and Washington.


By NICK BILTON
Published: April 20, 2011

Apple faced questions on Wednesday about the security of its iPhone and iPad after a report that the devices regularly record their locations in a hidden file.
The report came from a technology conference in San Francisco, where two computer programmers presented research showing that the iPhone and 3G versions of the iPad began logging users’ locations a year ago, when Apple updated its mobile operating system.

After customers upgraded the software, a new hidden file began periodically storing location data, apparently gleaned from nearby cellphone towers and Wi-Fi networks, along with the time.
The data is stored on a person’s phone or iPad, but when the device is synced to a computer, the file is copied over to the hard drive, the programmers said. The data is not normally encrypted; although users can encrypt their information when they sync their devices, few do.

To some privacy advocates, the storing of the data was a clear breach. “The secretive collection of location data crosses the privacy line,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy policy organization based in Washington. “Apple should know better than to track iPhone users in this way.”
Others said the discovery of the hidden file was unlikely to have a major practical impact on privacy and security.

snip

But sitting on a home computer, the data could now be more vulnerable to access by hackers or others, he said. And information about a person’s locations over time could be accessible to strangers if a phone or iPad was lost or if it was attacked by malware.

snip


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/business/21data.html?_r=1&ref=business

[thereismore]

1. Why create such a file if AT&T can't benefit from its data? I suspect that the file's final

destination isn't your computer, but AT&T's.

[Hutzpa]

2. Someone has opened up a 'can of worms'

everyone is going to check their file now.

Android i believe can do the same too, if not by the company but by an individual
who can hack into your phone via an application software. The truth is Android is
an open source which allows for an expert users to manipulate your root file.

[DireStrike]

3. All smartphones have the capacity to do this

And a lot of dumb ones too. I wouldn't be surprised if lots of them DID.

There's really no way to know if you're being tracked. It's not impossible that all phones covertly transmit tracking data to be stored in a large database somewhere and analyzed.

[WinkyDink]

4. There is a way with iPhones: YOU ARE BEING TRACKED. No wondering there.

[Hutzpa]

5. You are also being tracked by Android phones

too, so it's not only iPhones but as the poster above points out all PDA phones are traceable.