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iPhone tracks users' movements

13

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 811 ✭✭✭Rambo


    cornbb wrote: »
    Point to note: user locations are not being recorded, the locations of cell towers in the vicinity are. I wonder if all the people freaking out about this consider that their network (O2 or whoever) are constantly logging the same information.

    Some of the headlines are ridiculous. There's a world of difference between "Apple is tracking iPhone users' movements" and "iPhones log the location of nearby cell towers". Which is more accurate?


    its logging wifi access points and cell masts
    the locatations or damn close to my apartment.

    I have the data in front of me here entered the locations in google earth


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,790 ✭✭✭cornbb


    Rambo wrote: »
    its logging wifi access points and cell masts
    the locatations or damn close to my apartment.

    I have the data in front of me here entered the locations in google earth

    Well you know your mobile network have been collecting the same data on you for years. Such information has been used in e.g. Criminal trials, even in Ireland. Google may have picked up your router's UDID when their street view car drove past your apartment. Were you up in arms about those things too?

    The only reason this is gaining so much traction is because someone has gone to the trouble of visualising the dsta in a pretty stark way. Be thankful that the data stays on your device rather than living on O2 or Meteor or Google servers.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭ozmo


    Rambo wrote: »

    anybody know how to translate this time stamp
    298852557.902248

    I was curious myself - on XP - Iphone 3GS and 4

    This is what I did

    (IPhone does not have to be jailbroken)

    Find the database file (consolidated.db) using free IPhone backup Browser
    http://code.google.com/p/iphonebackupbrowser
    (needed MS VC redist 2010 to get working on XP link)

    sqlitebrowser_200_b1_win.zip Allows you to export the cell tables as CSV (I had to use v2.0b1 to open)


    In Excel – can convert the time stamp to readable time using this formula
    =B2/(60*60*24)+"1/1/2001"
    (where B2 is the numeric cell) Then set to Custom Format and set “yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm” as the format.


    Then Google Fusion allows you to import the csv.
    And there is an option once imported to display it on a map
    http://www.google.com/fusiontables/Home


    Maps work great - but actual output wasnt as impressive as I hoped - def has the correct areas (thousands of points around dublin and belfast etc)
    - but its all over the shop - like these are the cell phone antanae rather than my actual position maybe...?

    See attached - I never went into those estates... Makes me look like a taxi driver.... :)

    So works - but seems very aproximate (nearest village kind of thing)

    See attached.

    If I find out how to make it more accurate Ill post info...
    LocMe2.jpg

    156178.jpg

    “Roll it back”



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭ozmo


    ~Rebel~ wrote: »
    For **** sake the false information is insane!

    Just saw on the rte news they're stating apple collects this information when this is simply not the case.

    Acording to the bloggers they dont...
    ... but Actually it might be sending the data - in an anon form....

    They need the data for non-gps enabled devices like IPads and for rough positioning of iphones before GPS kicks in or if inside a building etc.

    Heres wired quoting Apple themselves...

    http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/apple-iphone-tracking/
    Apple claims the collected geodata is stored on the iOS device, then anonymized with a random identification number generated every 24 hours by the iOS device, and finally transmitted over an encrypted Wi-Fi network every 12 hours (or later if there’s no Wi-Fi available) to Apple. That means Apple and its partners can’t use this collected geodata to personally identify a user.

    “Roll it back”



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 704 ✭✭✭LukeS_


    Haven't really read the thread but what's all the fuss about? I'm all for apple or whomever may be interested in where I'm going, can do so. They are hardly going to start stalking me or anything.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,712 ✭✭✭✭Sad Professor


    ozmo wrote: »
    Acording to the bloggers they dont...
    ... but Actually it might be sending the data - in an anon form....

    They need the data for non-gps enabled devices like IPads and for rough positioning of iphones before GPS kicks in or if inside a building etc.

    Heres wired quoting Apple themselves...

    http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/04/apple-iphone-tracking/
    Interesting article. I mean, yeah, it's obviously sending some data. But that's just how A-GPS on any device works, isn't it? i.e. I request my location, but instead of waiting for a GPS satellite to tell me, my phone sends nearby cell tower/wifi info to an online database which returns a rough location faster than the GPS satellite. In some cases though this online database might not find a match for the cell tower/wifi networks, right? In that case it waits for the GPS satellite to return my location and (as per Wired's article) anonymously sends the cell tower info to Apple/Google's database so that the next request (either from me or someone else) will get a match. This is what makes A-GPS work so well.

    However, A-GPS still requires a data connection to work. In order words, if my phone has no access to the internet and I attempt a location request, it has no choice but to wait on the GPS satellite. But that's where I assume this log file comes in. It keeps a record of cell towers and their location. And as said in the link Aidan posted, because this log files keeps this info for so long, it is able to get a more accurate result. This means you don't have to wait on the GPS satellite and you don't even have to wait on the online database to return a result. Based on previous location requests, the log file remembers the cell towers and where they are located and is able to immediately tell you your rough location without waiting on satellites or online databases

    Aside from the fact that this log file is a bit too easily accessible (although who knew about it before today?), what's the problem with this? It sounds like a feature to me. And by all accounts, other smart-phones do the same or similar thing. The fact remains that there is no evidence that Apple is downloading this entire log file and "tracking" your location as some media outlets and blogs have been suggesting. Some data about cell towers and wifi networks is obviously sent to them if you request your location, but this should be obvious to everyone as it's just how A-GPS works, and in any case it only happens if location services is switched on.

    Anyway, that's my understanding of this. We'll see what Apple have to say about it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,138 ✭✭✭Gregor Samsa


    cornbb wrote: »
    Point to note: user locations are not being recorded, the locations of cell towers in the vicinity are.

    Some people are reporting the database containing thousands of unique hits in areas where there are not thousands of cell towers. There's also no way to get the lat/long location of a cell tower from its signal. It doesn't look like it's the location of the cell towers being recorded. However, it does look as if the location data is not very accurate or reliable.
    cornbb wrote: »
    Be thankful that the data stays on your device rather than living on O2 or Meteor or Google servers.

    If O2 or Meteor had it (which they do anyway - but only for 2 years), then at least there'd have to be a court order for someone else to get it. Which means only the Gardai can access it, and the request has to go through court. Since this is on the phone, all someone would need is temporary access to the phone to get the data in many cases.

    A backup takes what, one minute? All someone has to do is take your iPhone, plug it into a computer with iTunes, back up the iPhone, and they have access to the file, regardless of the settings you've set on he phone and regardless of whether you've encrypted the backup on your own computer. And that's my main concern about this.

    Apple are really going to have to come out and say something about this pretty soon. This may not be the greatest privacy scandal of all time, but it certainly doesn't look good as long as Apple keep quiet about it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,444 ✭✭✭✭Creamy Goodness


    odd, my phone is showing up as being in cork, and i've never willingly been there.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,221 ✭✭✭BrianD


    seamus wrote: »
    Storing information about someone on their own personal device is unethical now?
    There is no evidence whatsoever that any data is sent to Apple nor that there is or has been ever any plans to do so. I'm pretty sure these security researchers lifted every rock and piece of code they could to find some evidence that the data was being nefariously transmitted. But they didn't. The information is simply being stored, again on the person's own device and nowhere else.

    Yes it is when you don't have a stated purpose for it and it's done without the owners knowledge. This is a particularly important in the case of Apple because of how to go to market with their phones.
    It's only people who are obsessed about privacy to the point of delusion who have taken this news and assumed that it means that Apple are now spying on people and sending information to the CIA.

    Of course there will be conspiracy theories. But lets face it, it's all about data these days. The US government are demanding data from everybody these days. US military contractors are doing the census in Ireland, Scotland and England. It's all about data and think you'd be only deluding yourself if you state the possibility of government reaching into your device for your details. It's a wet dream for the securocrats. Having said that, everybody with a phone in the future will be in the same boat.
    Well the info isn't being sent to anyone else. And can't be, really. In this country Data Protection would annihilate them. And many european countries have similar policies. You can't include "clauses" in EULAs and the like, you have to specifically get Irish people's buy-in on that.

    the Irish Data commissioner is to challenge Apple on it. He says the EULA (quoted elsewhere in this thread) is insufficient. Story is on Silicon Republic.
    For a company the size of Apple, intentionally hiding nefarious code and illegal collecting information will eventually lead them being destroyed by the courts, because they will be found out. So this is not happening.

    But the fact of the matter is that it has happened exactly as you say it above and they have been found out. Not a squeak out of them on it either. No doubt there's a crises management meeting in progress - hopefully they won't let Steve "hold it differently" Jobs deal with it either.
    However, there's a fair argument to say that this could be used for targetted iAds - show ads which are relevant to the user's current location. But there's a problem with that; Most people already use location services and allow location services on their phone. This seems like a lot of effort to go to, to try and send ads to a statistically small number of people who have GPS functionality switched off. Indeed, anyone who goes to the effort to switch off location services is unlikely to respond positively to relevant ads.
    Given the level of control that Apple deploy on their devices, perhaps you'll be getting location based marketing services in shape or form whether you like it or not. But the difference is that people opt in to use Foursquare, Facebook Places etc. They might not know what the full ramifications of doing so but at least they opt in.

    Of course, it could simply be that Apple would like to know how their devices are being used for future product development. Having a real time snapshots of usage would be invaluable and would contribute to better products in future. But why hide this fact?
    As usual, the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.
    We await Apple's explaination and see how they wriggle off the line. However, this is what they apparently told to senators by letter:

    "The NYT also reported Apple had sent a letter two US congressmen – Democrat Edward J Markey and Republican Joe L Barton – confirming it had been storing and collecting location data anonymously.

    The company said it only did this when consumers agreed to use its location-based services and other apps which ask for a location. As well as this, the company collects location data for its advertising system, iAds."


    So not only are you paying for your phone but Apple are doing a Google on you and selling you on again to advertisers. Double the money!
    The reason this is a big security concern is because someone can steal your handset and use the information to profile your movements. Where someone is (for example) a bank manager, you don't need to be following them around for a couple of weeks to see what they're doing. Instead you just rob their phone, analyse it and you instantly know what time they usually leave for work, what route they normally take, what time they usually get home, go to bed, go shopping, etc. Steal his wife's phone and you can get a full mash-up of the entire family's daily routine over the past year.
    That's a big problem.

    I would agree. There might be other situations where you might be asked to "voluntarily" hand over your information. Plus while the Apple ecosystem is a secure one, there's no doubt that the bad guys are targetting it at every weak point.
    The next iOS update will probably include an auto-delete patch for this.
    That an explaination would be good. And there was me about to get delivery of my first personal tracking device and phone.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,790 ✭✭✭cornbb


    phutyle wrote: »
    Some people are reporting the database containing thousands of unique hits in areas where there are not thousands of cell towers. There's also no way to get the lat/long location of a cell tower from its signal. It doesn't look like it's the location of the cell towers being recorded. However, it does look as if the location data is not very accurate or reliable.




    If O2 or Meteor had it (which they do anyway - but only for 2 years), then at least there'd have to be a court order for someone else to get it. Which means only the Gardai can access it, and the request has to go through court. Since this is on the phone, all someone would need is temporary access to the phone to get the data in many cases.

    Its stored there on disk which means more than the Gardai have access to it. As usual with these things the question is not whats being done with such information but what could be done with it. With the iPhone log, only YOU have access.

    Which brings us to...
    A backup takes what, one minute? All someone has to do is take your iPhone, plug it into a computer with iTunes, back up the iPhone, and they have access to the file, regardless of the settings you've set on he phone and regardless of whether you've encrypted the backup on your own computer. And that's my main concern about this.

    A backup cannot be made from any machine if the device is passcode protected. If users are not a) passcode protecting their devices and b) not encrypting their backups, they have far more to worry about than people getting access to this location log. If someone has physical access to an unlocked device and/or an unencrypted backup, they have access to email which among other things will allow them to reset passwords for pretty much any internet service the user is signed up to. Add to that any other types of personal information/documents/photos/videos/address books the user might keep on the device.

    If people are so concerned about their privacy, they should be passcode-protecting their devices and encrypting backups. If they are doing this then most of the security concerns about this log file should evaporate.
    Apple are really going to have to come out and say something about this pretty soon. This may not be the greatest privacy scandal of all time, but it certainly doesn't look good as long as Apple keep quiet about it.

    I agree. I think its unlikely that they'll keep schtum about it for long. At the same time, it will be yesterday's news pretty soon.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,788 ✭✭✭dloob


    Android does this too and sends it to google to improve the wifi and cellular location services, but at least there is a check box to opt in or out of it during the inital setup.

    I wouldn't be too concerned about what apple is doing but making it so easily accessible and not having any opt out is a bit sloppy.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,138 ✭✭✭Gregor Samsa


    cornbb wrote: »
    A backup cannot be made from any machine if the device is passcode protected.

    That doesn't seem to be true, from what I've just tried. I just downloaded iTunes to my work PC. Plugged in my passcode protected iPhone, and I was able to do a backup to the PC without having to enter the passcode at all.

    However, having "Encrypt iPhone backup" set in iTunes on your own computer does transfer across to any other computer. So, since I had that set on my Mac at home, when I plugged in the iPhone in work, the encryption checkbox was set, and any backup I made was encrypted with my backup's password (not the iPhone's passcode).

    So it seems the key to ensuring this (and any other data) on your phone is secure is to set the "Encrypt iPhone backup" in iTunes - the iPhone passcode feature only stops people from physically using the interface of your phone, not extracting backups.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 811 ✭✭✭Rambo


    ozmo wrote: »

    In Excel – can convert the time stamp to readable time using this formula
    =B2/(60*60*24)+"1/1/2001"
    (where B2 is the numeric cell) Then set to Custom Format and set “yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm” as the format.

    Then Google Fusion allows you to import the csv.
    And there is an option once imported to display it on a map
    http://www.google.com/fusiontables/Home

    Maps work great - but actual output wasnt as impressive as I hoped - def has the correct areas (thousands of points around dublin and belfast etc)
    - but its all over the shop - like these are the cell phone antanae rather than my actual position maybe...?

    thank ozmo that excel code worked great

    I tried out the google Fusion it does look over the place
    but once you have moved around you can track the position

    it has my route that I took up to belfast, I took last year.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,856 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    I don't see the big deal really... If someone gets this data, then what will they know? Where I was while I was carrying my phone? What will they do with that information?

    There's enough information about me available if someone wants to steal my identity. Just go onto my Facebook page, or look at my website. I used to work in Xtravision, and if I was interested in it then I could have gotten a load of information about customers, could have wrote down their credit card number, etc. I used to work for a company who had Revenue as their client, and I could have passed on information about tax returns, etc., if I were into that.

    Fact is, there's enough information about me out there... I don't see what it would add if someone were to have this (past) location information.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,874 ✭✭✭scwazrh


    At first I thought this is another storm in a tea cup for apple , but when I seen the information displayed on a map, it all of a sudden seemed a bit creepy that something has been recording my details for the last year.

    A few things that I dont understand though.
    My map shows lots of " dots" for the areas I live and work in which is understandable, but it also shows dots for areas that I have not been , for example , I visited Limerick , Shannon & Ennis recently ,but the map doesn't show I was in Limerick or Shannon but it shows "dots " for Galway & Inishmore which I was not in.Also it doesn't show my "route " for how I got there.

    If as many people are guessing , the purpose of this location tracking is for localized advertising ,its not very accurate.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 25,234 ✭✭✭✭Sponge Bob


    Try explaining to the Guards some time that you weren't there. Alternatively try calling Apple as a witness that their data capture can be a tad off...... and good luck in both cases. :D


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,281 ✭✭✭Ricky91t


    This is actually cool, I'm delighted it does this!

    On a side note, I saw this on BBC as they were interviewing 2 American girls. One of them said "If someone broke into my house and found my phone they could find out where I live and sleep..." I found it particularly amusing!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,221 ✭✭✭BrianD


    I wonder what the implications are for people who have iPhones that are supplied by their employer?

    The device and the data collected belongs to the employer.

    Would provide great info on your sales reps on the road and indeed what your key staff are up to.

    I'd say there might be a few company privacy polices rewritten to take full advantage of this feature.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,878 ✭✭✭ozmo


    Rambo wrote: »
    thank ozmo that excel code worked great
    I tried out the google Fusion it does look over the place


    I think to make it more accurate - we would need to parse the data a bit better.

    But I cannot find any reliable source that says how to read the data. Some say the Long & Lat is the cell mast position(*), some say its a guess at phones postion.



    Looking at the data - there are many cordinates listed for the exact same time stamp second - then nothing for an hour or two.

    So these locations are not where you are...
    but that you are somewhere relative to these points at that point in time.

    I tried plotting the average of the points with the same Timestamp - and it was indeed a bit better.

    But removing the points with really bad horizontalAccuracy might help more.

    - or weighting the average somehow might help more?
    - maybe some sort of spatial intersection of the circles described by the location(center) and horizontalAccuracy(radius)?


    just noting: looking up what the other fields are in a doc on gps cells - I can identify them as these... And so maybe wont help with weighting the averages - but you can see at that point the different celltowers you were in contact with from that location - and maybe the distance from it??

    MCC – Mobile Country Code (3 digits - 272 is Ireland)
    MNC – Mobile Network Code (2 or 3 digits 1=vodfone 2=o2)
    LAC – Location Area Code (4 digits)
    CI – Cell Identity (4 digits)


    (*) Myself - I doubt its the cell mast location that some have suggested is whats being logged - because I looked through the data and the same cell mast (unique MCC,MNC,LAC & CI) gives out different values for Lon and Lat at different times - if the mast was reporting its own lon lat, it would be consistant and wouldnt change.

    “Roll it back”



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,300 ✭✭✭CiaranC


    Dave! wrote: »
    I don't see the big deal really... If someone gets this data, then what will they know? Where I was while I was carrying my phone? What will they do with that information?
    Location based advertising, the next big thing(tm)


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,169 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    You are the type of what the age is searching for, and what it is afraid it has found. I am so glad that you have never done anything, never carved a statue, or painted a picture, or produced anything outside of yourself! Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets.

    ―Oscar Wilde predicting Social Media, in The Picture of Dorian Gray



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,790 ✭✭✭cornbb


    This comment on Slashdot explains things pretty well.


    Just as an example: Android sends along the Unique Device ID and the Carrier User ID when sending you location data to AdMob customers. iOS (iAd) sends a random ID that is generated twice daily on the iPhone. What's more wrong?

    And I'm really curious how you want to have fast positioning without knowing the positions of cell towers. Either the phone saves the positions in an internal database (as the iPhone does) or it has to ask external databases every time. And if your phone asks Google's or SkyHook's servers where the cell towers are that it sees, Google/SkyHook then know where you are. You have basically the choice of your phone tracking you in an internal database or have others track your phone in their database. This is somewhat similar to local storage for documents or storing it in the cloud: In the first case someone stealing your phone can get at your documents. Put them into the cloud and someone else already has them.

    I just can't believe that "nerds" are complaining that the iPhone tries to lessen the dependence on external services by building an internal database of cell tower locations. Yeah, if someone steals your iPhone he can see roughly where you have been at least once. But then he also has your address book and your call and SMS history and your browser history and all other data on it. So remote wipe it immediately and be done with it.

    http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/04/25/2118249/Steve-Jobs-We-Dont-Track-Anyone?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29&utm_content=Google+Reader


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,221 ✭✭✭BrianD


    cornbb wrote: »

    And so the spin begins. keep saying it and eventually it becomes conventional wisdom.

    If this was the feature that would be that useful and a resource saver, why was it discovered by accident? Why didn't Apple declare it or why was it not known to the Apple developer community?

    As for the device ID being sent by Android handsets - so do Apple handsets as I've seen it appear in an app.
    ozmo wrote:
    But I cannot find any reliable source that says how to read the data. Some say the Long & Lat is the cell mast position(*), some say its a guess at phones postion.

    Is the location not based on triangulation from a series of masts? Isn't there going to be situations where the device will just not be able to get a "good reading" from the masts? For example, I took a GPS reading on an Apple 3GS reading to set up a Facebook Place but it placed me much further down the street (i took the reading in an old stone building which probably wasn't the smartest)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,790 ✭✭✭cornbb


    BrianD wrote: »
    And so the spin begins. keep saying it and eventually it becomes conventional wisdom
    How is a quote left by a random slashdotter "spin"?
    If this was the feature that would be that useful and a resource saver, why was it discovered by accident? Why didn't Apple declare it or why was it not known to the Apple developer community?

    The fact that iOS references an internal file for geolocation data instead of polling external servers is an engineering detail, why would something like that be announced to the public? Apple do declare

    Same goes for the developer community, they are provided with frameworks/APIs, they do not know and do not need to know implementation details.
    As for the device ID being sent by Android handsets - so do Apple handsets as I've seen it appear in an app.

    Apps might, iOS doesn't. If you have a problem with your UDID being sent off the device then your beef is with the App developer, not Apple.
    Is the location not based on triangulation from a series of masts? Isn't there going to be situations where the device will just not be able to get a "good reading" from the masts? For example, I took a GPS reading on an Apple 3GS reading to set up a Facebook Place but it placed me much further down the street (i took the reading in an old stone building which probably wasn't the smartest)

    Your location may be figured out by GSM mast triangulation, GPS satellite triangulation or proximity to known wifi locations. It is up to the app developer as to which method used, but the wifi method is preferred, as it is faster and doesn't create such a big battery hit as the others.

    But, in order to figure out where this router is geographically located, the location service must query a database such as Skyhook, and who knows what happens to your data when it goes there... which is why I really, really don't get why people are freaking out that location info is being stored privately on their own device.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,856 ✭✭✭✭Dave!


    CiaranC wrote: »
    Location based advertising, the next big thing(tm)
    Not a big deal for me... Every porn site I'm on I get pop-ups with girls offering to meet up in Dublin for a ride :p Although if they were to narrow that down to Tallaght, I might be a bit more tempted :D The consumer and the advertiser benefit! It's a win-win!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,300 ✭✭✭CiaranC


    Dave! wrote: »
    Not a big deal for me... Every porn site I'm on I get pop-ups with girls offering to meet up in Dublin for a ride :p Although if they were to narrow that down to Tallaght, I might be a bit more tempted :D The consumer and the advertiser benefit! It's a win-win!
    Its more micro-location based advertising. The record everywhere you go and mine the data. Pass the same Starbucks every day? Start getting SMS and mail about their special offers. Been going to the same Gym for about a year? Start getting hit with renewal notices from their rivals. Going to the clinic a lot? Medical spam ahoy!

    This is going to be a huge market.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,221 ✭✭✭BrianD


    cornbb wrote: »
    How is a quote left by a random slashdotter "spin"?



    The fact that iOS references an internal file for geolocation data instead of polling external servers is an engineering detail, why would something like that be announced to the public? Apple do declare

    Same goes for the developer community, they are provided with frameworks/APIs, they do not know and do not need to know implementation details.



    Apps might, iOS doesn't. If you have a problem with your UDID being sent off the device then your beef is with the App developer, not Apple.



    Your location may be figured out by GSM mast triangulation, GPS satellite triangulation or proximity to known wifi locations. It is up to the app developer as to which method used, but the wifi method is preferred, as it is faster and doesn't create such a big battery hit as the others.

    But, in order to figure out where this router is geographically located, the location service must query a database such as Skyhook, and who knows what happens to your data when it goes there... which is why I really, really don't get why people are freaking out that location info is being stored privately on their own device.

    So what you are trying to suggest to us that the company that exerts maximum control not only the design of the their hardware but how the consumer uses their devices has no case to answer here? they also vet all the apps available on iTunes so they can't walk away and blame the app developers wither (as you suggest). This is not some minor 'engineering detail' as you claim. It is a major data privacy issue.

    Apple have allowed considerable amount of personal data to be stored on their device without the users knowledge or consent and point to a vague term in the t&c's. Not only that they have failed to publicly declare what the present and future purpose of this data is. If it has a use declare it.

    Zip from Apple on the matter apart from a couple of letters to US politicians. One would have thought that Apple would have done this to reassure their consumers.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,221 ✭✭✭BrianD


    CiaranC wrote: »
    Its more micro-location based advertising. The record everywhere you go and mine the data. Pass the same Starbucks every day? Start getting SMS and mail about their special offers. Been going to the same Gym for about a year? Start getting hit with renewal notices from their rivals. Going to the clinic a lot? Medical spam ahoy!

    This is going to be a huge market.

    It is but any of those 'push messages' would require an opt in by the user - nobody can just start sending them. Even if I do opt in I would also need to know that the messages that I am getting are based on my location and travel behaviour.

    Even so, any in app advertising by third parties or iAds could possibly (only iAds could be using it at the moment if at all and not that many apps have iAds) use this location database on the device to influence the adverts that are being served.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,466 ✭✭✭jimmynokia




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,314 ✭✭✭sink


    Unlikely because Apple reserved the right to track the location of it's devices in the EULA. It will just create more negative publicity for Apple which can be just as damaging.


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