iPhone covert location tracking

Checked this with mine - it's not GPS accurate but it's accurate to within a few miles, IMO. OK, it's not actually doing anything with the data, but you do have to ask - why?

I do?
This is such a non issue for me. I only have GPS activated when I need to use it, otherwise it's off, just like bluetooth, just like wi-fi.

Mark

You also have to ask - who else is doing this? I suspect it's more about logging data for diagnostic purposes than for following you - that will change once the lawyers get wind if it. I would be more surprised if Android and Windows 7 aren't doing this than I am about this "revelation".

Your computer will log all kinds of stuff - web sites visited, errors, calks to various applications. All of this is potential behaviour recording that can identify how you use your computer and provide a picture of you and your habits. No one cries "foul" over that.

It's not using either GPS or wifi. It's using GSM mast triangulation, which is why it's not quite as accurate. As long as your iPhone isn't in flight mode, it's recording your rough location wherever you go. It's not transmitting that data anywhere, but it's still collecting it and storing it.

Jon

Isn't that to aid with GPS location when I need it?
Either way, it would take someone to have direct access to either my iPhone or Mac (or both) to get this data, and that's not likely to happen.
Password protected Mac and and keycode protected iPhone.
Okay, so neither of those two systems are infallable, but they'd have to be pretty determined to want to know that I went in to the park today for half an hour - when my Flickr Photostream can tell you that information. *laugh*

Mark

You can see the info very easily.

http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

Download the app from there to your mac. Plug in your iPhone and run the app.

It reminded me of a couple of trips I'd forgotten about, lol! And there were places on there that I can't remember going to.

I saw this on the bbc news website earlier.

Any way of seeing what's recorded on PC/Windows?

I want to say that this is just random data...

It claims I've been to Northern Ireland, the Midlands and up around Manchester on 17/03/17, but I was at work that day...In fact it doesn't even show a trace of me being at work

This NYTimes article shows it's not just the iPhone. It's a bit older than the current story too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/busin ... technology

Apple always makes for good headlines.

You are missing the point.
When your mobile provider is tracking you the data stays with them, nobody else can get it. Even police will have to get a court order if they want to see, that's how sensitive this kind of data is.
When Apple is tracking you and the data stays on your phone this might become an issue as it is much more readily available to anybody who has an access to your phone.

The researchers haven't found this kind on tracking on any other platform...

Very good analysis: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/ ... atters.ars

I know what kind of response I'm expecting from the ADL but if this article does in fact ring true and the device records your locations I can't help but think i) why? and ii) please stop. Does anyone conclusively know if my DesireHD does or does not do this too?

It is true and not only records your location but it timestamps each location also.

The locations are triangulated cell phone locations though which can sometimes be a few miles out.

+1
Not that mine's an iPhone.

Well, the only way the police can get access to your phone is with a court order i.e. a search warrant, so that's really no different. The data is, I believe, encrypted on the phone anyway because the whole phone filestore is encrypted by default so the obvious difference to consider is the relative likelihood of your data security being compromised (i.e. your PC/Mac being hacked) vs the likelihood of your phone provider's data security being compromised. You'd assume your provider's security is better than your average home PC but equally they're a juicier target because they have lots of people's data, not just yours. I really can't begin to quantify the relative risk of those two cases.

The 'quick fix' - I'm assuming removing the code to do the tracking from iOS completely is a major job and won't happen until iOS 5, if at all - is to make the already existing data encryption option in the backups mandatory. That's a relatively minor change to iTunes. Doing so with even a half decent password makes the data useless in anything like a reasonable timescale to your hacker.

Jon