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iPhone tracking: How serious is it?

Experts debate the importance

  • By FCW Staff
  • Apr 25, 2011

Just how serious is the iPhone' tracking of users' movements and storing the Global Positioning System-like information in an unprotected file?

 After researchers presented their findings April 20, it was determined that the location tracking isn't harmless, but its accuracy seems to depend on on an area's cell phone reception, reports the Register.

"Apple is not storing the device's location, it's storing the location of the towers that the device is communicating with," blogger and Web developer Will Clarke told the Register. Some other researchers disagreed with that conclusion.

It was also noted that the time intervals that the locations were logged were inconsistent, leaving days without database updates, the article states. Despite the inaccuracies, the scientists said that the file contains a "scary amount of detail of our movements." They were able to confirm locations down to the neighborhood level, the article said.

However, some members of Congress are concerned and are asking Apple to explain, reports the Washington Post, among other news outlets.

Consumers can be proactive in not having their information taken and stored on the infamous consolidated.db file: a jailbreak antidote has already been revealed.

Jailbroken iDevice owners can install an application that will lock up their iPhones in such a way as to block that GPS information from being stored and therefore being taken, reports Foxbusiness.com.

Jailbreak apps are made by third parties and are not endorsed by Apple.

While most cell phone companies store the longitude and latitude information of its users, that data is usually encrypted and protected behind a firewall, according to ReadWriteWeb. The article adds that it usually requires a court order for others to be able to access it.

 

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Reader comments

Fri, May 6, 2011

This is not so much about the acctual tracking but how long or how much history is kept. A large history of location data can give the holder a very accurate slice of the user's life, no matter if there isnt any identifiable data.

Tue, Apr 26, 2011

just because the data is behind someones protected network does not change that they can sell the information to anyone who pays for it. People need to understand the internet is the current cash cow and will be used to get information to make money. Peroid.... not user rights that are using the internet.if i could not sell time on my server, i would not have a server at all.......

Tue, Apr 26, 2011 Olde Sarge DC

It's not just the iPhone/iPad apps that track mobile device locations. Almost all the portable telephones/smart phones/tablets/netbooks that connect to the web through celular networks can be located and tracked. Many that connect through wifi can too. Most users are oblivious to this fact. Yes, bad guys might track you via your Facebook/Twitter. The government can do even more since the advent of the Patriot Act. They don't need a warrant. Telcoms release user specific tracking information if asked. This authority has been tremendously abused by the Bush adminstration and is probably still being misused. Note to self: Turn the bleeping telephone off when not in use. Don't link tracking to Facebook or Twitter.

Tue, Apr 26, 2011 RayW

Not worried at all. I can not afford one and they are banned in our buildings for security reasons so I doubt if I will get a company one.

Of course, since I do not cheat on the wife, tell the boss I am working and then go to the beach, or other such items, it is no big deal.......EXCEPT that if the researchers are right and the pooh-poohers are not, then it COULD allow certain bad guys to know that you are not home, how long it might take you to get back, and that it may be a good time to go five finger discount shopping in your home, but then most folks who like posting “I AM HERE” using their phones are not worried or thinking about that anyway.

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