Tracking File Found in iPhones

[didymus]

NY Times:

Tracking File Found in iPhones

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.”

Cue “Every Move You Make”.

Of course if you have a cellphone you can be tracked 24/7 anyway. A German MP published his whereabouts for six months reconstructed from cell records in Die Zeit Online.

 

[curlycool89]

It seems to be fairly inconsistent though. One guy has posted that his iPhone reports him being 150 miles from where he actually was.