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Sleeping iPhones Send Phantom Data
Stoobalou writes with a story that got started earlier this month when iPhone users in the US and the UK noticed that their phones seemed to be sending large data bursts via 3G overnight. (Providers are ending unlimited contracts, so iPhone users are paying more attention to how much data they are using.) The discussions began on MacOSRumors and an Apple discussion forum. Thinq.co.uk makes this guess as to what is going on, but doesn't offer much in the way of substantiation: "The simple fact of the matter is — as far as we can tell — that the iPhone's push notifications and other small transfers of data are totted up throughout the day and the total for all of those notifications is added up after dark and sent to your airtime provider while your phone is sleeping. If these tiny amounts of data were individually listed your bill would probably be the size of a telephone directory. The reason it is using the 3G network rather than Wi-Fi is that all iPhones up to and including the 3Gs turn off Wi-Fi push functionality while the phone is in sleep mode, in order to preserve battery life. The iPhone 4, incidentally, has better power management so will not need to do this."
Each time I voice my concerns about Apple products, I get mod'ed down to "troll". I'm not knocking Apple products to be a dweeb, I knock them because I see very serious flaws in how the Business of Apple is run. I don't have many qualms about the tech (it isn't to my taste, but that isn't a technical flaw), but if I pay bucks for a electronic device, I fail to see how having Steve Jobs be the gatekeeper of what I can run on that platform as a positive. I fail to see how having no choice in carrier (absent "jail breaking" the phone - what an odd turn of phrase to use on a device *I own*) is a positive. I fail to see how having Big Brother Apple dictate my choices and setting my limits is a positive. I wouldn't let a company dictate what I can load on my Linux or Windows boxes.
If you disagree, that's fine. I'd much rather have someone comment than just get rated "Troll".
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
The "tallying small data usage" theory is garbage... however I'm not surprised your iPhone is spying on you and reporting back to it's mothership (aka Apple)
All I know is that I had an Iphone when it came out, I had one for about 2 years, and I had serious doubts about what was going on as far as inside the phone when it was idle. The last straw was, which was why I stopped using the iphone, is that I would be sitting there, the phone is just idle, not plugged in, and then all of a sudden, the fucking thing reboots, and then I get it back on, and all the settings have changed, they fucking remotely upgraded the OS without my knowledge or approval. They also changed various system settings, reset some others, and uninstalled some applications for me. I look at the Iphone as a computer, not a phone. To me, doing the things that Steve Jobs does with my Iphone in most states falls under criminal hacking and computer trespass laws. So, take for it what you want, but the next time I ever get a Unix-based OS running on my phone, it will be with a grsecurity.net patch on top of the OS before I turn the thing on, and I run sniffers on it to log all inbound/outbound traffic so I can know for sure what is happening. With the Iphone, stuff is happening, you have no control of it. I have compared it to a little Steve Jobs in my back pocket, who tells me what I can and can't do, and plays with my settings whenever he wants to. I really got sick of it, honestly. It's not only an invasion of privacy, its also borderline hacking. I'm surprised he hasn't been arrested yet.