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Police Using Apple iOS Tracking Data For Forensics
Several readers have sent in follow-up articles to Wednesday's news that iPhone location data was being tracked and stored. First, it seems Android shares a similar problem, though the file containing the location data is "only accessible on devices that have been rooted and opened up to installation of unsigned apps." Developer Magnus Eriksson has created an app to flush this data. Next: the iPhone tracking file is not new, just in a different place than it used to be. Reader overThruster then points out a CNet story indicating that law enforcement has been aware of this file for some time, and has used it in a forensics context. This story is a growing concern for Apple, particularly now that Senator Al Franken (PDF) and Rep. Ed Markey (PDF) have both written letters to Steve Jobs demanding details about the location tracking. Finally, PCMag explains how to view the location data present on your iPhone, should you so desire.
Some blogger told us yesterday there was no reason to panic, and this data was perfectly safe.
Worth mentioning in Android's case is only used for caching so the data gets overwritten every so often. Unlike iPhone's
[alk]
First, it seems Android shares a similar problem, though the file containing the location data is "only accessible on devices that have been rooted and opened up to installation of unsigned apps
Doesn't Android just store the past few days information unlike years together like the iPhone?
This space for rent.
between the cops' ability to subpoena cell phone tower records and this? just a bit more precision? they've been keeping track of this for decades
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Also, it's not as cool as first reported... it doesn't actually track your every move: http://sanchom.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/your-iphone-isnt-following-your-every-move/ I wanted to see the paths that I followed around North America San Francisco, Winnipeg, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, and lots more of Vancouver. I was disappointed. I rarely saw a little stream of location markers showing “my every move”. I looked closer at the data, and it seemed very sporadic. Sometimes days would go by without a timestamped location. Other times, like when I was using Latitude to update my location during a bus trip from Vancouver to Winnipeg, updates happened much more often, sometimes multiple times per minute.
... is my conclusion, as even my mother is aware about this problem and news. But how many phone users do you think will be ditching their phones? Or do you think that people will keep on using them knowingly and simply, not care...?
"I'm taking this loop off." - Jack O'Neill
We've been using this information on all cell phones (not just iPhones) for years for forensics. You're foolish to think that the same information isn't collected by Android, Blackberry and other phones along with your wireless carrier. It's like believing that Google doesn't track searches and click throughs. Its still one of those deals where, as long as you aren't looking at CP or committing financial crime, law enforcement doesn't care about you for the most part. Why do so many people that download a couple songs, movies or some software believe that they're suddenly someone law enforcement cares about? 2 years ago I submitted a story about how forensic products doing just this and it was ignored. It wasn't a big deal then I guess so why should it be now?
Seriously, can anyone say that with a straight face?
This does not come as unexpected to me in the age of the Police State. Nothing to see here folks, move along. It will be interesting to see how the congresscircus handles this, if they try to skewer Apple like they did Google, along with the other countries that hemmed and hawed over Google data. You've got the apologists saying "oh, well, its not that bad", but in reality the more we become desensitized to location tracking, the worse it will get. How many years in the future until somebody discovers their shoes are posting their GPS data to local municipality receivers, and the apologist collectively say "oh well its only within 50 feet of accuracy, nothing to get concerned about."
Am I being charged with anything officer?
Move along.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
All cell-phone manufacturers are required to have GPS data for emergency 911 response. This is required by US law. It seems disingenuous that politicians are now upset that this data is being recorded.
Apple had acknowledged to Congress last year only that "cell tower and Wi-Fi access point information" is "intermittently" collected and "transmitted to Apple" every 12 hours.
I seem to remember dozens of people saying "It's just on your phone, it's not like Apple is collecting the data" in the previous thread about this.
Yet Apple has even said they are collecting it.
I don't mind anyone being a fainboi, just be honest about it.
It seems Android shares a similar problem, though the file containing the location data is "only accessible on devices that have been rooted and opened up to installation of unsigned apps."
It's the same with Apple, you either need to jailbreak to access the file (since regular apps can't access that space), or pore through your backup from iTunes.
I don't care about this, I don't give people access to my phone, and I'm sure AT&T already has the identical location data, since the file only showed very broad cell tower data, like the fact that I'm in the east side of a city but that's it. The government would only have to look at my credit card records to find out where I was.
The phones record and store a history of your location. Police in Michigan are stonewalling a FOIA request about downloading information from phones during routine traffic stops.
Tin foil hat time.
> the file containing the location data is "only accessible on devices that have been rooted and opened up to installation of unsigned apps.
The most disturbing thing about it is that so many people are WILLING to buy devices that do not obey them without depending on exploits to get around the security that guards the device against its owner.
There is _no way_ to trust any device that obeys someone other than you after you buy it. Why is this simple fact lost on so many people? Would you trust the company that built your house to keep the keys to it and decide what rooms you were allowed to visit? If not, why would you trust the company that built your phone to decide what files you are allowed to view?
The world seems to have gone mad when I wasn't looking.
While I don't recall if the location-providing services are enabled by default in Android 2.2, there is a clear warning given when enabling them.
If the services are disabled by unchecking boxes in the appropriate config area for the phone, location data IS NOT stored. (Previously-cached info from when the services were enabled might remain.) Neither does the above configuration change require jailbreaking or rooting the device.
That's a far cry from an "always on, can't disable" feature.
Can't the consolidated.db file be periodically deleted by the owner of the iPhone? Maybe schedule a task to do so?
All GSM Phones are tracked by the cell provider. This has nothing to do with smartphones folks.
Even without that data on the smartphone, the GSM connection is tracked back at the cell company. I suspect CDMA phones are similarly tracked.
Its still one of those deals where, as long as you aren't looking at CP or committing financial crime, law enforcement doesn't care about you for the most part.
Yet.
The better question is, why are you so comfortable that the huge troves of information collected about you over years and decades won't be used against you in the future? If the information's there, there is surely someone who would like to use it to their advantage. Just because those people (arguably) aren't in power now doesn't mean it's not one disaster, war, or election away from happening.
It's better all-around just to end these information-collection practices now and head off the future trouble we'll cause ourselves. But information is power, so limiting the information the powers that be have on each of us will be no easy task.
OnStar records all driver information as well, and has been used in court against drivers. The FBI has also used it to track/bug people.
printer tracking was taking place for a decade before being made public by EFF
So in other words, black hat law enforcement hackers have known about the vulnerability and have been exploiting it for some time?
Given that law enforcement is by and large a State actor with the requisite influence, are we sure these aren't purposeful back doors?
All cell-phone manufacturers are required to have GPS data for emergency 911 response. This is required by US law.
Huh? Where do people pull this stuff from? It's possible you're just confused, but the way you phrase that resembles a deliberate misrepresentation more than an honest mistake.
I believe by law the cellular service provider is required to send any available location information to 911 at the time a call to 911 is made. This means that information about the cell tower the phone is currently using will be sent, along with any coarse triangulation data, and, if the phone has a GPS, the GPS will be activated and send any information it is able to gather.
This does NOT mean that manufacturers are required to include a GPS or that the service provider is required to keep records for 911 purposes. If there is a GPS in the phone, it must be able to be activated for these purposes, but not before 911 is called.
If this is not correct, please provide a citation, but I really doubt things have gotten batty enough yet to require a GPS in every phone. Otherwise, please stop spreading this misinformation.
OTOH, it's reported that Apple's location collection cannot be disabled, even if you turn off "Location Services."
According to the original article about the iPhone file, the location info appears to be based off cell tower triangulation.
What Google is doing with is mapping the location of WiFi access points. If you have GPS and Google Location Services on, when an AP is seen, it will tell Google the MAC address of the AP, and the geographic coordinates from GPS. This is what lets location services work even without GPS - when your phone sees a WiFi signal, it will ask the mothership where it's located. So, with Android, the user is providing info which in turn helps other users, and it's all being done with knowledge and consent.
Phones can do something similar based on the cell towers they see, but geographic info on those is available from the FCC and the carriers, so Android doesn't have to collect info on them.
So, Google is using a phone's location to map the location of WiFi APs, while Apple is using cell tower locations to record the phone's position. Those are two very different things.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
I'd like to believe that our congresspeople have our best interests at heart, but before I can do that I have to ask, does either Sen. Al Franken or Rep. Ed Markey own an iPhone? Why are these two congressmen concerned about this issue, but privacy rights seem to be nonexistent in talking points elsewhere? Perhaps I'm being cynical, but now I'm curious what this location-tracking information would have to tell me about these two politicians. And is wondering about that any worse than the government being curious about my own digital footprints when I attempt to take privacy concerns more seriously?
"This story is a growing concern for Apple, particularly now that Senator Al Franken (PDF) and Rep. Ed Markey (PDF) have both written letters to Steve Jobs demanding details about the location tracking."
These senators are even STUPIDER than I thought. Congress mandated this kind of stuff in the Telecommunications Act of 1996! Who the hell are they kidding! They OBVIOUSLY didn't read the law they passed - not unusual for are brain dead congress people!
The Truth is a Virus!!!
I did a bit of research, and it looks like in 2005 a law went into effect in the U.S. that requires a service provider to be able to locate a subscriber within 100 meters when they dial 911. A GPS is not required for this because it can often be obtained using triangulation, but it looks like most providers of even cheap phones started included them anyway.
So no, the law does not require a GPS in every cellular phone. However, it looks like it may have had the same effect.
Thanks for the helpful reminder deakklok... Out of curiosity, I have a few questions:
- what's your name?
- where do you live?
- what's your DB
- your SSN?
- Who was your first girlfriend?
- At what age and in what position did you lose your virginity?
- Single or married?
- Ever had any sexual fantasies involving Men?
- Any medical conditions an insurer would care about?
- Any familial history of medical conditions? At what age have your genetic relatives perished? Please go back as far as possible.
- Who have you voted for recently?
I mean...since you've got nothing to hide and all.
If you don't answer, I'm afraid we'll have to subpoena this from you...since by your own admission, it's proof you've done something wrong...
So here we are again, hearing "everybody else is as bad". Anyone else reminded of how everybody else's phones can be held wrong too?
Caching the data for a matter of days is not the same as saving it forever and copying it to other devices, just as being an ordinarily radioopaque human is not the same as poking the actual antenna.
# cat
Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
At lest Google lets you opt out I hope?
found this in my in box yesterday
Hi,
To protect your privacy we would like you to know that Google Latitude is running on your mobile device and reporting your location.
If you didn't enable this or want to stop reporting your location, please open Latitude privacy settings or sign out of Latitude. To learn more, visit the Latitude Help Center.
Thanks,
Google Latitude Team
(c) 2011 Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Terms of Service | Privacy Policy
And here comes apple apologists. For fuck sake, Android is doing the way it's supposed to be and Apple has fucked it up.
The only solution to counter douchebag fanbois like you is to just laugh at you and your ilk.
Please list everything you have done and every place you have visited in the last week.
Every place.
And be prepared to do so at any time upon request.
Just because its not illegal does not mean it cant be spun to be embarrassing or have otherwise unforeseen consequences.
And I am sure your insurance companies wont use this information to jack up your rates.
Driving in a bad neighborhood. We will have to raise your car insurance rates due to the higher risk of accidents and the higher probability that your car can be stolen.
Wow it shows here all of the places you ate at. We are going to have to raise your health insurance rates.
You were in what neighborhood the other day? Isn't that were your ex-girlfriend lives? I'm sure your current girlfriend will be understanding. (especially since it shows you driving through there a lot lately.
Why were you late to work? I'm sure you would have no problem showing your boss a detailed report on where you were every minute of the morning on your drive to work. Not that you get paid for that time, or that its any of his damn business. But like you said if you have not done anything wrong....
Perhaps you would be OK with someone coming into your home and making a detailed list of everything you own. Including the Dollar value. And putting that information up on a webpage for every law abiding citizen to look at.
While your at it Please don't forget to post the following information in your reply....
Real name.
Address.
Birthdate.
Phone Numbers.
Drivers Licence number.
Bank information.
Where you work.
Your yearly income.
Your Tax return information.
Library card number.
Theres more but I have to cook dinner for the kids soon so this will do for now, but others might request more information at a later date.(don't worry since we will have your phone number we'll just call you. Is 3 am ok?)
You have every right to let anyone and everyone know whatever you want to tell them about yourself.
I on the other hand have every right not to let anyone know a damn thing about me if I so choose.
You want to just toss your rights away, fine so be it. I wont and I am sure there are a lot of others out there who don't fall for such stupid crap.......
If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide...Fuck you
We have to do it to protect the children...Screw the children. Its not my job to protect your kids its yours.
If you don't/do the terrorist win. Fuck you and your scare mongering. You are worse then the terrorist.
It makes my insurance rates go up.... To damn bad. I will not give up my rights to Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, just so you can save a few bucks. You want lower insurance. Vote to put people in office that will stop insurance companies from screwing you over.
Its what God would want....Let him tell me that personally. Until then go screw yourself.
I am sure people could come up with more unrelated, irrelevant, bullshit reasons we should just bend over and give up our right. I don't feel like wasting more time at this moment to counter all of them, so they will just have to deal with "FUCK YOU" as my response.
If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide
Or the way law enforcement rephrases that: If you are hiding something, you must be doing something wrong.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
I wonder if the real explanation is that this consolidated.db file is a cache of the cell tower and WiFi locations that are used to determine your location when requested by a location-aware application like Maps, Yelp, etc. In other words, assisted-GPS. Normally it takes far too long to establish a new location via GPS so assisted-GPS works by sending the identities of nearby cell towers and WiFi networks to a server which in term can use a database of known locations for those identities to triangulate your position. My guess is that Apple is caching these lookups on the phone so that the calculation can be done on the phone to make this process even faster and less network-dependent.
Looking at the plot of data from my phone I see that it's missing entire areas that I visited for days (presumably because I didn't use any location-aware applications on those days) and yet it contains a scattershot of locations well outside of an airport that I never left (waiting for a connecting flight) because I used a location-aware app to help me find a restaurant at the airport.
To those freaking out, you can turn off location services, but you know... it's your device and it's pretty handy to be able to use apps that use your location. I mean how far are you going to go to avoid taking advantage of what your device can do just to avoid having personal info on it? No email/messaging, no web browsing, no contacts, etc.? Your call but I'd rather just take reasonable measures to protect my device and otherwise fully enjoy it.
The file [on Android] is only accessible on devices that have been rooted and opened up to installation of unsigned apps.
Then what is the purpose of this file? There has to be some app or something that motivates collecting this data in the first place...
There is no reason to panic, actually. Short term solution: turn off location services. Long term solution: Apple reduces the time cached data stays on the phone.
There's apparently a good reason for the cache, otherwise Android wouldn't do it, too. I can't see a reasonable cause for it to be cached ad infinitum, though.
Right. That's my thinking too. But i'm scratching my head to think of what that good reason is. Maybe the developers figured it could be useful so they didn't want to rule it out with an explicit cache clear.
I can even concoct ideas for applications of it: e.g. if you are looking for hardware stores in San Francisco, you'd probably like it if it ranked them in order of proximity to your daily commute. The ones one the other side of the bay might be a lot less interesting. And for that you need more than just knowing your present position.
But that's sort of reaching. maybe not. google thinks in terms of search so that's plausible.
Also if you look at it from a security point of view, for someone to access this they need to either have physical possession of your device or access to the computer you backup your user account. In either case you probably have more problems to worry about than your position data.
Here's another future app for that data: when these devices get near-field point of sale payment then you might feel better if it requested some extra authentication if you are in a place you have never been before.
So maybe the developers were thinking ahead???
In any case this should be easy to solve with a user choice. In the case of apple, they loath adding yet-another user configurable option. for most people they are a nuiscance.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Actually, the iPhone file is a caching file. It retains one entry per cell tower to which it's been connected and overwrites that entry with updated location data (of the tower, not the triangulated location of the user) each time that tower is encountered. So, tracking the user is actually difficult within areas they commonly visit since only fresh data will exist. For places visited only once, that data may live in the cache much longer.
If all the smart phones seem to be snooping on their owners, then perhaps it's time to go luddite.
Note to Apple & AT&T: my contract is up in June. Please have this fixed by then, or else.
Ha! Ha! My BlackBerry suffers no such issues! BlackBerry is the best! Ha! Ha! Ha!
As an attorney, I urge all of you not to act on this fellow's advice,
because he has no idea what he is talking about.
Seems like buying a smart phone isn't the smartest thing to do if you value your privacy - it really looks to be that simple to me.
What if someone who cares about freedom and privacy finds out the whereabouts of s jobs and then pays him a visit as he breathes his last?
How about if that someone isn't susceptible to marketing and polished aluminum, and seriously disturbs the zen transplendence by shouting out something like "die you evil creep, and take your 2nd rate computers and polished mp3 jukeboxes with you"?
Is that cool?
then hand it to them.
Nothing requires it work.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This has nothing to do with a 'police state'. It has everything to do with companies getting more and more data about so they can 'improve' their marketing.
Its all about trying to sell you more products, nothing more. That the police can use it too is just collateral damage.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yes, the "Future". I'm glad to see you've heard of it so we don't have to start at the very beginning. It is one of the advanced concepts we can understand as humans, and it holds that while we are conscious of existing right at this moment, we may continue to exist in subsequent moments, and things and circumstances might change! It is truly a wonderful thing to understand and engage with, if you take the time to grasp it.
Sometimes, it is even possible to look at things that have already happened (in academic terms, the "Past" and "History") and try to determine through reason what results might be brought about by the decisions we make today. This practical application is called "Planning", and through it we can sometimes create more favorable outcomes for ourselves!
However, an understanding of these concepts is not enough to qualify one for a tin foil hat. That is a different discipline entirely.
Statistically speaking, nobody cares where you have been.
But there is a reason to see if somebody was in a particular place. I wonder if there is a mechanism for law enforcement to do a "reverse" search for "who was at this location" (rather than where has "user x" been).
This technology would be a great way to start looking for suspects. E.g. "a body was found in the ravine..." So search all cell records with approx locations near the ravine during the time of interest.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
WoW!
So may local, State, and Federal Police departments are under attack these days.
Now, the Police have been handed a truely wonderful blackmail, extortion, fruad tool.
Just think of it. Your local Police Officer, underpayed, overworked, and generally pissed off,
now has a tool to place YOU at murder scene without you ever being their, and gets to keep
the bonuz and extra pay for "dangerous assignment" work..
What a LOL world we live in.
You can increase the resolution by increasing `precision' in iPhoneTrackingAppDelegate.m
const float precision = 10000;
however, this does not make the locations any more accurate. I've you've been in a big city, you've probably been everywhere...
I clicked this link because I thought it said "Apple Tracking Data For Foreskins". But the jokes have been disappointing so far.
Was anyone really dumb enough to think that a device that relies on constantly knowing where it is in relation to cell towers wouldn't keep track of your location?
If you are talking about that blogger that mentioned that the "screenshot" of location is not taken at very brief intervals:
I think the reason is profiling; someone in charge for the revenue/advertising dept. might have thought that they would approach this with statistics, so they implemented a mechanism that sort of snapshots your locations every now and then in order to give a general idea for your whereabouts, so directed advertising can work somewhat better.
I do not think that, initially, there was a more sinister motivation than profit, but it does not surprise me that law enforcement knew about this; exactly the same can be done with any wireless device, and has been done so for almost 100 years now.
The three laws of thermodynamics:(1) You can't win. (2) You can't break even. (3) You can't even quit.