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Apple Releases iOS 4.3.3 To Fix Location Tracking
An anonymous reader writes "Apple has released a software update (iOS 4.3.3) to fix the much-talked-about iPhone Location Tracking bug. Apple faced a lot of criticism over the issue — iPhone and iPad secretly tracks users' locations and saves them in the device's cache as well as in a hidden file which is copied to the PC whenever the computer gets synced with device."
My understanding was that what was being logged was not the users' locations but rather that of the nearest cell tower or hotspot. But whatever, hurf durf, Steve wuz spying on us.
OK, so you're justifying Apple tracking their users to within a few hundred yards.
What CAN'T you justify, fanboi?
I might be called a fanboi, but they were caching location data in what seemed like a logical manner to speed up location services. Many users, myself included, enjoy speedier access.
Sure, they should have encrypted it by default, but it's not like their users had any expectation that they weren't being tracked. They were surprised by an unencrypted cache of location data, but ATT, Verizon, Sprint, ???, are already readily tracking user locations of all phones on the network. I would think someone silly if they expected the location services apps they are using aren't tracking them as well.
People that get upset and say "OMG! APPLE IS BIG BROTHER!" are the same people who get upset when very private information on facebook is seen by people they didn't realize could see it.
From the Apple FAQ http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/04/27location_qa.html:
8. What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.
To produce a traffic database, the location of the phones must be read and transmitted to Apple. Claims that they only send location data and never pull it is clearly false. Of course, the database file on the phone was not the actual problem. It was sloppy to back it up, but it was more a tell tale sign Apples actual bad behavior. The bad behavior was in reading peoples location from their phone when they were told not to.
Google has allowed you to actually turn off tracking by Google. It is part of the setup procedure in every Android phone. They don't even stop you from using location services if you tell them not to collection our location data. If someone shows that Google reading that data when they have been told not to, I will agree that they have behaved badly.
At this point though Apple hasn't come out and said that they will stop secretly tracking iPhones. They have been specifically vauge about what they collect, but leave enough wiggle room so that they can claim they told you. As it stands, they claim that they are reading your location info. They worded it in a way that most people don't realize they are having their location info transmitted to Apple.
That is sketchy at best. The big question is, are they still reading location data when location services are turned off, or are they just hiding the fact that they are tracking you? Based on what they have said, and just as importantly, what they have not said, it sounds like they are still secretly tracking users.