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I really wish I could give you a prize or something for such a logical, carefully reasoned solution missed by so many.

What's wrong, feeling left out. Poor little you. Go stomp that flaming brown brown lunch bag at your front door, hurry !!!!
 
There are other ways to track people, but people don't expect their phones to produce these sort of to-the-second logs of location, even with location services turned off. When something invades our reasonable expectations of privacy, we have good reason to be concerned.

Actually, I kind of assumed that it did. :rolleyes:

Again, perhapsApple just needs to start encrypting the file. Apple haven't done anything bad here, they perhaps can simply make some adjustments to how this all happens. Topics will be discussed, changes may be made, policies will be put in place.

A total "opt-out" for the ultra-paranoid, conspiracy types? Perhaps a shelf-life for the file? Encryption? All good topics to be discussed and solutions considered. People need to step back, take a deep breath and holster their guns.
 
1. Don't sync up your iphone at work. Claim your spouse took it with them. Etc. I don't think you'll find this a strong argument here.

2. Get out of the relationship. He can just as easily follow her. This can be done by other phones as well. Android grabs it, but for a shorter period. This isn't phone specific.

3. You have rights. Just because they say they can grab your phone for no reason doesn't mean they can. If they this, join the rest of the country and sue the crap out of them. I know the MI police thing will probably receive a bit of attention the next time they try it without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.


Are you seriously proposing that people change their whole way of life so that Apple has no responsibility?

As for (3) ,yes they can. When you enter the country, border patrol may impound your computers, phones, etc. No warrant required.
 
If Steve does go to jail, maybe HBO can start a new program similar to Oz. But what would they call it? Anyone have any ideas?
 
Apple will just break the law like Google. It's fine, they aren't doing any harm (Apple or Google). Apple doesn't look through this data and say, "ooh, Bob Smith was at this place!" In addition, don't you have the option to disable location services? :confused:

I can see this collection thing as a basis for some great features.

"Apple will just break the law". You sound like a turd lib. "All big companies that make huge profits, just break the law, because they can".

What a completely ignorant statement !!!
 
That is so wrong I doubt you are even a developer.

No, it's correct for GPS data, as I stated. If you doubt me, you can feel free to register freely at developer.apple.com and peruse the documentation for Location Services, MapKit, etc.. As for location data determined from cell tower locations, developers and end users have no control over what is logged / stored. The point is that I don't understand why Apple is being targeted in this manner, aside from industry forces pushing against them. Everyone else tracks and stores location information. You can sift through nearly every phone on the market and find cellular location data being stored. So, uh, I guess I don't know what else to add to it.

It's special you got to my post before I deleted it... Maybe I deleted it because it wasn't directly applicable to the law suit at hand. But rather I was discussing location storage and tracking of GPS data. The issue at hand here primarily has to do with cellular network locations...

Anyway, thanks for noticing.
 
Think like someone that wants to be malicious...

Assume for a minute your wife is having an affair on you. You don't know it of course because... well... she is doing it behind your back. You find out. Things go down hill. Seperation. And on to the divorce. No one remembers the iTunes backup file. Once the divorce proceeding starts, all hell breaks loose. No chance of ending this thing amicably. And now both parents want to have full custody of the children. So she grabs the iTunes backup and gives it to her lawyer. Together they start coming with a nice little story of how you are such a bad dad or mom. Maybe you are rarely home. Always come home late. Often stop at the bar after work. Whu knows.

Ok, maybe there is no circumstantial eveidence and it's not a problem. But maybe there is.

And there is no reason to. Personal information should be treated securely by all companies that have access to it.

Is this a far fetched story? No. These little database files are probably being emailed to lawyers all over the country as we speak.
Oh, please. There is far better info on anything like that to be found in emails, phone records, credit card records, etc. And the theft of the data by the other spouse would be very problematic for her side of the custody battle.
So I certainly do not want to carry around a mobile tracking device for myself,
I hope you don't own a cell phone. Because that's what it is. Maybe you should rent The Wire, HBO TV show. It'll give you some tips on hiding from law enforcement.
Right now we are and we have no easy way to stop this. Yet we should.
Just as easy to stop as it is to pull the data by some "malicious" person. Actually easier to stop it, as someone else would have to steal your hardware, first. Delete the file.
Out here where we have lots of towers, accuracy is pretty good. And there are a lot of "parade of horribles" scenarios:

- I tell my boss I'm home sick but I go up to the city for a ballgame. When I get back to work and sync my phone with my work machine, the IT staff finds out I was 50 miles away from where I claimed to be.

- Possessive/abusive boyfriend/husband checks the backups and sees his female companion wasn't where she claimed to be.

- Go to Canada for vacation and when returning to the country the border patrol decides to impound my phone so they can see if I've visited any mosques or hippy conventions.

There are other ways to track people, but people don't expect their phones to produce these sort of to-the-second logs of location, even with location services turned off. When something invades our reasonable expectations of privacy, we have good reason to be concerned.
Did you seriously write this? Or did someone hack your account? Is this just because we are attacking lawyers, feeling defensive to your profession?

Mabye you shouldn't lie to your boss, spouse, and plan terrorist attacks on a country. **** me, I must be a goody-two-shoes.

Let me put it another way:
Take every single one of your comments, and tell me how a good lawyer couldn't rip the "evidence" found in this illegal method of tracking someone to utter shreds.


And:
It's getting real old about the "abusive boyfriend" could somehow use this paltry data to do...something. Like that something is worse than all the other crimes an abusive boyfriend has already commited. "Oh, I put you in the hospital last week, but now I took 4 hours digging through your phone and I'm REALLY angry." :rolleyes: Let's address this horrible problem some way other than, my iPhone might let someone know where I've been. Hopefully the tracking shows she's been to the police station.
 
Android grabs it, but for a shorter period. This isn't phone specific.

That's a ridiculous comment like those that also point the fingers at other cell phones for the antenna issue.

Just because other phones do it does not make it acceptable for Apple. Nor does it make it acceptable for Google, MS and whoever else is doing it.

So it's not phone specific. Perhaps consumers can make it so these companies don't do things like this.

Are people who are defending Apple and the file doing so because it's APPLE or because they see it as a non issue across the board?

If the suit was brought up against Google - would you be saying it was no big deal and who cares? Or would you be defending Google by saying "Even Apple does it, everyone does it"

The hypocrisy here is laughable. And just because everyone is doing it doesn't make it right. That's like the guy that gets pulled over when everyone else is speeding and claims "but everyone else was speeding.. why did you pull me over." Except instead of that guy complaining - you're all doing it for him.

Point is - whether it's a phone, computer or other device - consumers have a right to know what's being transmitted or stored on their device. And they should also have a way to opt out or delete the file easily

And to the person who said earlier "you have a choice - don't get an iPhone" - I say, "but people here are saying all phones and manufacturers do this"

So it's not JUST an Apple issue. This is a privacy issue period. Apple is just ONE of the parties.
 
Jesus, some of you people are SO SELF-ABSORBED! it's incredible! Really now, who the hell cares about where you are? NOBODY, because you're probably a nobody as well, just like 99% of us, I mean seriously chill, the world doesn't revolve around you.

I for one am grateful for the find my iPhone feature, I'd hate to see it be taken away because of some paranoid egotists.
 
Let me put it another way:
Take every single one of your comments, and tell me how a good lawyer couldn't rip the "evidence" found in this illegal method of tracking someone to utter shreds.

What is "illegal" about it, exactly?
 
Are people who are defending Apple and the file doing so because it's APPLE or because they see it as a non issue across the board?

If the suit was brought up against Google - would you be saying it was no big deal and who cares? Or would you be defending Google by saying "Even Apple does it, everyone does it"

Some are making this into an Apple issue, both positive and negative sides. But not all of us.
 
Can we get some more tin foil over at the macrumors aisle there seems to have been a lot used lately.

I don't mind if my phone tracks me , I even use google latitude like 10 million others so my friends can find me when I am in town...and the wife can track to the relevant kebab shop/brothel at 4am

nothing to hide nothing to worry about.
 
Some are making this into an Apple issue, both positive and negative sides. But not all of us.

I'd be upset if Google was harvesting, dissecting, storing on their systems or selling the tower tracking data. If it simply resides on MY phone to help it work better, I'm fine with that. I'd also prefer that the file was encrypted.

Since Google's whole business model is giving services away while generating it's revenues from ads, THAT is the company that I'd be quizzing first to see if my data is being harvested and sold.

I'm not saying that they are, in fact I doubt that they'd do that. I'm just sayin'.
 
Are you seriously proposing that people change their whole way of life so that Apple has no responsibility?

As for (3) ,yes they can. When you enter the country, border patrol may impound your computers, phones, etc. No warrant required.

How is not syncing up at work "changing their whole way of life"? I'm betting your work already prohibits it anyway.

It's no different than any other method to avoid having your boss find out you weren't sick.

Try again.
 
I trust Apple on this issue more than I trust Google on this issue, and here's why: Apple is in the business of selling products. Google is in the business of selling your information to advertisers. So there is no business reason for Apple to spy on you, but there is a business reason for Google to do so.

Are either of them doing that? Not in the nefarious sense that so many seem to think. Both companies enable location-specific tools that help the user. I mean, your car's GPS also "spies" on you in that sense, but we like the ability the GPS has to help us.

For years phones have been mandated by Congress to report our location to enable enhanced 911 services. So that is why people say this is not Apple specific. What is Apple specific is wondering why consolidate.db does not get culled of old data on a regular basis. Speculation points to a bug, but we don't yet know.

In the meantime, just delete that file if it bothers you. Apple isn't transmitting the data back to itself anyway, but if you are paranoid you have a simple solution.
 
That's a ridiculous comment like those that also point the fingers at other cell phones for the antenna issue.

Just because other phones do it does not make it acceptable for Apple. Nor does it make it acceptable for Google, MS and whoever else is doing it.

So it's not phone specific. Perhaps consumers can make it so these companies don't do things like this.

Are people who are defending Apple and the file doing so because it's APPLE or because they see it as a non issue across the board?

If the suit was brought up against Google - would you be saying it was no big deal and who cares? Or would you be defending Google by saying "Even Apple does it, everyone does it"

The hypocrisy here is laughable. And just because everyone is doing it doesn't make it right. That's like the guy that gets pulled over when everyone else is speeding and claims "but everyone else was speeding.. why did you pull me over." Except instead of that guy complaining - you're all doing it for him.

Point is - whether it's a phone, computer or other device - consumers have a right to know what's being transmitted or stored on their device. And they should also have a way to opt out or delete the file easily

And to the person who said earlier "you have a choice - don't get an iPhone" - I say, "but people here are saying all phones and manufacturers do this"

So it's not JUST an Apple issue. This is a privacy issue period. Apple is just ONE of the parties.

They spell it out. If you choose not to read the TOS, that's your problem. If you choose not to research the device, that's your issue. Apple/Google are not "hiding" this from the public. Apple's has been discussed in depth at developer conferences, and Google's transmission of said data is no secret either.

Where is your own accountability in this? Do you want everyone to put a big warning label on their products saying "THIS PRODUCT USES X AND Y TO GET YOUR LOCATION FOR <insert services here>"?

It's people like you that cause companies hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in lawsuits because you used your propane grill in your basement(yes, Sears had to deal with this), or because the HOT coffee was, surprise HOT.

If you did your own research or used common sense, this is nowhere near the issue you're making it out to be.
 
I'd be upset if Google was harvesting, dissecting, storing on their systems or selling the tower tracking data. If it simply resides on MY phone to help it work better, I'm fine with that. I'd also prefer that the file was encrypted.

Since Google's whole business model is giving services away while generating it's revenues from ads, THAT is the company that I'd be quizzing first to see if my data is being harvested and sold.

I'm not saying that they are, in fact I doubt that they'd do that. I'm just sayin'.

And I'm just sayin' that whether it's Google, Apple or anyone else - the issue should be examined and questioned. Finger pointing is clouding the actual issue. It's not about who is doing it - it's about what is being done.

Another poor analogy - I don't care if the person in the building across from mine is "spying" on me or if some corporation.

And no - this isn't about anyone having an ego. I don't think the government or corporate america gives a crap what *I* am doing specifically. But that doesn't mean I'm just willing to expose every activity of mine anyway.

They spell it out. If you choose not to read the TOS, that's your problem. If you choose not to research the device, that's your issue. Apple/Google are not "hiding" this from the public. Apple's has been discussed in depth at developer conferences, and Google's transmission of said data is no secret either.

Where is your own accountability in this? Do you want everyone to put a big warning label on their products saying "THIS PRODUCT USES X AND Y TO GET YOUR LOCATION FOR <insert services here>"?

It's people like you that cause companies hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in lawsuits because you used your propane grill in your basement(yes, Sears had to deal with this), or because the HOT coffee was, surprise HOT.

If you did your own research or used common sense, this is nowhere near the issue you're making it out to be.

Have you read anything I've written with any sense of comprehending? Sincerely. I'm raising questions and debate. People like me? Please - I can't stand frivolous lawsuits. And if you look at my posting history - you'll also see that I have little tolerance for consumer stupidity or Apple (for example) having to dumb things down for the consumer.

People absolutely should be responsible for their own actions and reading agreements and contracts. That doesn't preclude from a file being encrypted (easy to do) or being user removable. That's all. I never claimed nefarious actions or cried about someone tracking me and whatnot.

I raised a question earlier in this thread though that apathy on here isn't productive either. "Who cares what they're doing as long as my phone works better" as an example.

It matters - or should. People should at least take an interest. Because the people live on the grid - the harder it is to retain privacies that you WANT to retain.

So if nothing else - the attention this matter is getting might make people a little MORE apt to read those agreements. No?

Ignorance might be bliss - but it's still ignorance....
 
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"Put a pin/password on you phone and encrypt your iTunes backup (it's a simple checkbox in iTunes preferences). You're secure."

i couldn't find that option anywhere in preferences....
 
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