iOS 4.3.3 Coming Soon to Address Location Tracking Bugs

[Al Coholic]

iSteve caves to the likes of Al Franken. Yep. Too Funny.

Maybe Al can get Apple to put a real GPU back in the MBP13? I'm off to email him. Wish me luck!

 

[millerb7]

I find it hilarious that Steve Jobs claimed Apple was not tracking users, but now all of a sudden we find Location tracking being completely removed from this version of iOS, that is honestly something that annoyes me..

Well that's just wrong... they aren't completely removing location tracking in anything. Just fixing "bugs" that stored to much information in a file on your phone.

FAIL

 

[nwcs]

4. Those getting pissy at people who are calling Apple out on this or are blaming the customer since Apple has it in their EULA that they collect data so it's no big deal should consider that if the switch to turn of Data Roaming FAILED and people were charged up the wazoo - people would be demanding refunds for that data and would demand a fix.

But this has nothing to do with data roaming and it wasn't something that caused money to be spent. Bad comparison.

 

[Kevin L.]

I also wanted to chime in about 3G: I realize our phones are outdated due to performance issues, but since this is not a feature-related update, there should be something for 3G users as well to address the location tracking. Although if they released an update for 3G owners, they should also fix google maps so we can use it again. (Ever since iOS 4, running Google maps crashes the phone and requires a complete reboot.)

 

[samcraig]

You might get your facts right, too. This has nothing to do with Data Roaming. And I have been in foreign countries enough to know this fact.

Did you read my post?

My point is - that if the switch to turn off Data Roaming was the one that failed, people wouldn't be divided. I think pretty much everyone would point the finger at Apple for it's failure to QA the "off switch"

The Location Services on/off switch did not work. Period. And yet people want to make this about people not reading the EULA.

Maybe you missed when I wrote "IF" in that sentence?

ETA: you changed your post. The point is the same. Read above. The OS had "bugs". They are being fixed. That's important. Apple "promised" via the EULA that the location services could be turned off. It doesn't matter whether the data collected is useful or not. What matters is if they offer a way to turn it off, it should turn off. It didn't.

The analogy is correct. Some might consider their personal data of value - just like money is.

 

[dr Dunkel]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_2 like Mac OS X; sv-se) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8H7 Safari/6533.18.5)

Location tracking "bug"... haha... well, I'm glad Apple got caught.

 

[airforce1]

Well that's just wrong... they aren't completely removing location tracking in anything. Just fixing "bugs" that stored to much information in a file on your phone.

FAIL

your correct, based on Steve Jobbs response to this which was pure BS we can never trust that the files do NOT get sent out, so with this and their sweat shops in china i think enough activists, governments around the world and companies will shut apple down, so its not just Congress coming to ask Apple why it was still there after a year ago when they where sued for using it to COLLECT POLITICAL VIEWS:

Lets see why :

Wikileeks, Wall street, Oil Giants, allot of these people used macs and iphones, I think Congress is doing the right thing indicting Apple for violations of privacy on US and foreign citizens becuase if they do nothing other nations will pull the plug forever, Israel already is planning a blockade on the devices

 

[Boston007]

I find it hilarious that Steve Jobs claimed Apple was not tracking users, but now all of a sudden we find Location tracking being completely removed from this version of iOS, that is honestly something that annoyes me..

EXACTLY

The fanboys are hilarious to say the least

 

[nwcs]

Did you read my post?

My point is - that if the switch to turn off Data Roaming was the one that failed, people wouldn't be divided. I think pretty much everyone would point the finger at Apple for it's failure to QA the "off switch"

The Location Services on/off switch did not work. Period. And yet people want to make this about people not reading the EULA.

Maybe you missed when I wrote "IF" in that sentence?

ETA: you changed your post. The point is the same. Read above. The OS had "bugs". They are being fixed. That's important. Apple "promised" via the EULA that the location services could be turned off. It doesn't matter whether the data collected is useful or not. What matters is if they offer a way to turn it off, it should turn off. It didn't.

The analogy is correct. Some might consider their personal data of value - just like money is.

I changed my post because when I read it again I realized I misunderstood what you were saying. I thought I had edited it before anyone read it. My apologies for that. Still, I stand by my edit. I don't think the two situations are comparable.

 

[toddybody]

Some facts for the learning challenged.

1. The original DB was set at 2MB. Of ASCII text. As "engineers" you would think Apple would understand and know how "large" that cache is. They claim they didn't realize how much data could be stored in 2MB.

2. This was brought to their attention over a year ago - not a week ago.

3. The file should have always been encrypted.

4. Those getting pissy at people who are calling Apple out on this or are blaming the customer since Apple has it in their EULA that they collect data so it's no big deal should consider that if the switch to turn of Data Roaming FAILED and people were charged up the wazoo - people would be demanding refunds for that data and would demand a fix.

So don't get all pissy for people who just think that the Location Services on/off switch should actually work. Having it NOT work is actually a violation of the EULA so many of the posters here are using as a defense.


I'm glad that the OS is being fixed. I'm glad Apple got caught/are responding to "bugs" that they obviously missed during QA.

+1

I dont know why people on MR seem hellbent on defending Apple no matter the situation (literally)...its honestly pathetic.
IMHO, the best way people can support Apple (and correspondingly convey their dedication to the brand) is to constantly question Apple's decisions and hold them accountable. The end result will be better experiences for the consumers. Let that brain out of it's cage once in a while.

 

[zacman]

 

[siderealxxx]

Regarding iPhone 3G users, Apple will have to find a way of addressing this 'bug' via some form of update for the simple reason that this is a potential violation of the law and basic human rights (and Apple knows it).

Having worked professionally in areas where information relating to location (past, present and future) can genuinely put lives at risk, I personally will not stand for this and I urge other 3G users to do the same.

If this is not addressed for 3G users, I would say you have very good grounds to push for a replacement: Apple have violated their terms of service and as a customer, you do not have to accept it.

 

[err404]

your correct, based on Steve Jobbs response to this which was pure BS we can never trust that the files do NOT get sent out.

Apple has been open about collecting location data. However that does does not come from consolidated.db. The database that everyone is talking about is data sent FROM Apple TO your phone. Why would Apple collect the data that they sent to you?

The issue is that if your phone is compromised by a third party, this DB could be used to infer information about your location (you location is not directly stored in the DB). The changes being made reduce this risk by shortening the cache and encrypting the data.

 

[OS X Dude]

Yes for the iPod bug fixes - I've been getting a weird one on my 3GS where album art isn't loaded correctly for the track that's playing - sometimes it'll pull the Genius Playlist album cover for the playlist that song is in (when I'm not on Genius anyway) and sometimes entirely different albums by different groups.

 

[anonymous guy]

will the CDMA iPhone finally get an upgrade on time, or are they forever stuck in 4.2 fragmentation limbo?

 

[ten-oak-druid]

Thanks to Apple for addressing the issue and thanks to the people who discovered and revealed it.

 

[spazzcat]

I find it hilarious that Steve Jobs claimed Apple was not tracking users, but now all of a sudden we find Location tracking being completely removed from this version of iOS, that is honestly something that annoyes me..

Nothing is being removed they are changing the cache limit. And do you really think Apple is tracking 120+ million users....

 

[GadgetGav]

Not quite. The data collection dialog was separate from the EULA agreement and was a voluntary opt-in. Whether you chose to opt-in or not did not affect how your device operated.

Personally, I opted-in. I have no problem helping Apple to maintain their location database.

Are you sure it was separate? Regardless, my point was that most people blindly click through those things (me included) and then get all mock-outraged when something comes up that was in the small print. It's taking a lot on trust to just click 'Accept' and most of the time it's OK... But check out the South Park episode for how it could go wrong..!

I didn't say that opting in to the crowd sourced database affected your device, I'm saying that now that the tin-foil hat brigade have an option to completely disable this cached database file, _that_ could affect performance for things like Maps because it will have to calculate position from new data every time.

 

[billystlyes]

"Bugs". That's so funny. Like it wasn't something indented by Big Brother, make that Apple. We truly do have a new evil empire now.

 

[err404]

I dont know why people on MR seem hellbent on defending Apple no matter the situation (literally)...

Because a huge amount of the reported details on this matter are wrong.
While the method of storing the cell location cache may show poor judgment on Apples part, I don't see any malicious intent. The system is logical implemented and on the surface, cell location data does not appear sensitive enough to justify encryption. It is only after further analysis that potentially sensitive data can be inferred.
Regardless it's good to see it being addressed.

 

[kas23]

Image

That is hilarious! I actually wouldn't be surprised if there was some truth to it, especially with all these BO/Jobs meetings.

Thanks to Apple for addressing the issue and thanks to the people who discovered and revealed it.

Yeah, thanks Apple. Truth is, this "bug" would never have been "fixed" if the mainstream media didn't jump on this story. If I remember correctly, Jobs denied any problem (like he always does) just last week. Suddenly this becomes a problem when Al Franken (of all people) comes knocking on Apple's door. The whole situation has almost become a parody.

And also, where exactly is this "fix". Seems like Apple was much more responsive getting 4.0.2 released.

 

[gdeusthewhizkid]

my iphone 4 doesn't connect to my wifi network anymore.. I hope this update fixes it... damn iphone 4 ..

 

[err404]

I didn't say that opting in to the crowd sourced database affected your device, I'm saying that now that the tin-foil hat brigade have an option to completely disable this cached database file, _that_ could affect performance for things like Maps because it will have to calculate position from new data every time.

The only way to remove the cache after 4.3.3 will be to disable location services. They wont have poor location service performance, they will have none.

 

[pdjudd]

"Bugs". That's so funny. Like it wasn't something indented by Big Brother, make that Apple. We truly do have a new evil empire now.

I presume you have hard proof of this unfounded claim I hope.

 

[samcraig]

The only way to remove the cache after 4.3.3 will be to disable location services. They wont have poor location service performance, they will have none.

On or off - like the switch says. Makes sense and is logical.