Allow a non-issue to "fester" all you want. Bottom line is that it still doesn't turn it into anything beyond a non-issue
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Transcript of Interview With Apple Executives on iOS Location Tracking
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Allow a non-issue to "fester" all you want. Bottom line is that it still doesn't turn it into anything beyond a non-issue
Waste of bandwidth. Move on.
Considering the cell phone companies deploy a similar stance to locate people for emergency purposes and cell tower switching.
So since there is no answer to my earlier question, I take it that the posters who take issue with the tracking have not bothered to correct the issue on their phone and desktop, which would seem like they care more about posting complaints than being tracked.
There are a few Chicken Littles on this forum who masquerade as mind readers of Apples true intentions pertaining to the use of technical data but obviously need remedial education.
Hopefully it would enlighten them before they continually regurgitate their same tiring drivel over and over.
Fact: You don't have to jailbreak the phone to access the info - it's on your hard drive
Fact: This issue was brought to Apple over a year ago - not a week ago.
Ultimately - as long as they fix the "bug" - all will be "ok"
The rest of that rhetoric is PR saving ass crap. Fact.
Fact: This issue was brought to Apple over a year ago - not a week ago.
Ultimately - as long as they fix the "bug" - all will be "ok"
The rest of that rhetoric is PR saving ass crap. Fact.
Well, it looks like it wasn't a bug after all. It was coded as per the patent application.
Well, it looks like it wasn't a bug after all. It was coded as per the patent application.
Unfortunately not
The patent includes optional implementations where:
- The user has a button to purge the database manually.
- The user can specify frequency of recording.
- The user can specify times to allow recording (like during work commutes) and/or times not to record.
Without even stepping into the whole "they're lying/they're not lying" debate, and since iOS and Android are the only really choices out there, I'm going with the option that doesn't have its sole business model built on knowing as much as possible about me and sharing it with third parties.
To anyone that thinks Google is giving that OS away for free for altruistic reasons, I have a bridge you might be interested in.
To anyone that thinks Google is giving that OS away for free for altruistic reasons, I have a bridge you might be interested in.
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Heh. This non-incident reminds me the good old days of SNL when Gilda Radner played Emily Litella in the Weekend Update segment. Emily couldn't hear very well and would always misunderstand the issue du jour. After Emily's weekly misunderstanding was cleared up, she would end each segment with a meek little, "Never mind."
NBC has a great little sample, violins on television.
It would be stellar if Al Franken would say, "Never mind," in the Senate. That would be funny.
Jobs: If people dont want to participate in things, they will be able to turn location services off. Once we get a bug that we found fixed, their phone will not be collecting or contributing any crowdsourced information. But nor will it be calculating location.
Schiller: Sometimes it helps people to understand an analogy that describes what these things are like because they are so new. I would think an analogy of a crowdsourced database is every time you walk into a retail store, many retailers have a clicker that counts how many people come in and out of the store. Nobody really cares about that because it is completely anonymous. It is not personal data. It is not anything to worry about. Its not something that people feel is private because it is really not about them. Its a coagulated total of all traffic. These crowdsourced databases are sort of like that.
_____________________________________________________________
The first part is the worlds best CEO saying "even though last time we told you turning off location services would prevent this and it didn't, this time when we tell you you can believe us"
The second part is the head of the worlds best marketing department saying "you know what, even after you ask us not to do something and we still do it, it's no biggie. It's all good because the data is ANONIMIZED!. Just to make it seem harmless I will make an inane analogy to a turnstile at a store."
Except in your analogy the the turnstile is strung around the customers neck and clocks everywhere the he or she goes.
No biggie...in fact this is all very technical and I am sure that if you explained it correctly I would be incapable of understanding.
I am most upset because I truly liked a lot about Apple. Now I feel disillusioned, more by the response than by the issue.
Schiller: Sometimes it helps people to understand an analogy that describes what these things are like because they are so new. I would think an analogy of a crowdsourced database is every time you walk into a retail store, many retailers have a clicker that counts how many people come in and out of the store. Nobody really cares about that because it is completely anonymous. It is not personal data. It is not anything to worry about. Its not something that people feel is private because it is really not about them. Its a coagulated total of all traffic. These crowdsourced databases are sort of like that.
_____________________________________________________________
The first part is the worlds best CEO saying "even though last time we told you turning off location services would prevent this and it didn't, this time when we tell you you can believe us"
The second part is the head of the worlds best marketing department saying "you know what, even after you ask us not to do something and we still do it, it's no biggie. It's all good because the data is ANONIMIZED!. Just to make it seem harmless I will make an inane analogy to a turnstile at a store."
Except in your analogy the the turnstile is strung around the customers neck and clocks everywhere the he or she goes.
No biggie...in fact this is all very technical and I am sure that if you explained it correctly I would be incapable of understanding.
I am most upset because I truly liked a lot about Apple. Now I feel disillusioned, more by the response than by the issue.
Q: Should I want my device to no longer be able to share information with third parties, and I turn off Location Services, does my iPhone continue to do so? A: No.
Q: Is the anonymous, encrypted information sent back to Apple currently used for any other purpose than to speed up finding my location when I am using GPS services so I don't have to wait several minutes each time? A: No.
Q: Is the location data on my iPhone my actual whereabouts? A: No. It's cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots nearby, some more than 100 miles away.
If this is Big Brother, he gets an EPIC FAIL from me.
Q: Is the anonymous, encrypted information sent back to Apple currently used for any other purpose than to speed up finding my location when I am using GPS services so I don't have to wait several minutes each time? A: No.
Q: Is the location data on my iPhone my actual whereabouts? A: No. It's cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots nearby, some more than 100 miles away.
If this is Big Brother, he gets an EPIC FAIL from me.
Without even stepping into the whole "they're lying/they're not lying" debate, and since iOS and Android are the only really choices out there, I'm going with the option that doesn't have its sole business model built on knowing as much as possible about me and sharing it with third parties.
To anyone that thinks Google is giving that OS away for free for altruistic reasons, I have a bridge you might be interested in.
So you go with the company that has shown that is will look for any way to make an extra buck.
I trust Google a hell of a lot more than Apple.
Now that Apple is in the ads game I can tell you they will be a lot worse about sharing your data than Google ever was and will be.
It's a nice idea but how could it ever be practical?
Your device hands the the App an object that contains to location data because you've given them some permission to that data. Sure they could maybe stop the app from sending that object to functions that send it off the device, but if the developer can use the info then they can copy, re-encode their own way and still send it off the device.
If you don't trust the app with your data then don't let them have it. Once they have it they will do what they please with it. Any control is only going to be a honesty policy at best.
That said, It seems like the core location is only handing out anonymous information by itself. So the only effective fine grain control is in the combination of info you allow an app to have.
In the end it comes down to the trust your willing to place in a company and how prepared you are to smack them if they break trust.
1 It shouldn't share information with the second party
2 Someone should tell Steve and Phil about this, because they are both talking about a crowd sourced database
3 A single data point relative to a source 100 miles away is insignificant, however if I move out of range from that one and into range of another it indicates I am in motion and indicates the direction of motion. since the data is associated with time a few points of data can also give an idea of the speed at which I am traveling which could be used to determine my mode of transportation. The effect of anonimizing is degraded wherever the number of data points is increased, and we are talking about copious data points here.
That assessment of Apple's approach to those matters is quite unfair either because you're being disingenuous or because you are not really following Apple's business.
As an example, Apple has deliberately hurt its revenue by refusing to give in to magazines publishers that wanted to get consumer information of iPad users buying their magazines apps.
There's 2 jailbreak apps for this. One creates a daemon that constantly deletes the location files. Another onewipes out the location history and then does a wipeout of each location currently.
A lot of people are saying this is no big deal. According to the hacker that found this out, a hacker can hack onto the computer that the backup is located on and find out all of your locations.
All the people saying, "I don't sell drugs so I have nothing to worry about" or "I have nothing to hide" are probably the same people who voted for homeland security.......and we can all see how good that was...NOT.
A lot of people are saying this is no big deal. According to the hacker that found this out, a hacker can hack onto the computer that the backup is located on and find out all of your locations.
All the people saying, "I don't sell drugs so I have nothing to worry about" or "I have nothing to hide" are probably the same people who voted for homeland security.......and we can all see how good that was...NOT.
If a hacker can hack into your computer, then the first thing you need to do is not worry about this file in the iPhone backup, but worry about the fact that a hacker can hack into your computer. Get some perspective, man. If someone hacks into your computer, you should first worry about your emails being read. The hacker can go to amazon, type in your user name, "forgot password", they send it to your email address, the hacker reads it, changes the details, and orders a few big TVs on your credit card. Or they get your online banking details and empty your account. Companies have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars that way.
If a hacker can get your iPhone, or your iPhone backup, then again the first thing you need to worry about is not this file, but all the information that you stored yourself. Again, email. Web history. Address book.
The "I sell no drugs..." line is a strawman. People don't have to not worry because they are not selling drugs; for example I found by complete accident what Christmas present my wife had bought for me online, which spoilt the surprise for me (I didn't tell her, obviously). So privacy is important for completely legal and positive things like buying Christmas presents.
The point here is that this file is not something you need to worry about; in the list of things to worry about it is very, very, very far at the end of the list. If you are a drug dealer, there is very little that police could do with this file. Especially since according to what Apple has now said, it would be completely useless as evidence against you. There is a lot that they can learn from your address book, phone numbers, emails, etc., and that is what you should worry about whether you are a drug dealer, or a law obiding citizen.
Google gives out the location of your WiFi router to anyone who knows the MAC address, so if you moved to get away from a stalker, or if you are in witness protection, then you better leave your old router at home. Try this website:
http://samy.pl/androidmap/
This is fortunately not something that _I_ have to worry about, but for some people this would be a real risk. The site locates my router within 100m and tells the world about it. It does that with every router, whether you have a phone or not. Apple keeps their database safe from hackers, Google doesn't.
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