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I just checked this, and it recorded most of the places i go, but it shows some dots in places i'm sure i've never been there.

so...

I found this insightful post on reddit:

I figure this thread is as good a place as any to brain dump on this. I went to WWDC last year where the new Core Location system was discussed in great detail. If you went as well, or have the videos, look at the video for session 115, "Using Core Location in iOS". Skip to around 13:45 for the discussion of "Course Cell Positioning" where they discuss the cache in detail.

The purpose of this is offline GPS. Normally, each cell tower has an identifier and Core Location sends that identifier to Apple and asks for the lat/lon for that tower. This requires a data connection, and the use of data. Since cell towers don't move, however, it's inefficient to keep going back to Apple for that information so they cache it. Now if a tower appears with the same ID as the cache, tada! you have a cache hit and a faster fix with no data use. Which also means you can get a "course location" (as in rough) if you are near known towers and don't have a data connection.

That's all this is. It's a cache of identifiers (cell and wifi), locations, and their age (it's a cache, after all). Someone made the decision to never clean it out so they would have more and more information about those GPS "assists" (you know, A-GPS) and so they'd use less and less power and data over time for the places you frequent. It's a great idea, technically.

Practically, yes, you can track location over time. The file is readable only by root and you're free to encrypt your backups for now. I'm sure Apple will either encrypt the file or truncate the data in a future update (I would prefer encryption as I think it's technically sound, but I know many will disagree). I'm also sure someone is considering a toggle for the feature or a button to clear the database. Both are great ideas.

This isn't nefarious, this isn't being sent anywhere, and this isn't as bad as everyone is making it. This is a real feature with a major oversight. That's it.

this doesnt make sense. how could it cached a cell tower's location, if i've never been there?
 
What also is kind of shocking is a lot of the people I see complaining about it spend half their time trying to be the Mayor of something on foursquare or gowalla... ::eyeroll:: I don't care either way, I have nothing to hide and I haven't been anywhere top secret so track away!
 
Why single out android, rim (oh and BB are RIM)? ALL cell phones, dumb ones as well as smart ones are recorded by the operator (not Apple, Google or RIM).
This is true, but a random nobody cannot access that information. You need a court order to access it. On the other hand, a random nobody can steal an iPhone owned by some government official, or a police detective, and gain insight into information that could benefit the criminals.

Just because most people don't feel they have anything to hide with where they're going, doesn't mean this feature being permanently enabled was a good design idea. iOS lets you disable a lot more mundane potential privacy intrusion features than this, so they should have made this optional as well.
 
I really don't think Apple can put this info to anything useful. Even so Apple shouldn't be harboring info of this nature without user consent. Privacy is privacy and Apple collecting and STORING this info (and the key word here is Storing) violates the customers rights.
Most likely Apple will come out with an update in the next day or two to correct this.


Does anyone know if theres a way to access the file where the info is stored.

Here's a thought what happens when Apple comes out with NFC and tracks everyones purchases etc. Are they going to sell that info???
 
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I just checked this, and it recorded most of the places i go, but it shows some dots in places i'm sure i've never been there.

so...

this doesnt make sense. how could it cached a cell tower's location, if i've never been there?

As I've pointed out in other threads on this topic, it's not caching a new location that it found on its own.

It's caching the current-at-that-time location data that the Apple location database server returned for a cell id or WiFi hotspot that the phone saw.

That Apple location info will be incorrect if the WiFi router had been moved by its owner (happens a lot) or the cell id had been changed (fairly rare in the US).

Example sequence:
  1. You ask your iPhone to find the closest restaurant, or to take a photo that's geo-tagged.
  2. Your phone sees a nearby WiFi hotspot, so it sends the hotspot's MAC address up to Apple as part of a location request.
  3. The Apple server looks up the MAC in its database and returns that WiFi router's last known location.
  4. The phone caches that info in case you ever are near that router again. (At home, that will happen constantly.)
The cache saves on time and data transfers, especially when looking up cell ids which cover a lot more territory.
 
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I agree with an earlier post that a lot of people are blindly supportive of this because it's Apple. Steve Jobs could poop in a box and leave it on your doorstep and 80% of you would put it in the windowsill and call it ipotpourri.

If people could think a little bit more broadly than their own little situation, they can see where this could 'potentially' be a privacy concern.

For example, seemingly nice college guy your daughter dates turns out to be a stalker creep. She lets him on her computer and he copies the file over so he can figure everything about what she goes and when. Do we really want to make it that easy for him to do it?

Or for those who have an iPhone for work, is it fair for your employer to 'easily' track the places you've been the past year. Yeah, it may be innocuous...but if you go bet horses every weekend or go the bar every night until 2:00 - is that something they have a right to know. While technically that information is available know (and most companies have set protocols in place when they search company IT property/records), this file makes it ridiculously easy for anybody with access to a system to get it. (hopefully it's encrypted anyway as part of the IT policy, but I wouldn't bet on it for every small employer out there.)

The issue isn't that the data is collected as much as the records are much longer than needed and too accessible.

It's not the end of the world sloppy security breach it's being made out to be. And without the publicity it was relatively harmless. But now that it's been in the mainstream news and people are undoubtedly making programs/apps to easily utilize that information, Apple needs to do the responsible thing and shorten the duration and make it harder to access.
 
Maybe I'm an idiot, but I'm still not very worried about the tracking.

I can think of many, many legitimate uses for this.

Perhaps it is a good idea to let people know it is happening, but this kind of activity is not unique to Apple iOS and I think it's just a part of everyday life that in this modern electronic world we just have to accept that it is a part of leading our lives safely.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

-b. franklin
 
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

-b. franklin

Yup. I'd also be interested in seeing a cross section of people who are complaining about this but are totally ok with the Patriot Act. The NSA and FBI have been tracking your **** for years.
 
Yup. I'd also be interested in seeing a cross section of people who are complaining about this but are totally ok with the Patriot Act. The NSA and FBI have been tracking your **** for years.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3458.asp

Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops
ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.

"Law enforcement officers are known, on occasion, to encourage citizens to cooperate if they have nothing to hide," ACLU staff attorney Mark P. Fancher wrote. "No less should be expected of law enforcement, and the Michigan State Police should be willing to assuage concerns that these powerful extraction devices are being used illegally by honoring our requests for cooperation and disclosure."

A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.

"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."

The ACLU is concerned that these powerful capabilities are being quietly used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

"With certain exceptions that do not apply here, a search cannot occur without a warrant in which a judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of criminal activity," Fancher wrote. "A device that allows immediate, surreptitious intrusion into private data creates enormous risks that troopers will ignore these requirements to the detriment of the constitutional rights of persons whose cell phones are searched."

The national ACLU is currently suing the Department of Homeland Security for its policy of warrantless electronic searches of laptops and cell phones belonging to people entering the country who are not suspected of committing any crime.
 
Fox News doesn't really do traditional news. It's a coordinated narrative, mixed with thinly veiled opinions. Hell, they only really have like 2 actual news people. Granted, they aren't the only ones. But they tend to pander to the most excitable and least knowledgeable people. And therefor they tend to make much bigger stories out of very little and often, nothing.

Oh, you mean like MSLSD (MSNBC) does? :rolleyes:
 
Fox is not News. It's the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. It is correctly shunned by anyone seeking "news".

As far as this issue of Apple tracking your movement, it's just paranoia and a non-issue, as far as I am concerned. But hey, if it bothers you, don't use the phone.

Just like MSNBC and Chris Matthews are the propaganda arm of Obama and the Democrap party. I shun it regularly when I "seek" news as well. :rolleyes:
 
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