Every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay.....IPhone will be watching you

[marmar]

Balloon Juice, via AlterNet:



Creepy: IPhones Track Everywhere You Go

Since the iOS4 update last June, iPhones track everywhere you go and store it in an easy-to-hack-or-subpoena format. It is practically invisible to most users and you can’t disable it or get rid of the data. Why? Apple won’t say.

Whatevs. Me and my $15 cell phone will live happily on stale twinkies and soup cans with torn-off labels for years after your idevices calmly direct the rest of you to check out a nearby ‘reprocessing center’ for AWESOME EXCLUSIVE DEALS on the iPad3.

***Update***

Via commenter Joel, here is a more clear explanation of the problem from the people who discovered it.

What’s so bad about this?

The most immediate problem is that this data is stored in an easily-readable form on your machine. Any other program you run or user with access to your machine can look through it.

The more fundamental problem is that Apple are collecting this information at all. Cell-phone providers collect similar data almost inevitably as part of their operations, but it’s kept behind their firewall. It normally requires a court order to gain access to it, whereas this is available to anyone who can get their hands on your phone or computer.

By passively logging your location without your permission, Apple have made it possible for anyone from a jealous spouse to a private investigator to get a detailed picture of your movements.

By Tim F. | Sourced from Balloon Juice
Posted at April 20, 2011, 12:31 pm


http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/566483/creepy%3A_iphones_track_everywhere_you_go/

[notadmblnd]

1. "There's an app for that"

maybe not now, but soon, very soon. I can see it as a stalker's dream.

[Snoutport]

2. totally creepy!

big brother is watching you!

[whoneedstickets]

3. Irony: They won't force us to get tracking chips implanted, we'll do it voluntarily..

..to look cool

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Mebbe Apple thought "There's a sap for that". My solution would be to hack

the system, download thousands of bogus data points and let them deal with it. Put in that you were in Italy on Monday, Alaska on Tuesday, Mars on Friday etc., in other words F them up.

[notadmblnd]

5. I like how you think!

:evilgrin:

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. That's all we need to do really, just put so much white noise in the system that

they won't know whether to go #2 or go blind.

[NYC Liberal]

6. Article is BS for a couple reasons:

1.) You can easily disable it.



2.) Location Services is OPT-IN. You are notified when an app wants to use your location ad must specifically allow. You are given the option to deny it.



3.) You can disallow any app from using your location at any time in settings. (see above)

4.) Apple is NOT collecting this information. The information is stored locally on your phone and your computer when you backup.

5. You can encrypt your backups. The option to do so appears on the first screen that pops up when syncing your iPhone with iTunes.



6.) If someone has physical access to your phone or computer, all bets are off...for ALL your data. It's always been this way.

Password-protecting your computer and phone and encrypting your backups is something everyone should do.

[stevedeshazer]

8. +1

Thanks.

[jayfish]

10. This is separate and apart from location services.

It cannot be turned off or opted out of. Also...

"This file is only readable by root. That means that a rogue App Store app won't be able to read it. Even a bad guy who hacks into your browser won't be able to read it," Miller told Ars. However, remote hackers can make use of two separate exploits—a code execution exploit and a privilege escalation exploit—which Miller points out have been available before in the form of jailbreakme.com (a tool that allowed users to jailbreak their devices through a Web page on the Internet).

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/04/how-apple-tracks-your-location-without-your-consent-and-why-it-matters.ars

The blind acceptance of this kind of crap is astounding to me.

[NYC Liberal]

11. This is silly. It's like saying if you use an email client

on your computer and a "jealous spouse" or a private investigator gets access to the computer, they can see all your emails. Once someone has physical access to your computer all bets are off. It's always been that way.

From the Lifehacker article linked to in that article: "the data is easy to get to, unless you choose to encrypt your device backups"

Check one button in iTunes and the entire backup file is encrypted. Problem solved.

The information is not sent to Apple or anyone else. And carriers can and have always been able to get your location...from a $10 dumb phone to smartphones.

[SoulSearcher]

13. Do you work for APPLE ??

You are really OK w/the premise that the phone
is collecting data on your every movement - without
your knowledge or permission ???

[Lance_Boyle]

17. the issue, it seems, is that there is no reason for the data to be stored

in the first place. This is not like accessing somebody's email by gaining local access to the machine. This is like having a built-in keylogger on the machine recording your every keystroke for... what purpose? Apple won't say, so I won't give them any benefit of the doubt on this one.

[ecstatic]

16. Not true. Guy on MSNBCjust said it goes off of cell phone tower

triangulation. Turning off the GPS won't stop the file from gathering the info. He said to stop it, you have to jailbreak your phone, download an application called untrackered and then that application will run in the background and constantly delete the file.

Good luck with that! :hi:

[NYC Liberal]

20. Just encrypt your backups and nobody can access it.

Supposedly it's a 'bug' that's being fixed but the only real potential issue here is someone accessing the file...which encrypting your backups and password protecting your phone (both of which are good things to do anyway) will take care of.

[Kokonoe]

9. Just turn it off, and put it in a lead box.

And don't forget to use paperless billing, and automatic bill pay.

[onehandle]

12. Fifth time this has been posted today. Additionally, this was reported last year.

Smartphone makers use the data to make better phones.

Slow news day.

[Lance_Boyle]

18. This was reported for the first time yesterday.

You may be thinking of some other Apple exploit, but this is actually *new* news.

[MadHound]

14. You do realize that your "15 dollar cell phone" also can be used to track wherever you go,

Every cell phone has that capability, and has had for over a decade now. You can thank Clinton's FCC for that one, mandating that GPS chips be in every single phone.

In fact for the last five years many large cities have been using the capability to track cell phones in order to track car traffic and such.

[hobbit709]

15. turn phone OFF, take battery OUT

Problem solved. You shouldn't be distracted by the phone while driving anyhow. My phone tells me about missed calls when I turn it back on. So far 90% of them have not been worth returning.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

19. My brother just sent me a text on my iphone warning me of this as well. n/t