Posted on 04/20/2011 8:52:34 AM PDT by rivercat
Your iPhone is keeping a record of everywhere you've been since June. This data is stored on your phone (or iPad) and computer, easily available to anyone who gets their hands on it. Why? Apple won't say. We're creeped out.
The enormous privacy startle, apparently enabled by this summer's iOS 4 release, was discovered by two security researchers, one of whom claims he was an Apple employee for five years. They're equally puzzled and disturbed by the location collection: "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," they explain. All it would take to crack the information out of your iOS device is an easy jailbreak. On your computer, the information can be opened as easily as JPEG.
The data itself is jarringly accurate. Even though it appears to rely on tower triangulation rather than GPS pinpointing (meaning you're not safe with location services switched off), the map I was able to generate with mapping software the security duo released visualizes my life since the day I bought my iPhone 4 in July. Everywhere I've been. Bus trips home. Train trips to visit family. Vacations. Places I'd forgotten I'd even gone. Zoom in on that giant blotch over New York, and you can see my travels, block by block. My entire personal and professional life—documented by a phone I didn't know was also a tracking device. It's all accessible—where I've been, and when. I don't want this information bouncing around in my pocket with me. Do you?
http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/#faq
The link above will tell you how to find and look at this data. The phone is recording the location of the cellphone *and* the location of all WiFi access points the phone encounters.
This hidden file is nether new nor secret. It’s just moved. Location services have been available to the Apple device for some time. Understand what this file is — log generated by the various radios and sensors located within the device. This file is utilized by several operations on the device that actually is what makes this device pretty “smart”.
Through my work with various law enforcement agencies, we’ve used h-cells.plist on devices older than iOS 4 to harvest geolocational evidence from iOS devices.
Levinson declined to divulge the names of those agencies, but told the reporter that he had worked with “multiple state and federal agencies both in the U.S. and internationally”.
3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery”
with proof that it is NOT new and not secret, and not nefariously designed to secretly track anyone.
3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery”
with proof that it is NOT new and not secret, and not nefariously designed to secretly track anyone.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.