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?
ping
Er, isn’t it tracking where the iPhone has been?
Say you get up in the middle of the night, put your iPhone on your bed table, and go out and commit mayhem. You have an alibi that you were asleep the whole time.
| Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops |
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04/20/2011 6:49:30 AM PDT · by SWAMPSNIPER · 22 replies THE NEWSPAPER ^ | April 20, 2011 | swampsniperI don't know anything about this source but this sounds credible. 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... |
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| Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops |
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04/20/2011 6:05:29 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 29 replies www.thenewspaper.com ^ | 4/19/2011 | StaffACLU 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... |
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| ACLU: Michigan cops stealing drivers' phone data |
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04/19/2011 8:35:22 PM PDT · by Minus_The_Bear · 47 replies news.cnet.com ^ The Michigan State Police have started using handheld machines called "extraction devices" to download personal information from motorists they pull over, even if they're not suspected of any crime. Naturally, the ACLU has a problem with this. The devices, sold by a company called Cellebrite, can download text messages, photos, video, and even GPS data from most brands of cell phones. The handheld machines have various interfaces to work with different models and can even bypass security passwords and access some information. |
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| Michigan Police Could Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops [what's a 'constitution'?] |
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04/19/2011 4:43:57 PM PDT · by Clint Williams · 112 replies Slashdot ^ | 4/19/11 | timothySonicSpike writes "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. 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... |
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Don’t bother me, I’m not doing anything wrong.
A. This database of your locations is stored on your iPhone as well as in any of the automatic backups that are made when you sync it with iTunes. One thing that will help is choosing encrypted backups, since that will prevent other users or programs on your machine from viewing the data, but there will still be a copy on your device.
Burglars would love that information.
What...who would think that Google would permanently archive users' data...and have users agree to fine print that says they consent to Google reading and keeping their GMail?
Any way I can access this info myself???
If I can, I would be able to recover a $300.00 camera I lost.
Twenty-seven years later - Apple is Big Brother.
“[A]ll that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.” - Winston Churchill
Invading your Privacy... “there’s an app for that”...
Haha I write Iphone apps, but I carry a dumbed down trackfone.. I just can’t beat $40 for 400 minutes when I use about 10 minutes (maybe) a week...
Why do I need an expensive data plan? I have a computer at home wired in, and 10 minutes to work and I am wired in there too.
In Michigan and get pulled over the cops will extract this data out. maybe they have some cases to solve and want to find out who was in the area.
Do other phones do this same thing?
Got my old-school Motorola V3C here and not sweating it.
Never understood the smartphone idea. Great if you want to compute mobile, but awful if you want your life’s details kept away from prying eyes.
“The government is the potent omnipresent teacher ... If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” - Justice Louis D. Brandeis
“Maybe they’re doing it for the government. Maybe they’re doing it because they’re forced to. So far, the researchers have found no proof that the information is being transmitted to remote servers hosted by Apple or the feds. There’s no evidence of that at all—that’s the good news. But that’s still a lot of information on our phones about where we’ve been, whether or not we want it.”
Using this logic, why not plant a camera in your living room, bedroom, hey, maybe one in the bathroom too!
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