iPhone tracking.
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From: Notts
phones have been tracking for years, everytime your move to a different cell site (transmitter) it is logged, nothing new except you can now see where you have been. Ok for a drunken night out I suppose..
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)Tony
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Lemons anyone?
"Samy Kamkar, a hacker and researcher, has shown that Android phones, which run on software written by Google, collect the location data every few seconds and store it in a local file, but also transmit it to Google several times an hour."
"Samy Kamkar, a hacker and researcher, has shown that Android phones, which run on software written by Google, collect the location data every few seconds and store it in a local file, but also transmit it to Google several times an hour."
If your not on a data tariff then I am sure you would know, but having an iPhone/android not on one defeats the purpose. With the os being opensorce I am sure people would have commented. I may post over at xda to see what they say
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I didn't know Google stored the data in a file on the phone, I thought your location was just shared if you accepted it on phone setup. News are still going on about privicy issues though, with governments doing investigations into whether data is shared without users permissions. It's in the terms and conditions FFS, I know people don't really read them, but they still click accept so no problems. With Google it does give a pop up on setup specifically asking if you want to share location data as opposed to just sticking it in the T&C's, I forgot about that.
Either way the media have blown this way out of proportion as usual, who cares if tracking data is stored? It's only the phone movements, no data linking it to the user is logged.
Edit: Further reading on this, if you opt out on Android it does stop logging the local file and on 2.3 upwards deletes the file. 2.2 and below just stops updating it. The file is not transferred to a computer when you plug in and also you need root access to be able to get to the file on the phone, not that it's difficult to root.
https://github.com/packetlss/android-locdump
Just done a screen capture of the option:
Either way the media have blown this way out of proportion as usual, who cares if tracking data is stored? It's only the phone movements, no data linking it to the user is logged.
Edit: Further reading on this, if you opt out on Android it does stop logging the local file and on 2.3 upwards deletes the file. 2.2 and below just stops updating it. The file is not transferred to a computer when you plug in and also you need root access to be able to get to the file on the phone, not that it's difficult to root.
https://github.com/packetlss/android-locdump
Just done a screen capture of the option:
Last edited by Saint AAI; Apr 25, 2011 at 08:14 AM.
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From: Overdosed on LCD
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Latest news on this
Tony
US: Apple Promises Fix For iPhone Tracking 'Bug'
Apple has broken its silence on iPhone location tracking and promises to fix 'bugs'. A week after it was reported that the iPhone collects and stores data about its user’s location, Apple has posted a statement on its website.
The company said: “The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it is maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”
Two British security researchers last week published a report saying that a file in Apple’s iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, keeps a record of the device’s location history, which it copies to the user’s computer when the mobile device is connected. The report, which echoed findings published by another team of researchers last year, raised fears that the iPhone was reporting users’ movements to Apple or that a user’s privacy could be jeopardised if the file was accessed by someone other than the phone’s owner.
Apple’s statement acknowledged that the data was being sent to the company but said that it was done so anonymously. “Apple cannot identify the source of this data,” the statement said. The company added that it was not storing the iPhone’s location data but “a subset (cache) or the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple to the iPhone”.
Apple said that the amount of data that the iPhone stores is “a bug that we uncovered and plan to fix shortly”. The company said that another bug meant that the iPhone would sometimes continue to update location data even when Location Services were turned off in the device settings. It said this would shortly be fixed too.
Martyn Ruks, technical director of security consultants MWR InfoSecurity, said: “The things Apple is saying are entirely credible.” He said that the iPhone needed to track and store a certain amount of location data so that applications would work. He said: “The technical solution they’ve implemented to very quickly find your location involves those things.”
Apple has broken its silence on iPhone location tracking and promises to fix 'bugs'. A week after it was reported that the iPhone collects and stores data about its user’s location, Apple has posted a statement on its website.
The company said: “The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it is maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”
Two British security researchers last week published a report saying that a file in Apple’s iOS, the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, keeps a record of the device’s location history, which it copies to the user’s computer when the mobile device is connected. The report, which echoed findings published by another team of researchers last year, raised fears that the iPhone was reporting users’ movements to Apple or that a user’s privacy could be jeopardised if the file was accessed by someone other than the phone’s owner.
Apple’s statement acknowledged that the data was being sent to the company but said that it was done so anonymously. “Apple cannot identify the source of this data,” the statement said. The company added that it was not storing the iPhone’s location data but “a subset (cache) or the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple to the iPhone”.
Apple said that the amount of data that the iPhone stores is “a bug that we uncovered and plan to fix shortly”. The company said that another bug meant that the iPhone would sometimes continue to update location data even when Location Services were turned off in the device settings. It said this would shortly be fixed too.
Martyn Ruks, technical director of security consultants MWR InfoSecurity, said: “The things Apple is saying are entirely credible.” He said that the iPhone needed to track and store a certain amount of location data so that applications would work. He said: “The technical solution they’ve implemented to very quickly find your location involves those things.”
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