Combatting Fleeting iPhone Privacy?
Some iPhone and iPad users have expressed concern over the tracking of their geographic location data within these products. Both Apple and Google have said that they collect such data in an anonymous fashion to keep their Wi-Fi hot spot locations databases current rather than pinpointing the activities of people. British data researchers Pete Warden and Alasdair Allan found that an unencrypted file on iOS4 devices records all locations visited by someone and can copy location and time information to a user’s computer when the devices are operating together. Two individuals in Florida have filed a lawsuit against Apple over the tracking of iPhone and iPad users. On the other hand, other Apple product users have taken the opposite approach of submitting maps detailing their movements over time on Facebook and Twitter.
Canadian jailbreak app programmer Ryan Petrich of Edmonton developed a free program called Untrackerd that runs as a background utility to clean the consolidated.db database file that stores the location information every 30 minutes. However, some expressed concern that using a jailbreak app can make your device’s warranty null and void.
In the case of Google, the company had used the same automotive fleet to gather data on Wi-Fi hot spots that it used for its controversial StreetView service. Google now collects that data through customers’ phones after data and emails had been collected through those hot spots.
From a Canadian perspective, University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist noted that the iPhone situation involves the issues of informed consent and security and urged Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart to investigate Apple.
One thought on “Combatting Fleeting iPhone Privacy?”
And this week, in the U.K., the Guardian reported on its experiment to test for security flaws in the iPhone. They found that “Millions of smartphone users and BT customers who use Wi-Fi wireless internet “hotspot” connections in public are vulnerable to fraud and identity theft”: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/25/wifi-security-flaw-smartphones-risk Possibly not “new” information, but certainly worth keeping in mind on both sides of the pond.
As, always, thanks for your great posts, John.