http://articles.cnn.com/2..._s=PM:TECH

Whew! I'll stick with my BlackBerry.

I think you can get around that by not allowing any of the apps or GPS to use location services (it always asks if you want it to).

Why and How Apple Is Collecting Your iPhone Location Data

Apple claims turning Location Services to "Off" will cease all transmission of geodata from a device to Apple. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

iPhone and iPad customers were spooked Wednesday to find out that their devices have recorded a detailed history of their geographical locations for the past year in an unprotected file. But it turns out that Apple already explained its location-collection practices in a detailed letter — almost a year ago.

And even though Apple has provided an explanation, there’s still a problem — the fact that this file containing the data is so easily accessible to anyone, and the fact that this data is stored in such an intricate manner that doesn’t seem to benefit the customer.

“I’m guessing someone screwed up,” said David Navalho, a pHD student specializing in location services on mobile devices with advanced sensors. “It’s basically bad for users. If someone steals the phone they have access to a lot of data.”

The privacy scare stems from a discovery by two data scientists, who revealed Wednesday that iPhones and iPads contain an unencrypted file called “consolidated.db,” which has been tracking and recording yo...ation data in a log accompanied with time stamps for the past 10 months.

Apple’s general counsel Bruce Sewell in July 2010 sent a 13-page letter (.pdf) explaining its location-data-collection techniques in response to a request from Congressmen Joe Barton and Edward Markey asking for Apple to disclose such practices (.pdf). (Incidentally, Markey authored the “Do Not Track” bill to stop online companies from tracking children.)

Apple doesn’t specifically note the “consolidated.db” file in the letter, but the letter explains how and why Apple keeps such a detailed log of location data from mobile devices.

How is Apple collecting geodata?

According to Apple’s letter, geodata is being tracked and transmitted to Apple only if a customer toggles the Location Services option in the settings menu to “On.” If it’s off, no location-based information will be collected.

If the Location Services setting is flipped on, the iPhone, 3G iPad and, to a more limited extent, the iPod Touch and the Wi-Fi iPad, are transmitting geodata to Apple under different circumstances.

Apple is collecting information about nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi access points whenever you request current location information. Sometimes it will also do this automatically when you’re using a location-based service, such as a GPS app.

As for GPS information, Apple is collecting GPS location data only when a customer uses an application requiring GPS capabilities.

Apple claims the collected geodata is stored on the iOS device, then anonymized with a random identification number generated every 24 hours by the iOS device, and finally transmitted over an encrypted Wi-Fi network every 12 hours (or later if there’s no Wi-Fi available) to Apple. That means Apple and its partners can’t use this collected geodata to personally identify a user.

At Apple, the data gets stored in a database “accessible only by Apple,” the letter says.

“When a customer requests current location information, the device encrypts and transmits Cell Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information and the device’s GPS coordinates (if available) over a secure Wi-Fi Internet connection to Apple,” Apple wrote in the letter.

Why is Apple collecting geodata?

The purpose of all this, according to Apple, is to maintain a comprehensive location database, which in turn provides quicker and more precise location services.

“Apple must be able to determine quickly and precisely where a device is located,” Apple said in its letter. “To do this, Apple maintains a secure database containing information regarding known locations of cell towers and Wi-Fi access points.”

In older versions of Apple’s mobile OS (1.1.3 to 3.1), Apple relied on Google and Skyhook Wireless to provide location-based services — so Apple left data collection to them. But ever since April 2010, starting with iPhone OS 3.2 and continuing into the current iOS 4 software, Apple has started using its own databases to provide location-based services to iOS devices.

“These databases must be updated continuously to account for, among other things, the ever-changing physical landscape, more innovative uses of mobile technology, and the increasing number of Apple’s users,” Apple said in its letter.

Navalho explained that mobile location services work like this: To get your location, first the iPhone or iPad pulls from Apple’s database containing previously stored information about nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi spots to quickly triangulate your location, and then finally the GPS chip analyzes how long it takes satellite signals to reach the device in order to pinpoint location.

In short, Apple’s stored location database is intended to assist and quicken location processes on iOS mobile devices.

The problems

However, one problem here is that after this information is sent to Apple, there’s no customer benefit for that geodata to be stored on your iPhone or iPad for any longer, Navalho said.

In other words, after that data is transmitted to Apple “every 12 hours,” Apple’s database should already have the data needed to improve your location services, and there’s no reason for it to stick around on your device — especially after 10 months.

Plus, Apple explicitly said this database is “accessible only to Apple” — but in actuality the database of your approximate locations is accessible to anyone with physical or remote access to your iPhone or iPad. Again, that’s a security issue.

“There’s really no reason for the information to be there,” Navalho said. “I’ll just assume they didn’t erase it and that it’s a security issue, and hopefully they’ll fix it.”

Therefore, the core issue reported Wednesday remains the same: A hacker or thief gaining access to your iPhone or iPad can easily dig into the consolidated.db file and figure out where you live, or other places you’ve frequented. Apple uses rich geodata to assist your location services, but it doesn’t need to be stored on your device permanently.

“What Apple is doing actually puts users very much at risk,” said Sharon Nissim, consumer privacy counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “If one of these devices is stolen, [the thief] could easily discover details about the owner’s movements.”

Apple has not responded to Wired.com’s request for comment on this story.

http://www.wired.com/gadg...-tracking/

And I have an iphone

Saw this on the CBS Evening News last night.

If you're merely walking by a strip bar, it will say that you've been to that strip bar, so be careful where you walk.

skynet.....

XxAxX said:

skynet.....

You read my mind.

missfee said:

XxAxX said:

skynet.....

You read my mind.

apple IS skynet

soon an army of Justin Longs are coming to get us all in our sleep

ZombieKitten said:

missfee said:

You read my mind.

apple IS skynet

http://markweinguitarless...-is-Skynet

iPhone or not...i think everyone can be tracked. read an article a while back about all cellphones being tracking devices. not the least bit surprised.

ZombieKitten said:

missfee said:

You read my mind.

apple IS skynet

no, Google is skynet

Also when in you shop in stores and they want your zip code-that is a tracking system. It is what bankers use to determine what rate the can charge interest on their card holders based on zip codes. So, if you are in a "poor" zip code and you go to lower economic stores and use their card. You will tend to get a higher interest rate. So don't give them your zip code or just give them beverly hills 90210.

luv4u said:

kewlschool said:

Also when in you shop in stores and they want your zip code-that is a tracking system. It is what bankers use to determine what rate the can charge interest on their card holders based on zip codes. So, if you are in a "poor" zip code and you go to lower economic stores and use their card. You will tend to get a higher interest rate. So don't give them your zip code or just give them beverly hills 90210.

That sounds illegal.

SUPRMAN said:

kewlschool said:

Also when in you shop in stores and they want your zip code-that is a tracking system. It is what bankers use to determine what rate the can charge interest on their card holders based on zip codes. So, if you are in a "poor" zip code and you go to lower economic stores and use their card. You will tend to get a higher interest rate. So don't give them your zip code or just give them beverly hills 90210.

That sounds illegal.

If a zip code has a lot of failure to pay credit cards or bankruptcy-a bank can determine it's a larger risk to give credit to that zip code. The larger risk the higher the interest rate (generally).

kewlschool said:

SUPRMAN said:

That sounds illegal.

If a zip code has a lot of failure to pay credit cards or bankruptcy-a bank can determine it's a larger risk to give credit to that zip code. The larger risk the higher the interest rate (generally).

I might add personal finance history has effect to-but if your just starting out. There is no history.

[Edited 4/24/11 8:54am]

kewlschool said:

SUPRMAN said:

That sounds illegal.

If a zip code has a lot of failure to pay credit cards or bankruptcy-a bank can determine it's a larger risk to give credit to that zip code. The larger risk the higher the interest rate (generally).

Thanks.

[EDITED]

Studies show that just like the mortgage industry, the credit card business is awash in racist policies. According to Andrea Freeman, law professor at California Western School of Law and author of a 2010 study called Credit Card Ills, there are many dangers for the black community when it comes to credit.

Racial discrimination appears “ … in the form of ‘redlining,’ the practice of varying credit card contract terms based on the applicant’s zip code and other signifiers of race such as names and appearance.”

A 2006 Boston Federal Reserve Bank study shows that, for people with identical risk profiles and payment histories living in different areas, there are major differences in the credit card terms based on the racial makeup of a neighborhood.

Essentially, black cardholders who carry balances on their accounts are more than twice as likely as whites to pay high interest rates.

So if you have a name commonly used in white communities, live in a white neighborhood and pay your bills on time, you might get a 7 percent interest rate. If you have an ethnic-sounding name, live in a black neighborhood and pay your bills on time, you might get a 17 percent interest rate.

Professor Freeman demonstrates that the credit card industry’s business model is based on the poorest consumers paying the highest fees and interest rates in order to subsidize credit card use by the richest consumers.

She identifies two basic types of credit card users. The Subsistence User needs her credit cards to pay for utilities or to buy groceries and diapers. Contrast this against the Lifestyle User, who can meet all of her needs without borrowing and only uses the credit card to enhance her lifestyle (i.e. buying birthday gifts, movie tickets, etc.).

One major challenge is that African Americans tend to be Subsistence Users. Another is the fact that many predatory financial service companies open offices and market aggressively in black communities.

Just count the number of (predatory) check cashing or payday lending companies in the average African American community and compare it to the number of banks.

So why would credit card companies focus on people who are already having a hard time paying bills?

Subsistence Users tend to carry credit card balances from month-to-month. As a result they are charged interest fees on their balances. Interest is the price you pay for the privilege of getting today what you could not afford until tomorrow.

For credit card companies, interest is the pot of gold at the end of the credit card industry’s rainbow. High interest rates are like winning the Powerball after finding the pot of gold.

In 2004, nearly 60 percent of African Americans had a credit card, and nearly 84 percent of them carried a month-to-month balance. This means that low- and middle-class African Americans (who tend to live check to check) are essentially a primary source of income for a multi-billion dollar credit card industry.

Media master Tom Burrell notes: “Low-income blacks…are the dominant supporters of the multi-billion dollar payday loan and rent-to-own entities that can charge triple-digit interest rates, and rent merchandise at sometimes more than 200 percent above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.”

Institutional racism allows the financial industry to profit off of the black community. Once we understand how much race impacts our fiscal choices, we can change our behavior, take control of our collective finances and create solutions to our economic reality.

http://theloop21.com/mone...black-prey

i didn't bother to read any of the above.

but there is something i think you should know.

CELLPHONES all of them since the beginnin

have been trackable. we used throwaways

and still got tracked. (in my past life)

the only sure way to avoid such trackin

was to take the battery out.

none of this can be a surprise. i don't understand

when people act surprised to hear things like thhis

and whut your government doesn't tell you.

kewlschool said:

Also when in you shop in stores and they want your zip code-that is a tracking system. It is what bankers use to determine what rate the can charge interest on their card holders based on zip codes. So, if you are in a "poor" zip code and you go to lower economic stores and use their card. You will tend to get a higher interest rate. So don't give them your zip code or just give them beverly hills 90210.

Privacy is almost a thing of the past. I read an article about how new copiers store every copy and fax on a hard drive inside the machine. The problem is that when rented machines get returned or sent to another business they usually don't make sure the info is removed. These machines go from doctor's offices to insurance agencies, etc. with a lot of personal information still on their hard drives.

kewlschool said:

Also when in you shop in stores and they want your zip code-that is a tracking system. It is what bankers use to determine what rate the can charge interest on their card holders based on zip codes. So, if you are in a "poor" zip code and you go to lower economic stores and use their card. You will tend to get a higher interest rate. So don't give them your zip code or just give them beverly hills 90210.

I keep telling folk the playing field ain't level but nobody believes it.

Some people (not anybody here) think this is breaking news... cell phones in general ALWAYS tracked your locations. Your computer IP can track your location too. No one's slick.

And thing is no matter what you do, you'll be tracked. You can be shopping online and someone takes your social security number, your credit card information and whatever personal stuff that belongs to you, then after that it don't belong to you anymore.

Same thing with cell phones.

ZombieKitten said:

soon an army of Justin Longs are coming to get us all in our sleep

As long as he's only wearing short shorts, long socks and some Converses like he did in that scene in "Dodgeball", hey, they can track me all they want.

Timmy84 said:

Some people (not anybody here) think this is breaking news... cell phones in general ALWAYS tracked your locations. Your computer IP can track your location too. No one's slick.

People's eyes gloss over like droids when you tell 'em about certain topics..."does not compute" I guess.

Timmy84 said:

ZombieKitten said:

soon an army of Justin Longs are coming to get us all in our sleep

As long as he's only wearing short shorts, long socks and some Converses like he did in that scene in "Dodgeball", hey, they can track me all they want.

ZombieKitten said:

Timmy84 said:

As long as he's only wearing short shorts, long socks and some Converses like he did in that scene in "Dodgeball", hey, they can track me all they want.