Guardian article: iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go

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You can do this with Google Maps on Android with Latitude. If you enable history, it will save everywhere you go and tell you how many hours you spend at home, work, or out. Of course you can turn it on and off as you wish.

Not sure if the iOS version of Google maps has this...
 
Calamachino said:
You can do this with Google Maps on Android with Latitude. If you enable history, it will save everywhere you go and tell you how many hours you spend at home, work, or out. Of course you can turn it on and off as you wish.

Not sure if the iOS version of Google maps has this...
iOS has Google Latitude as a separate app.
 
Calamachino said:
You can do this with Google Maps on Android with Latitude. If you enable history, it will save everywhere you go and tell you how many hours you spend at home, work, or out. Of course you can turn it on and off as you wish.

Not sure if the iOS version of Google maps has this...


i actually use latitude when i'm going on long motorcycle rides so my wife knows where i am if shes curious... and if she checks and i'm not moving in the middle of nowhere she can send someone to find my laying face down broken in a ditch

although i explicitly permit it, i dont want my phone keeping an unecrypted file of my location history. I don't have an iphone, but its pretty shitty, especially synced in a user readable format to your PC when you sync with itunes.
 
Phoenix said:
Or they provide it to telcos so that they can update their shitty tower locations for those that are more in tune to where iPhone users actually travel.

Or it could be part of a travel service that Apple is rumored to be developing.

Or it could just be a debug cache of crap that has no real nefarious purpose whatsoever.

Yup.. could even be a programming mistake. Some sort of cache clearing function failing.
 
Sounds like they're covered in the EULA, but I expect a lawsuit regardless. Class action lawyers love this stuff.
 
Tobor said:
Sounds like they're covered in the EULA, but I expect a lawsuit regardless. Class action lawyers love this stuff.
FTC's not down with "but it's in the EULA/privacy policy/terms" anymore. It's the FTC Apple will fear here. And of course all of Europe, which is absolutely apeshit about this stuff.
 
Suddenly, being stuck on the ol' 2G isn't so bad. Already decided to switch to a 'droid when a conclusive 'everyone should get one' replacement proper for the HTC Desire is decided.
 
AstroLad said:
FTC's not down with "but it's in the EULA/privacy policy/terms" anymore. It's the FTC Apple will fear here. And of course all of Europe, which is absolutely apeshit about this stuff.

Yeah, you're right. Google had to pony up some dough over that streetview thing, right? I imagine Apple will have to do the same.
 
So this is only for 4.0 or higher?

I downgraded my 3G after two weeks since it was running like shit. So I wouldn't be able to look up my info?
 
Lol wait what?!

So it's in the TOC and people still complain? I can't lie I was pissed until it was stated in the TOC that I didn't read.

Unlike google who have secretly gone against their statement and stole data to use for profit.

But Apple are the bad guys, even though they told you what they will do with your data!

I feel to create a website to simplify TOCs for people who never have the time to read them. I know I normally don't.
 
Tobor said:
Yeah, you're right. Google had to pony up some dough over that streetview thing, right? I imagine Apple will have to do the same.

Errrr... driving trucks around the world that take pictures of people's homes who never opted in to you doing that isn't even in the same league as a company collecting GPS data, to a device you bought, synced to another device you sync to.. all in the TOS.

I immagine Apple will make this something you can turn on and off due to this news.. but I always feel like people are WAY too dramatic about stuff like this.

Who here lets other people access the machine you sync your iPhone too?

Ya think that maybe you have other privacy concerns beyond your GPS tracking data?
 
That's a bit shitty. They should probably encrypt data like this, and make it clear that it's being collected and actually state what for. If there's no good reason for it (they introduced it in the 4, that's no accident), then don't do it...
 
This isn't scary, it's neat!

L27IQ.png
 
Burger said:
This isn't scary, it's neat!

Your avatar is awesome

I'm not worried at all. I would like to see where I've been since I've updated to IOS 4.

I'll keep my eye on this thread while I wait for a Windows version. I don't want to go through the hassle of syncing all my crap to my mac just to see how much my iPhone has been spying on me.
 
lawblob said:
So this is only for 4.0 or higher?

I downgraded my 3G after two weeks since it was running like shit. So I wouldn't be able to look up my info?

yeah, looks like it. The history only goes back to last summer and only has me shuttling between Mtl and Toronto. any previous travel history on iOS3 or earlier was absent
 
lawblob said:
So this is only for 4.0 or higher?

I downgraded my 3G after two weeks since it was running like shit. So I wouldn't be able to look up my info?

Does downgrading require formatting? If not then "the file" which is causing all the hubbub could still be there *shrug*
 
AstroLad said:
FTC's not down with "but it's in the EULA/privacy policy/terms" anymore. It's the FTC Apple will fear here. And of course all of Europe, which is absolutely apeshit about this stuff.

In some things the EU really does do right by her citizens.
 
This was in the news before, so why is it popping up again? I thought people knew this.

I don't like them collecting data without an option, but I love to see where I have been. Give the people a chance to turn it off if they want to. I bet there are plenty of people who gladly give Apple position data for free even if it's an option in a menu.

There are some clear mistakes in the log, but mainly, it is accurate. Nice to check where I have been. Noticed in Rome markings are not randomized spots, but in a nice grid. Wonder what that is about? Naaah. Seems it is everywhere.

Thanks for the link to the mac tool.

EDIT: Rome:
kNgWn.png
 
dofry said:
This was in the news before, so why is it popping up again? I thought people knew this.

I don't like them collecting data without an option, but I love to see where I have been. Give the people a chance to turn it off if they want to. I bet there are plenty of people who gladly give Apple position data for free even if it's an option in a menu.

There are some clear mistakes in the log, but mainly, it is accurate. Nice to check where I have been. Noticed in Rome markings are not randomized spots, but in a nice grid. Wonder what that is about?

Thanks for the link to the mac tool.

EDIT: Rome:
kNgWn.png
It stores more accurate data, the programmer put it in a grid for privacy concerns.
 
numble said:
It stores more accurate data, the programmer put it in a grid for privacy concerns.

Thanks for the explanation. I would prefer a more detailed version. If I had the skills, I would make it happen. New App for App Store: 'iCheaters', "now you can track your cheating ass man"
 
Gruber says it's a bug:
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/04/21/andy-ihnatko-location-log

...

The big question of course, is why Apple is storing this information. I don’t have a definitive answer, but my little-birdie-informed understanding is that consolidated.db acts as a cache for location data, and that historical data should be getting culled but isn’t, either due to a bug or, more likely, an oversight. I.e. someone wrote the code to cache location data but never wrote code to cull non-recent entries from the cache, so that a database that’s meant to serve as a cache of your recent location data is instead a persistent log of your location history. I’d wager this gets fixed in the next iOS update.
 
numble said:
Hard to believe it's a bug if iOS experts had already known and published about it months ago. There have been many iOS updates since then with plenty of opportunity for Apple to do something about it.

Neuter Consolidated.db iPhone location tracking (for jailbroken iPhones)

Thanks to developer Ryan Petrich, you can now neuter your iPhone location tracking.

Not sure what this is about? CNN and other news sites have been going on the last day about the fact that location services stores your location history in a database on your device called consolidated.db. The news sites makes a big fuss about this and has gotten everyone all up in arms over privacy issues. (My opinion is that this is all silly since the info is stored only on your personal device and computer and not sent to apple or anyone else, therefore, it’s no more a violation of your privacy as storing your contacts info on your device and computer. No information is being sent to Apple or anyone else. This is no violation of your privacy. Silly.) Nonetheless, people are upset over it since the news made a fuss, so the jailbreak community provides you a fix for it.

Now, understand what this is. In its current state, this is a process daemon that runs every 30 seconds every 5 minutes if the device is not asleep and clears the location data off your device. Search for untracker in cydia and install it.
 
Charred Greyface said:
Hard to believe it's a bug if iOS experts had already known and published about it months ago. There have been many iOS updates since then with plenty of opportunity for Apple to do something about it.

Neuter Consolidated.db iPhone location tracking (for jailbroken iPhones)
When was it first published? It looks like it is just the discovery of the consolidated.db file, not that the file stores all past location info?
 
numble said:
When was it first published?
From Gruber himself (he's been scrambling around looking for different angles to explain this away), sandwiching the post you linked to:

The key question for Apple: Given that this file was widely known among iOS forensics experts back in September, why does it still contain historical (as opposed to just recent) location history today?
and
  • This “discovery” was published months ago.
In fact, it was published by Levinson, in a book titled iOS Forensic Analysis.
 
Charred Greyface said:
From Gruber himself (he's been scrambling around looking for different angles to explain this away), sandwiching the post you linked to:


and

I do love your projection of his dastardly intentions.

from his very post that numble linked to:

It’s worse than that, though, because even if you are encrypting your backups, it’s also available to anyone who has physical access to your iPhone.

what do you expect him to publish, exactly? fear mongering articles supposing that Apple is using this to track all its users? or to ignore this problem entirely because it's a security black eye for Apple?
 
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