Depending on your temperament, you’ll have a different reaction to seeing a map of literally everywhere you’ve taken your iPhone since you bought it.
This is a map of everywhere I’ve been for nearly the last year. Everywhere. I didn’t carry around a special tracking device. The FBI isn’t sending goons in unmarked vans to track me. All I did was use an iPhone. And if you have an iPhone, you’re being tracked right now, too, whether you like it or not.
It turns out that all our iPhones are 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.
And now, we’re wondering whether the same goes for our other smartphones. The opt-in wording of phone location service agreements is pretty nebulous (as agreements tend to be). When starting up a fresh Android, you’re prompted to agree to the following: “Allow Google’s location service to collect anonymous data. Collection will occur even when no applications are running.” We asked Google what exactly this meant, and they refused to answer on the record whether this “anonymous” location data is logged persistently, a la iPhone. But, importantly, unlike the iPhone, it appears to be totally opt-in for users. We’ve also reached out to Apple, BlackBerry-maker RIM, and Microsoft for similar clarifications, but haven’t gotten a response yet.
We know that AT&T and other mobile phone providers can always store this data, for any mobile phone. And law enforcement can get to it when they need to. But I don’t want this information bouncing around on my computer and in pocket, too, for no good reason, with no way to opt out. That’s just not right.
The privacy startle, apparently enabled by this winter’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 using the mapping software that the security experts have made for download – try it yourself.
