Apple Tracking the iPhones!

mdollan

mdollan

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Noticed on the news today that Apple have been tracking iPhone customers phones.

For all of you have have an iPhone your co-ordinates have been tracked.

There is a little app for those of us with a Mac which allows us to see the data collected!

I am a little surprised that Apple are allowed to track this data.

A little screen shot....

Screenshot2011-04-20at195259.jpg




Developer

http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

The link for the app is:

http://static.openheatmap.com.s3.amazonaws.com/iPhoneTracker.app.zip
 
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Definately real, I just ran the app on my phone!

Well I say my phone, the Mrs phone ;)
 
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lol.... and the funniest thing, is that we've all agreed to it!!

http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/uk/terms.html

Location-Based Services

To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.

Some location-based services offered by Apple, such as the MobileMe “Find My iPhone” feature, require your personal information for the feature to work.
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Wow that is dead spooky! But kind of cool! :lol: It shows all my movements - Wales England Scotland Belgium France Switzerland, even with the dates! :O
 
lawrenceots said:
Wow that is dead spooky! But kind of cool! :lol: It shows all my movements - Wales England Scotland Belgium France Switzerland, even with the dates! :O
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I am impressed, very clever, but like you say spooky, I don't like being followed :lol:
 
Assume this is the same as 'Location Services' on the iPad - option to switch it off there though.
 
They are definately all disabled on my iPhone and my iPad, the iPad is only Wifi though.

Still collecting data though...
 
Its all part of Apple's master plan which ends in them having control of eveyones bank account.

Just kiddin :)
 
I don't know what the fuss is about. This is data that is held on the iphone itself and copied to your computer during a sync. It doesn't go anywhere else.

Not unless you wish to post your's below. :)

Here's mine. I think it's quite cool.

2010.jpg
 
2blue4u said:
I don't know what the fuss is about. This is data that is held on the iphone itself and copied to your computer during a sync. It doesn't go anywhere else.

Not unless you wish to post your's below. :)

Here's mine. I think it's quite cool.

2010.jpg
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Crikey ...you get around :eek: That all photo related jobs or you some kind of rep :thinking: or international arms dealer :suspect:
 
Thing is, mine tracks my (old) iPhone at places I have never been with it. unless the file is transfered between iPhones (when upgraded) and also keeps data from "refurbished" phones when replaced by Apple.

5639617917_5a3ce075d5.jpg


I know for sure since owning iPhones from 2007 I have never been to Coventry/Derby/Nottingham or Manchester.

This is the only reason I think it copies and stores data from "other" devices.
 
TheCrewDesigns said:
Crikey ...you get around :eek: That all photo related jobs or you some kind of rep :thinking: or international arms dealer :suspect:
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sssssshh! We don't talk about that.

There are many false hits on there, the tiny little dots can be miles away from where you've been. But I can't figure out the hotspot around Bournemouth on mine. I can't remember when I was last there but it was before I had an iphone.
 
I had a few odd sopts on mine too, I don't recall ever going to some of the places it shows.

If you look on the developers website you'll see two videos of the software in action. Their screenshots show days and times whereas all I can get the one which I downloaded to do it weeks.....
 
Doesnt bother me. We are tracked all the time.
I know not as extreme but one example is Sainsburys and Tesco track exactly what we buy week in week out, or where we buy petrol, by collecting data from our clubcards then use that to promote items at certain times if the month, in return we get 5p off every £1000 spent.
 
Plus the Police use it all the time to track people. Helps with missing people and the such like.
 
CanonDad said:
Doesnt bother me. We are tracked all the time.
I know not as extreme but one example is Sainsburys and Tesco track exactly what we buy week in week out, or where we buy petrol, by collecting data from our clubcards then use that to promote items at certain times if the month, in return we get 5p off every £1000 spent.
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I'm not that fussed to be fair, if we were just told. The thing that hacks me off is that they shove it in some massive terms and conditions document and hide the fact.

It's fantastic that it could be used to track missing people, but do you honestly think Apple would allow anyone else the use of this data? :thinking:
 
paulcamcas said:
Don't all the phone companies keep similar data?
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Yes and no.

Yes, they have LBS data.

No. They don't abuse it like Apple.

e.g. "Lifelog" is a fully documented feature that keeps all that kind of data on bada smartphones.

However, Samsung has restrictions on Lifelog and other portions of the bada SDK/API. They've taken steps to ensure customer privacy.

(bada is Samsung's new mobile operating system.)

Apple made the data freely available to anyone for any purpose.

Apple also states in their agreement that they USE the data and that they pass the data on to third parties. i.e. The data, according to the agreement that you accept when you purchase an iPhone, IS passed back to Apple and other third parties, whoever they are. (I've not checked network traffic from an iPhone to verify what is actually being sent. The article was sketchy on that. However, the agreement is clear. Your location is never your own business - it's Apple's business.)

Apple has a history of abusive agreements and heavy-handed tactics. This isn't really a surprise coming from them.

LBS has a lot of legitimate uses. Samsung has gone to lengths to set it up with customer privacy as a concern. Apple hasn't.
 
This is a page from the Samsung bada developer tutorial on location based services:

screenshot2011042224845.png


It's available here (PDF).

The summary is all control is left up to the user. i.e. NO information is transmitted without explicit user consent.

That's the problem with Apple. They sneak it in there with a 80 page agreement that has 1 line on the topic.

Somebody said that they're evil. Well, +1 for that.
 
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I'm not too fussed about it, but then I haven't been anywhere I shouldn't have, my back ups are encrypted and if law enforcement had a real need for that data they could go to my phone company, like they can do for ANY mobile phone.

What are the odd that if it wasn't Apple (or maybe Google) logging this on customer handsets the press wouldn't have even bothered about the story?

[Edit]
Tested the app and it doesn't work on my Mac as backups have been encrypted, if you are bothered about this data it is probably worth ticking the encryption box for your iPhone back ups.
 
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Doing exactly what you do in Scotland... :naughty:

Sent from my iPhone 4 using TP Forums
 
If you read any of the intelligence gathering books etc from Iraq it's fairly obvious that any mobile phone can be tracked, it's how they attemot to pick up phone signals around known sites for later tracking etc.
 
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