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Monday, April 25, 2011, 09:30 am
iOS location data prompts investigations of Apple in South Korea, Europe
A file with a comprehensive list of visited locations saved locally on users' iPhones has prompted investigations of Apple from numerous governments, including France, Germany, Italy and South Korea.The Korea Communications Commission has asked Apple about the iOS location recording controversy, according to Bloomberg. The government has asked Apple why the data is saved on devices and whether it is stored on the company's servers.
The commission also announced it will form a team with the intention of protecting smartphone users' information and privacy. An Apple spokesman in Seoul declined to comment.
South Korea reportedly joins France, Germany and Italy, where privacy regulators have also investigated Apple. The probes have been prompted by two security researchers, who last week detailed their findings of a comprehensive log of users' locations stored in iOS 4.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Al Franken and Rep. Ed Markey sent letters to Apple expressing their own concerns over the iOS 4 location tracking file. They requested information as to why the data is collected, and who, if anyone, it is shared with.
Peter Warden and Alasair Allan brought attention to the hidden file, named "consolidated.db," which is unencrypted and unprotected, and is even backed up and restored through syncing with iTunes. The file includes latitude and longitude coordinates along with a time stamp, and though the information is not transmitted to anyone, it has been portrayed as a security concern because someone with access to the device, or an iTunes backup file, could obtain the information.
The issue was given further attention on Monday by The Wall Street Journal, which also profiled the location tracking file. Tests conducted by the newspaper found that an iPhone collects and stores location data even when location services are turned off on the device.
One report last week portrayed the file as likely to be a bug or "oversight" in the iOS 4 software. It was suggested that the issue will be addressed in a forthcoming update to Apple's mobile operating system.
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Previous Comments View All
While a non-issue for some and a big issue for others (I fall into the non-issue crowd), I'd still like to see a response from Apple.
This has gone political now. The politicians, both here and in Europe, see an opportunity to make it look like they are concerned about citizen's privacy. Of course the truth is that they will rake Apple and possibly Google over the coals for awhile and then sweep it all under the rug. No way do they want to ban tracking for their own governmental and law enforcement uses.
And because it's Apple this story will have legs for a long time, at least until Steve Jobs holds a press conference and offers free tin foil hats ( in several cool colors) to all the paranoids out there.
And yes, of course, there will be a class action lawsuit. I'm surprsied it hasn't been announced yet. Maybe today?
Apple needs to get on this quick. All over the Internet people are freaking out. Not just at tech sites. Everywhere. And the mainstream media are feeding their fears.
People don't care about the details. They think that iPhones are feeding your whereabouts and personal info directly to people watching you on a monitor all day long.
Time to respond, Apple.
Apple needs to get on this quick. All over the Internet people are freaking out. Not just at tech sites. Everywhere. And the mainstream media are feeding their fears.
People don't care about the details. They think that iPhones are feeding your whereabouts and personal info directly to people watching you on a monitor all day long.
Time to respond, Apple.
So true, considering that we know it's only stored locally and not being transmitted anywhere. I have seen many news shows fail to mention that part.
Agreed. The lack of a response gives the wrong appearance even if it's much ado about nothing.
It's not easy to give a response. If they say they'll delete the file, that means they implicitly admit it's a mistake to have the file in the first place (hence liability), if they don't delete the file they'd have to justify it which means trouble down the road.
Perhaps they are coordinating their response with the relevant US departments involved right now.
or...
They are attempting to deal with the greatest Chinese spy mission in history.
The story is going to be a cracker, even if it is .. "geez, missed that one left over from test unit code, oops"
Perhaps Apple did it as a knee jerk to the iPhone 4 prototype muddle..
Should we tweet random fear into the sphere?
Apple needs to get on this quick.
What are they supposed to say that won't make things worse.
That file has always been there. It's just now a couple of guys that wanted some PR exposed it to the public. If Apple reacts like it is a major deal they look bad. If they act like it is no deal they look bad. They are actually better off not making a statement about it until asked to do so by a legal authority. Which may have already happened we just haven't heard about it yet
It's not easy to give a response. If they say they'll delete the file, that means they implicitly admit it's a mistake to have the file in the first place (hence liability), if they don't delete the file they'd have to justify it which means trouble down the road.
Just being honest would work. Whether it's what anyone want to hear wouldn't matter then.
@AppleZilla: Remember how forum members reacted last year to Google's delay in responding to StreetView concerns? Perhaps not. Some posters here had them convicted of numerous felonies as soon as the EU opened an investigation. Lots of comments along the lines of illegal and unethical. The same types of concerns will get posted about Apple (not here necessarily), and get worse the longer they're silent about it. With nothing to hide there's no reason to need days to craft a response.
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Oh my god! Did you know that your iphone stores your personal data on this, your personal device! What ever were they thinking? Or that if you lost your phone or someone got into it, they could see that personal data if they can crack your PASSWORD? Oh yah, that's right, it stores personal data like your email, your contacts, your documents! This is such a BS issue! All my friends are enjoying the free app that actually lets them access their personal location data and map it. And did you know that the carriers have the same data and share it with the government when asked? The sky is falling! The sky is falling!