Posted on 04/20/2011 10:15:30 AM PDT by PanzerKardinal
“So are google and Android. Although you should have the option to turn off the geo tracking.”
Actually the article I read said that Android (a Google company) does not do this.
The application that Apple uses not only tracks and stores the data (in a secret app that the user can’t find or control) but it is transferred to the users PC when synced and to their new phones when they upgrade. A hacker (or law enforcement or anyone) who uses a tool to access the application can see exactly where you’ve been. The information can go back as far as when you first purchased the phone.
That’s good.
I like to leave the phone turned on, but left someplace I’m not. Sly like a fox......
There are two tables: one for WiFi access points, and one for cell phone towers.
Your iPhone is simply keeping a cache of transmitters that it "hears". Each time it hears a new one, it queries an online database and gets the location. It stores this data, so that it can be used again without making another query to the online database.
The iPhone has "assisted GPS", which means that it uses the known locations of WiFi access points and cell towers to approximate your position, then uses GPS to refine it. Using this method, it can determine your position much faster, anytime you use an iPhone application that utilizes "location services".
Yes, this can be used to approximately determine your position within a city block, after the fact. But, it's not logging the location of YOUR phone -- it's remembering the locations of fixed points that were used to help determine your location.
Perhaps Google doesn’t, but knowing how they scan all of your emails, I’m inclined to believe they’ve yet to be discovered.
This open-source application maps the information that your iPhone is recording about your movements. It doesn’t record anything itself, it only displays files that are already hidden on your computer.
http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/
They all have technology that will let them do what ever they want with your information once you use a device made by them. It’s big brother keeping an eye on us for our own good.
The article I got my information from.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/20/iphone-tracking-prompts-privacy-fears
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