Apple moves to quell iPhone data collection fears:
APPLE has moved to quell concerns that it is tracking iPhone users, saying it will reduce location data stored on the phone.The company also said it will fix what it called a software bug that led data to be stored on the device even when location services were turned off.Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said the company has “never transmitted” the precise location of iPhones to itself.
Apple defended the process it uses to gather location information via the iPhone and unveiled a software update to scale back such practices.In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr Jobs said Apple gathers information from the phone about nearby mobile-phone towers and local wireless, or Wi-Fi, networks.Apple uses that information to build a database that it then uses to quickly locate phones for services like maps.
Mr Jobs, who is on medical leave, said software “bugs” that enabled the iPhone to store months of location data and collect it even when the location services feature was turned off had been discovered in the last few days.Mr Jobs said Apple plans to testify before Congress to respond to questions about the collection and storage of mobile-phone location data.”Of course Apple will testify,” he said.Apple and Google, which makes the key software for Android phones, are facing scrutiny from lawmakers and consumers for the way they gather and handle data about the location of smartphones.
Researchers last week said Apple’s iPhones store unencrypted databases containing months of location information.According to tests conducted by the Journal, these databases were updated even when the phone’s location services were turned off.Beyond the information stored on the phone, the Journal also has reported that iPhones, Android phones and personal computers in some cases regularly transmit their locations back to the respective companies.Apple and Google have both previously said the location data collected via their phones is anonymous and not tied to a specific user.Apple said Wednesday an individual can’t be located using the Wi-Fi and mobile-phone data.
Both companies disclose the collection practices in privacy policies and other places.Apple said it would release an iPhone software update in the next few weeks that will limit to seven days the amount of location data stored on the phone and delete it when location services are turned off.
In the next major release of the operating system, the information would also be encrypted, the company said.Apple also disclosed it is using some of the location information to build a “traffic database” that within a few years will offer current traffic-congestion information to iPhone users.Apple didn’t specify how users would join or decline the service.
Google already uses location data, which Android phones collect every few seconds, to provide such a service.In its statement, Apple acknowledged it was partly responsible for users’ concerns.”Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date,” Apple said.The statement came alongside announcements that the white iPhone 4 will be available in the US later today, and that the second-generation iPad arrives in Japan, Hong Kong, and other new markets this week.
Customers Sue Apple Over iPhone Location-Data Collection:
Two Apple customers have filed a lawsuit accusing the Cupertino, California, company of committing violations of computer-fraud laws by recording location data of iPhone and iPad customers.Vikram Ajjampur, an iPhone customer in Florida, and William Devito, a New York iPad customer, filed the suit in federal court April 22 in Tampa, Florida.“The accessibility of the unencrypted information collected by Apple places users at serious risk of privacy invasions, including stalking” (.pdf), the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit revolves around a discovery publicized last week that a file stored on Apple’s mobile devices contains a log recording geographical data that dates as far back as 10 months ago.Wired.com reported last week that Apple acknowledged in a letter to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) last year that the company deliberately collects anonymized location data from mobile devices in order to build a comprehensive location database that provides improved location services to customers.
Ajjampur and Devito allege that Apple has violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by intentionally accessing the location information without authorization.“By secretly installing software that records users [sic] every moves Apple has accessed Plaintiffs’ computers, in the course of interstate commerce or communication, in excess of the authorization provided by Plaintiffs as described in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” the lawsuit says.Ajjampur and Devito are seeking class action status to represent U.S. iPhone and iPad customers. The complaint seeks an injunction requiring Apple to disable the data collection in a software update, and it also seeks damages for violations committed.
iPhone’s Location-Data Collection Can’t Be Turned Off:
This discovery challenges some of Apple’s claims. As Wired.com reported last week, the company explained in a detailed letter last year that it deliberately collects geodata to store in a comprehensive location database to improve location services. In the letter, Apple noted that customers can disable location-data collection by turning off Location Services in the settings menu.“If customers toggle the switch to ‘Off,’ they may not use location-based services, and no location-based information will be collected,” Apple said in the letter (.pdf).
That doesn’t appear to be the case from WSJ’s testing, as well as multiple independent reports from customers who had the same results.The controversy surrounding Apple’s location-tracking stems from a discovery by two data scientists, who found that a file stored on iPhones and iPads (“consolidated.db”) contains a detailed history of geodata accompanied with time stamps.Apple claimed in its letter last year that the geodata is stored on the device, then anonymized and transmitted back to Apple every 12 hours, using a secure Wi-Fi connection (if one is available).
Although it’s thorough, Apple’s explanation does not address why the stored geodata continues to live on the device permanently after it’s transmitted to Apple, nor does it address why geodata collection appears to persist even when Location Services is turned off.Google does similar geodata collection for its own location-services database. However, it notifies Android users clearly in a prompt when geodata collection will occur, and it also gives users a way to opt out. Also, Android devices do not permanently store geodata after transmitting it to Google.
Meanwhile, a MacRumors.com reader claims he sent an e-mail to CEO Steve Jobs asking him to explain why Apple tracks geodata, threatening to switch to an Android device.“Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid,” the reader wrote. “They don’t track me.”The CEO shot back a terse reply, defending his company and attacking his competitor Google, according to the reader: “Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.”Apple has not commented on the authenticity of the e-mail.
The purported e-mail is similar in nature to many e-mails that Jobs has sent to customers in the past: It’s concise and still manages to pull off some word play. Jobs would be accurate to claim that Apple is not tracking customers directly — but instead it is using iPhones to gather information about nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi stations, occasionally combined with GPS data. In other words, Apple is tracking geodata from mobile devices, as Google is also doing.Apple has not commented on the location-tracking issue since the story broke last week.
While the collected geodata doesn’t reveal specific addresses for locations you’ve visited, it can still leave a pretty rich trail of a user’s movements. Combine this data with other pieces of information on the iPhone, like your messages and photos, and you’ve got a device that knows more about you than you do yourself, says The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal.
Madrigal tested an iPhone forensics program called Lantern, which stitches together contacts, text messages and geodata into a neat interface that reconstructed a timeline of his life.“Immediately after trying out Lantern, I enabled the iPhone’s passcode and set it to erase all data on the phone,” Madrigal said. “This thing remembers more about where I’ve been and what I’ve said than I do, and I’m damn sure I don’t want it falling into anyone’s hands.”
Apple’s Location Data Collection Probed in South Korea:
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is being investigated by South Korea’s communications regulator to determine if it is breaking the law by saving data on the location of iPhone users.The Korea Communications Commission asked Apple how often information is collected and saved, and whether users have a choice over whether it is saved or deleted, the commission said in an e-mailed statement today. Apple must explain why such data is saved on devices and if it’s stored on the company’s servers.Steve Park, a Seoul-based spokesman for Apple, declined to comment.
The commission also said it will form a team to study how to better protect smartphone users’ information and privacy.Apple has been investigated by French, German and Italian privacy regulators since analysts reported the company’s devices track and store data about the movements of iPhone and iPad users.Apple’s iOS 4 operating system for the iPhone and iPad 3G logs latitude-longitude coordinates along with the time of the visit, according to a study posted on the website owned by O’Reilly Media, a Sebastopol, California-based publisher that organizes technology trade conferences.
APPLE has moved to quell concerns that it is tracking iPhone users, saying it will reduce location data stored on the phone.The company also said it will fix what it called a software bug that led data to be stored on the device even when location services were turned off.Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said the company has “never transmitted” the precise location of iPhones to itself.
Apple defended the process it uses to gather location information via the iPhone and unveiled a software update to scale back such practices.In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr Jobs said Apple gathers information from the phone about nearby mobile-phone towers and local wireless, or Wi-Fi, networks.Apple uses that information to build a database that it then uses to quickly locate phones for services like maps.
Mr Jobs, who is on medical leave, said software “bugs” that enabled the iPhone to store months of location data and collect it even when the location services feature was turned off had been discovered in the last few days.Mr Jobs said Apple plans to testify before Congress to respond to questions about the collection and storage of mobile-phone location data.”Of course Apple will testify,” he said.Apple and Google, which makes the key software for Android phones, are facing scrutiny from lawmakers and consumers for the way they gather and handle data about the location of smartphones.
Researchers last week said Apple’s iPhones store unencrypted databases containing months of location information.According to tests conducted by the Journal, these databases were updated even when the phone’s location services were turned off.Beyond the information stored on the phone, the Journal also has reported that iPhones, Android phones and personal computers in some cases regularly transmit their locations back to the respective companies.Apple and Google have both previously said the location data collected via their phones is anonymous and not tied to a specific user.Apple said Wednesday an individual can’t be located using the Wi-Fi and mobile-phone data.
Both companies disclose the collection practices in privacy policies and other places.Apple said it would release an iPhone software update in the next few weeks that will limit to seven days the amount of location data stored on the phone and delete it when location services are turned off.
In the next major release of the operating system, the information would also be encrypted, the company said.Apple also disclosed it is using some of the location information to build a “traffic database” that within a few years will offer current traffic-congestion information to iPhone users.Apple didn’t specify how users would join or decline the service.
Google already uses location data, which Android phones collect every few seconds, to provide such a service.In its statement, Apple acknowledged it was partly responsible for users’ concerns.”Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date,” Apple said.The statement came alongside announcements that the white iPhone 4 will be available in the US later today, and that the second-generation iPad arrives in Japan, Hong Kong, and other new markets this week.
Customers Sue Apple Over iPhone Location-Data Collection:
Two Apple customers have filed a lawsuit accusing the Cupertino, California, company of committing violations of computer-fraud laws by recording location data of iPhone and iPad customers.Vikram Ajjampur, an iPhone customer in Florida, and William Devito, a New York iPad customer, filed the suit in federal court April 22 in Tampa, Florida.“The accessibility of the unencrypted information collected by Apple places users at serious risk of privacy invasions, including stalking” (.pdf), the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit revolves around a discovery publicized last week that a file stored on Apple’s mobile devices contains a log recording geographical data that dates as far back as 10 months ago.Wired.com reported last week that Apple acknowledged in a letter to Rep. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) last year that the company deliberately collects anonymized location data from mobile devices in order to build a comprehensive location database that provides improved location services to customers.
Ajjampur and Devito allege that Apple has violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by intentionally accessing the location information without authorization.“By secretly installing software that records users [sic] every moves Apple has accessed Plaintiffs’ computers, in the course of interstate commerce or communication, in excess of the authorization provided by Plaintiffs as described in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,” the lawsuit says.Ajjampur and Devito are seeking class action status to represent U.S. iPhone and iPad customers. The complaint seeks an injunction requiring Apple to disable the data collection in a software update, and it also seeks damages for violations committed.
iPhone’s Location-Data Collection Can’t Be Turned Off:
This discovery challenges some of Apple’s claims. As Wired.com reported last week, the company explained in a detailed letter last year that it deliberately collects geodata to store in a comprehensive location database to improve location services. In the letter, Apple noted that customers can disable location-data collection by turning off Location Services in the settings menu.“If customers toggle the switch to ‘Off,’ they may not use location-based services, and no location-based information will be collected,” Apple said in the letter (.pdf).
That doesn’t appear to be the case from WSJ’s testing, as well as multiple independent reports from customers who had the same results.The controversy surrounding Apple’s location-tracking stems from a discovery by two data scientists, who found that a file stored on iPhones and iPads (“consolidated.db”) contains a detailed history of geodata accompanied with time stamps.Apple claimed in its letter last year that the geodata is stored on the device, then anonymized and transmitted back to Apple every 12 hours, using a secure Wi-Fi connection (if one is available).
Although it’s thorough, Apple’s explanation does not address why the stored geodata continues to live on the device permanently after it’s transmitted to Apple, nor does it address why geodata collection appears to persist even when Location Services is turned off.Google does similar geodata collection for its own location-services database. However, it notifies Android users clearly in a prompt when geodata collection will occur, and it also gives users a way to opt out. Also, Android devices do not permanently store geodata after transmitting it to Google.
Meanwhile, a MacRumors.com reader claims he sent an e-mail to CEO Steve Jobs asking him to explain why Apple tracks geodata, threatening to switch to an Android device.“Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid,” the reader wrote. “They don’t track me.”The CEO shot back a terse reply, defending his company and attacking his competitor Google, according to the reader: “Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.”Apple has not commented on the authenticity of the e-mail.
The purported e-mail is similar in nature to many e-mails that Jobs has sent to customers in the past: It’s concise and still manages to pull off some word play. Jobs would be accurate to claim that Apple is not tracking customers directly — but instead it is using iPhones to gather information about nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi stations, occasionally combined with GPS data. In other words, Apple is tracking geodata from mobile devices, as Google is also doing.Apple has not commented on the location-tracking issue since the story broke last week.
While the collected geodata doesn’t reveal specific addresses for locations you’ve visited, it can still leave a pretty rich trail of a user’s movements. Combine this data with other pieces of information on the iPhone, like your messages and photos, and you’ve got a device that knows more about you than you do yourself, says The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal.
Madrigal tested an iPhone forensics program called Lantern, which stitches together contacts, text messages and geodata into a neat interface that reconstructed a timeline of his life.“Immediately after trying out Lantern, I enabled the iPhone’s passcode and set it to erase all data on the phone,” Madrigal said. “This thing remembers more about where I’ve been and what I’ve said than I do, and I’m damn sure I don’t want it falling into anyone’s hands.”
Apple’s Location Data Collection Probed in South Korea:
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is being investigated by South Korea’s communications regulator to determine if it is breaking the law by saving data on the location of iPhone users.The Korea Communications Commission asked Apple how often information is collected and saved, and whether users have a choice over whether it is saved or deleted, the commission said in an e-mailed statement today. Apple must explain why such data is saved on devices and if it’s stored on the company’s servers.Steve Park, a Seoul-based spokesman for Apple, declined to comment.
The commission also said it will form a team to study how to better protect smartphone users’ information and privacy.Apple has been investigated by French, German and Italian privacy regulators since analysts reported the company’s devices track and store data about the movements of iPhone and iPad users.Apple’s iOS 4 operating system for the iPhone and iPad 3G logs latitude-longitude coordinates along with the time of the visit, according to a study posted on the website owned by O’Reilly Media, a Sebastopol, California-based publisher that organizes technology trade conferences.
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