Apple already hit with lawsuit over iOS location tracking file - Page 2

That's made me smile.

For me this has highlighted the ridiculous state of the legal system all over the place. Tawlison's comment that just because you haven't read the EULA not making you exempt from it is right, but at the same time, something is wrong when EULA's have got to the length they are for absolutely everything.

The system is broken when companies are so scared of consumers that they have to write such a ridiculous degree of legal crap.

Android has a location database. Most cellphones have one. See celebrite.com for information on how their product can read the information on Any cell phone.

cell tower data are stored in another file? did you find it just now? please share with us. it would be another discovery.


i don't want to get into another debate about what is public vs private.

I'm going to sue Apple for NOT using this data to make my life better!

http://www.infowars.com/investigatio...-spy-on-users/[/QUOTE]

Infowars.com? Puh-leeze.....

Everyone does realize the the data can only legally be used in court to identify where your phone/iPad was..... It could Not be used to identify where you were at the time.....

I appreciate your thoughtful reply. Triangulation and vectoring is still a pretty good fix on position. I know that data is stored for a period of time (forever?) as well.

GPS as you noted, is present on all modern phones. It is required for 911. It remains unclear how tight the discipline beyond that truly is on GPS. This headline strikes me as quaint. But I recognize Apple's GPS data might be more vulnerable than it should be to snoops.

Wow that video was long.... Sorry if this question was raised already, I didn't see it...Does anyone know, if Location Services are turned OFF, is location services still stored? Encryption should have been there, it's true... But if Location Services are off, I would certainly expect my movement to NOT be tracked...

Curious to hear opinions on people who know how the data is stored, please save subjective opinions on Apple VS Google, Etc.

Thanks!
Larry

Does anyone know how to find the file in the backup? Not using the application just the file itself.

Maybe I missed it but has there been a lawsuit involving the fact that my browser keeps a history of sites visited and freely gives away information to websites and tracking ads etc.

and the grocery stores for keeping a history of products i buy so they give me free gas and such.

and the airlines have no right to now in advance where I am going to travel to - talk about tracking your location - they start doing it weeks before you even get on board the plane.

Gee I read on the internet that the Apple corporation is tracking my every move - better sue them before someone uses that data - for what - hmmm, oh yeah I got one - so they can know when you are not at home and they can break in an burgle the place.

Your assumption is correct. If you turn off Location Services, you are opting out and it is not recorded.

or even if the phone was in the person's possession at the time - ever hear of anyone losing or having their phone stolen.

much like someone stealing your car and causing a hit and run caught by a security camera - the video only proves that a car matching the description of your car with your license plate number was involved not who was driving etc.

hasn't anyone seen TV shows or movies where phones - or cars - or guns etc are switched either intentionally or accidentally.

now when we get to the point where phones and such are taking biometric readings at intervals as well then maybe we will have a case where they could be used as prime evidence - until then it is circumstantial - in fact - now that the word is out - I would not be surprised if someone comes up with a way to spoof the file so that it shows you were places you've never been - or time shifts location data so that it shows you were not where you where when you were there.

Looks like it's easier to track Vikram Ajjampur using Google. He might consider restricting his Facebook account so everyone can't see his friends and everything.

Only if you let it do so.

In case you did not know, most good browsers give you the option.

The mobile network providers have to store the data, not the cellphone manufacturers. And one could hope that the servers of a MNP are on average better protected (certainly in regard to physical access) than the average's Joe computers (note that this data is stored on Macs and Windows-PCs).

Just use Find Any File and the filename (maybe unpackage the backups first).

The simplest way that I have found is to use an extraction tool such as iPhone backup extractor. Once you have extracted the files you will find the file in Library/Caches/locationd.

"Researchers have advised users to encrypt their iTunes backup files to bolster security, as anyone with access to a device or just a backup file could extract the information."

Let me just say that if someone has access to your device and/or computer the device is synched with, that consolidated.db file with your "sort of" location is the least of your worries. They have access to your email, call history, text history, stored passwords, the list goes on and on.

For God sake why hasn't someone taken and sued Microsoft for the continual and repeated exposure of personal information from one of the myriad of security issues they have had?

I agree! Also, as a condition of their filing this case, I'd like to see those guys be required to sign Agreements such as:

They will have to Report any purchase of iPhone, or any other Smart Phone, or Tablet that has that Tracking Feature Available: The Moment the use those devices without that feature disabled, i.e. with Tracking On, those guys should be required to:

Return the Award, in case the win this Case against Apple, or at least pay Legal Fees for Both Sides in this case, even if they lose this Case, or if they ever change their mind about this feature!


Agree


I agree! In my earlier Comment, #39 http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...=1#post1854050 I wrote about Tech Experts Testifying. Database Manipulation... There is already too much room for "Grey Area", Reasonable Doubt, for alibi or Innocence!

I don't know enough nuances of this Matter, but I doubt that one can have it both ways! Also, now the Thieves know, before they even still one's Mac or iOS Device that it they are being tracked with Find My Device, and that the Cameras might have already taken their photos! Thus, MAYBE they'll think TWICE before they even consider stealing those Devices!!! And, if in the process a bunch of crack addicts, or other lunatics are taken off the streets, we'll have Apple to similar Tracking Services for that...

But, I am not looking to make Fun of the People who don't like any of this stuff.... Maybe Apple and others can find a way of giving them a choice to turn that feature off? But that still leaves cell phone companies, credit card companies, EZ Passes, ATMs etc. to track all of us... It's hard to be invisible today, and stay off the radar always...

Turning off location services does not stop the phone from storing your location to the unencrypted database.

What a crock. I guess they didn't bother to read the privacy policy they agreed to the first time they synced their new iPhone

I'm sure all the litigants in this case use cash only and have never owned any cell phone before the iPhone...

Not as sensationalistic and it kills web hits instead of generating them?

That is awesome! I'll have to see if I can get it to work with Aperture. Thanks!

I think I'm the only one who thought it was cool that I could see all of my locations on a map by accessing this info with that app.

I don't have much trouble about it existing as some people do because you need my computer to access the information AND nothing really could come from someone snooping through that data, anyway. Just where I've been and when, nothing too exciting

What is so lame about this lawsuit and those posters so upset over the *intrusion* into their privacy.. how bout this?

SONY -- supposedly hackers got into what SONY says is MILLIONS of Playstation user accounts and got your credit card numbers... 75 million customers...so "they" say..

If you goggle "Playstation Accounts compromised" you'll see this has happened again and again and again over the past few years.. But no ones calling SONY to Washington to answer about this consumer disaster that seems to repeat itself over and over again. Oh wait, if you goggle anything keep in mind your searches are being recorded, tracked, and sold to whoever... But Apples the bad guy? This reeks of Q2 earnings envy and desperate paid shrills busting at the seems over Apples RECORD profits... Strange that Googles been hit badly in it's stocks butt. And this supposedly breaks just two days after Apples earnings...it's such BS. Read the SONY debacle and weep at the link below.. Funny how this isn't BREAKING news ??

PS -- you know all those kinky porn searches you do on Google?? Guess what.. Yea, those searches are being recorded and saved. Ya it's true. What are you more worried about? Your past locations or those kinky naughty searches for porn and hook ups you are hiding from your wife??

http://consumerist.com/2011/04/sony-...sn-outage.html

Infowars.com is hardly the place for objective, fact-based journalism.

Its funny to me that you report an entirely different set of data than anyone else, anywhere... and I find it surprising that your file mysteriously includes information for the entire time you've owned any iPhone, when every technical analysis I've seen states that it is an iOS 4 issue. IOS4 was released in June of 2010.

Good, I'm glad. Tracking people, or keeping location records, shouldn't be tolerated in the least whether its Apple, Pandora, Google, whoever.

Probably this was just a boo boo by Apple. Hopefully they'll get a clear message not to slip up again and other companies like Google will think real hard before doing anything unseemly with user location information.

I hope a good precedent will be set.

See bolded above: so what is it: tracking people or keeping location records.

As I understand it, there is NO tracking of people. There IS tracking of tower locations and signal strength.

Considering you purchased and are using a "smart phone", regardless of OS, could it be that this data is being used to make your phone "smarter"?

Like, "Hey... I've been in these parts before, and I know that the nearest tower and clearest signal comes from point "A" in my little database". I'll check there first to see if there's an available channel to lock on to (as I understand it cell channels are not persistent). OK... all channels being used... lets check tower "B".... ", and so on and so forth.

So please do tell, since the last big uproar was Antennagate (signal loss), and the bitchers and whiners before that were calling for AT&T's demise due to dropped calls (signal loss)... how you might try fix... uhm... signal loss?!

BTW: just curious, but in highrises, does the databank track "z" coordinates?

At least they ask you about sending data on Android. I'm sure Apple OS doesn't have anything like that. I wouldn't touch Apple iPhone even if they paid me also.

Inevitable. The media has found something about apple to rag on, and the BS will keep coming until apple releases an iOS patch. Personally, I don't see any of this as a big deal– at least apple isn't collecting the data (there's already proof android has been sending this kind of stuff to google for a long time now, and you don't see android users complaining.)

– Nobody can see the data but you (with a special program), and possibly a person who has access to your computer/phone
– Law enforcement can already get this data about you
– Location is not even that accurate
– It shows you were around some location, not what you were doing there, etc.

The only way i can see this as a problem is if you have a crazy ex who scavenges your computer looking for infidelity. "What were you doing there?" etc. Or maybe it shows you took a vacation to XYZ. How is that actually damning information? Only a person who has no friends doesn't have people know where they've gone. (127 hours anyone?)

No, it is known that this started at least with iOS 3, just that the file was call differently back then:

https://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2...ing-discovery/

Because if you're repeatedly in the same locations, you can be fed advertising and the like for those locations. And if the info is sent in real time, they can bug you with "McDonald's is a block away!"

I'm not paranoid and I'm totally law abiding, but the fact is that I don't want anyone tracking my movements. It's bad enough what our credit cards and automatic toll collection already reveals about us. I don't care if Master Card or VISA combines my buying patterns with those of other people, but I definitely don't want them isolating my particular purchases and marketing specifically to me (unless I opt in) or selling that information to others. Was it "Minority Report" where Tom Cruise's character walks around shopping malls and other public places and the billboard advertising is customized to him? That's where we're headed.

Apple prides itself on being "user-friendly". But increasingly, they're not. This is just one example. Their iOS licensing agreement isn't either. Who is going to read a 70(?) page legal agreement on their iPhone? Just like every other large company, the lawyers are taking over.

Let's face it: even if Apple isn't doing anything with the data and never planned to, they blew this one, which could have easily been avoided had they encrypted the file. Regardless of the facts, the image that's out there now is that "Apple is spying on you". And they're going to have to "eat crow" to fix it. And there was probably no evil intent - some programmer probably thought it was a good idea to write such a file.

That might all be possible if the information were being transmitted, but that does not appear to be the case. The link in post 79 is worth reading.

Thanks, Doc! Let me know if you get it working, and I'll host/link to your version.

I understand the need to keep dredging up news to keep the hits gong but do you really have to report every frivolous Ambulance chaser? These particular litigants even acknowledged that Apple's terms of service allows location tracking as they laughably stated, "Apple should have had a "single sentence disclosure" rather than adding a line to a lengthy terms of service."

Not in any way that actually explains what they are doing. The biggest difference is that Apple is not sending the data anywhere in any personally identifiable form, whereas Google is.

Yes I know and I do use private browsing and auto clear cache etc in some circumstances. Just pointing out that the default behavior for most browsers for years had been about as secure with your private data as a folder full of papers laying on a park bench labeled "DO NOT READ"

so what do we need now - a 3 day waiting period before you can buy a smartphone and a thousand question survey to determine to what features you agree to use and which you do not - and annual continuing education to ensure that you are aware of changes to the device.

That's not my understanding. Where are you getting your information?

Who reads? Everyone is hooked on the YouTooba.