The off switch we should be looking for is not on the iPhone but on the Chinese's government's ludicrously broad and arbitrary definition of state secrets.
This is all a back lash from what our government has been doing. Our idiot in our government have no clue that their stupid idea can end up hurting American business abroad. This is what Apple all these company have come out public against the government activities. They were hoping to mitigate any downside risks but obviously other places in the world are not buying it.
Location services are handled by a combination of WiFi tower location and GPS. Without these, the iPhone doesn't know where it is. I'm sure all those Chinese government hackers programmers could easily come up with a way to stop all cellphones from using WiFi and GPS for location data. Of course, this would also handicap any mapping or legitimate GPS operation but homeland security always comes first. We have to remember that even though Americans complain about not being able to do anything they want to do, Chinese have always been in a much worse situation and I bet many would love to be able to do 5% of the things we take for granted. In the US, location tracking is also a national security concern but our government is glad phones have it because they can use it for their benefit and against us. I'm surprised the Chinese government is even complaining. Apple has created a built-in location monitoring system that they don't have to pay anything for.
Excellent point. The cell tower and WiFi knows where the phone is. Apple just enables this info to the user. But for spy agencies like NSA, this job is almost trivial. May be the Chinese spies are dumber than US?
Users might not care. Chinese government agencies? They may care. In addition and as noted in a previous post it may not be possible to entirely disable access to location-reporting.
I think this is a blatant issue that the Chinese can't crack Apple's encryption therefore the PRC CAN'T track these iPhone users... If the PRC can't do it, you think they'll let anyone else do it?
As for turning off an iPhone from all outside access... A Faraday cage that disables all emissions/transmissions including 2.4ghz (5+ layers of aluminum foil with a dielectric separating them from the phone, outer wrapped in dielectric, then an steel/aluminium can around that) tote bags will do the trick (just Mylar... definitely not;-) ).
Between this and the recent court case loss, it sounds like Apple missed a protection payment to the CCP. Once the Chinese politicians have been paid, everything bad will go away.
Huawei forgot to bribe US politicians. However, US is more advanced than China. So bribing has to be done more sophisticated too.
A lot of comments here say things like "turn it off".. they forget that location services are Opt-in *only*. When you set up your iPhone for the first time, or perform any major upgrade (e.g. iOS 6->iOS 7) the installer will specifically ask you if you'd like to use location services. Additionally any app or website that requests your location, requires specific approval. In iOS 8, even that want to use your location in the background need an additional approval.
Unlike other platforms, you will -never- reveal your location unless you have specifically permitted such use. Same goes with the microphone, camera, your contacts, your photos, etc.
CM11 has privacy guard. Allows you to turn off any or all permission for an app at a deeper level than ios
Man how awesome would it be if we didn't need China for manufacturing. Or if the US government didn't need China to finance it's massive debt. Would be so nice to be able to give a big middle finger to the Chinese government.
The US government doesn't need China to finance the debt. The current demand for US Treasury bonds is so high that they pay a negative real interest rate: adjusted for inflation, people pay the US government to hold five year treasury bonds. This has been true since 2011. And China only owns about 7% of our debt. About 1/3 of the debt is owned by the US government itself (e.g., social security). And it would probably be good for the US economy if China dumped their holding, since it might lower the value of the dollar and help exports. The deficit is also falling rapidly, as overall government spending (federal plus state) is falling at the fastest rate since the Korean war (mostly because of state cutbacks as the stimulus support from the federal government is gone and their revenues are down).
Location services are handled by a combination of WiFi tower location and GPS. Without these, the iPhone doesn't know where it is. I'm sure all those Chinese government hackers programmers could easily come up with a way to stop all cellphones from using WiFi and GPS for location data. Of course, this would also handicap any mapping or legitimate GPS operation but homeland security always comes first. We have to remember that even though Americans complain about not being able to do anything they want to do, Chinese have always been in a much worse situation and I bet many would love to be able to do 5% of the things we take for granted. In the US, location tracking is also a national security concern but our government is glad phones have it because they can use it for their benefit and against us. I'm surprised the Chinese government is even complaining. Apple has created a built-in location monitoring system that they don't have to pay anything for.
the issue they have is our government can track their people since the date resides on servers based in the US and a recent court rules says that company must hand over information about people who are not US citizen and data resides on serves outside the US. They said the since they are a US company they must comply. So you have to ask yourself, would you want China having access to your information.
So you have to ask yourself, would you want China having access to your information.
I believe Mainland China users will almost certainly have their data accessible by at least some of their government agencies as a condition for approval of the device or tech for use in China. Hasn't that been the pattern? Perhaps the US is not so different if we were to know the entire story.
the issue they have is our government can track their people since the date resides on servers based in the US and a recent court rules says that company must hand over information about people who are not US citizen and data resides on serves outside the US. They said the since they are a US company they must comply. So you have to ask yourself, would you want China having access to your information.
Do you remember there was an incident that happened many years ago before iPhone was introduced? A Cnet editor with family was lost in Oregon mountain during the winter. His wealthy father pleaded for help. Eventually one AT&T technician was able to use his cellphone tracking data to locate. Unfortunately he died before the rescuers arrived. The fact I learned from this story is the location of a cell phone user can be easily tracked. I think the real issue is whether Apple makes this data available to apps or web sites. If so, Apple should make this very clear to the users.
Speaking of state run media, in the U.S. we have CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, and most major newspapers, all left-wing. There's no doubt about it. Since Obama was elected, the mainstream media has gone from left-wing bias, to left-wing activism. Their lack of coverage of such stories as Benghazi and the IRS targeting conservative groups is astonishing. Millions of Americans have been brainwashed to believe that these stories have been exaggerated. Anyone familiar with the details of each of these stories knows that is not the case, and will eventually more of the truth will come to light. Thanks in large part to Fox News.
The left-wing mainstream media in the U.S. uses a simple formula when reporting news:
* When reporting on Republicans and right-wing ideology, emphasize the negative and omit the positive.
* When reporting on Democrats and left-wing ideology, emphasize the positive and omit the negative.
Again, there is the astonishingly marginalized coverage of so many left-wing stories. And that left-wing media echo chamber, which again and again portrays such groups as the Tea Party in a negative light, takes its toll. I can tell you first hand being a Tea Party supporter that our primary concern is the fiscal recklessness of our government. We want a fiscally sane government which spends within it's limits, not a government with an $18 trillion deficit, and borrowing 40 cents of every dollar! But I've seen many references to the Tea Party being some type of radical fringe group, in this forum as well. Those who believe this have successfully been brainwashed by the mainstream media, which proves my point.
China is right on, Apps that want your location are a privacy invasion. Most of those Apps don't need that location info.
It's become a pain continually refusing App requests for my location.
Some Apps I delete rather than turn on location for them.
They aren't complaining about apps that use geolocation. They are complaining about system level service that enable capabilities such as "Find My Phone." And, that is easy to turn off in settings. Really simple.
In a country where any political system but communism is a national security concern, I don’t think we should care much about whatever else they have to say.
Forgive my ignorance, but why the concern over vulnerability of "state secrets"? Is this about eavesdropping on gov't officials' phones (like the Merkel case) or that people will keep sensitive info in their iPhones?
Comments
The off switch we should be looking for is not on the iPhone but on the Chinese's government's ludicrously broad and arbitrary definition of state secrets.
This is all a back lash from what our government has been doing. Our idiot in our government have no clue that their stupid idea can end up hurting American business abroad. This is what Apple all these company have come out public against the government activities. They were hoping to mitigate any downside risks but obviously other places in the world are not buying it.
There are solutions:
1. Turn it off;
2. Leave the cell phone at home
3. Buy a cheap cell phone
4. Use electronics to jam the signal near government installations
5. Have one of the local manufacturing companies in China continue to manufacture clones. or
6. Formally ask Apple not to sell sell phones with this feature (don't now if this is possible)
7. Use an Android phone?
Location services are handled by a combination of WiFi tower location and GPS. Without these, the iPhone doesn't know where it is. I'm sure all those Chinese government hackers programmers could easily come up with a way to stop all cellphones from using WiFi and GPS for location data. Of course, this would also handicap any mapping or legitimate GPS operation but homeland security always comes first. We have to remember that even though Americans complain about not being able to do anything they want to do, Chinese have always been in a much worse situation and I bet many would love to be able to do 5% of the things we take for granted. In the US, location tracking is also a national security concern but our government is glad phones have it because they can use it for their benefit and against us. I'm surprised the Chinese government is even complaining. Apple has created a built-in location monitoring system that they don't have to pay anything for.
Excellent point. The cell tower and WiFi knows where the phone is. Apple just enables this info to the user. But for spy agencies like NSA, this job is almost trivial. May be the Chinese spies are dumber than US?
Users might not care. Chinese government agencies? They may care. In addition and as noted in a previous post it may not be possible to entirely disable access to location-reporting.
I think this is a blatant issue that the Chinese can't crack Apple's encryption therefore the PRC CAN'T track these iPhone users... If the PRC can't do it, you think they'll let anyone else do it?
As for turning off an iPhone from all outside access... A Faraday cage that disables all emissions/transmissions including 2.4ghz (5+ layers of aluminum foil with a dielectric separating them from the phone, outer wrapped in dielectric, then an steel/aluminium can around that) tote bags will do the trick (just Mylar... definitely not;-) ).
Between this and the recent court case loss, it sounds like Apple missed a protection payment to the CCP. Once the Chinese politicians have been paid, everything bad will go away.
Huawei forgot to bribe US politicians. However, US is more advanced than China. So bribing has to be done more sophisticated too.
A lot of comments here say things like "turn it off".. they forget that location services are Opt-in *only*. When you set up your iPhone for the first time, or perform any major upgrade (e.g. iOS 6->iOS 7) the installer will specifically ask you if you'd like to use location services. Additionally any app or website that requests your location, requires specific approval. In iOS 8, even that want to use your location in the background need an additional approval.
Unlike other platforms, you will -never- reveal your location unless you have specifically permitted such use. Same goes with the microphone, camera, your contacts, your photos, etc.
CM11 has privacy guard. Allows you to turn off any or all permission for an app at a deeper level than ios
Man how awesome would it be if we didn't need China for manufacturing. Or if the US government didn't need China to finance it's massive debt. Would be so nice to be able to give a big middle finger to the Chinese government.
The US government doesn't need China to finance the debt. The current demand for US Treasury bonds is so high that they pay a negative real interest rate: adjusted for inflation, people pay the US government to hold five year treasury bonds. This has been true since 2011. And China only owns about 7% of our debt. About 1/3 of the debt is owned by the US government itself (e.g., social security). And it would probably be good for the US economy if China dumped their holding, since it might lower the value of the dollar and help exports. The deficit is also falling rapidly, as overall government spending (federal plus state) is falling at the fastest rate since the Korean war (mostly because of state cutbacks as the stimulus support from the federal government is gone and their revenues are down).
Location services are handled by a combination of WiFi tower location and GPS. Without these, the iPhone doesn't know where it is. I'm sure all those Chinese government hackers programmers could easily come up with a way to stop all cellphones from using WiFi and GPS for location data. Of course, this would also handicap any mapping or legitimate GPS operation but homeland security always comes first. We have to remember that even though Americans complain about not being able to do anything they want to do, Chinese have always been in a much worse situation and I bet many would love to be able to do 5% of the things we take for granted. In the US, location tracking is also a national security concern but our government is glad phones have it because they can use it for their benefit and against us. I'm surprised the Chinese government is even complaining. Apple has created a built-in location monitoring system that they don't have to pay anything for.
the issue they have is our government can track their people since the date resides on servers based in the US and a recent court rules says that company must hand over information about people who are not US citizen and data resides on serves outside the US. They said the since they are a US company they must comply. So you have to ask yourself, would you want China having access to your information.
I believe Mainland China users will almost certainly have their data accessible by at least some of their government agencies as a condition for approval of the device or tech for use in China. Hasn't that been the pattern? Perhaps the US is not so different if we were to know the entire story.
the issue they have is our government can track their people since the date resides on servers based in the US and a recent court rules says that company must hand over information about people who are not US citizen and data resides on serves outside the US. They said the since they are a US company they must comply. So you have to ask yourself, would you want China having access to your information.
Do you remember there was an incident that happened many years ago before iPhone was introduced? A Cnet editor with family was lost in Oregon mountain during the winter. His wealthy father pleaded for help. Eventually one AT&T technician was able to use his cellphone tracking data to locate. Unfortunately he died before the rescuers arrived. The fact I learned from this story is the location of a cell phone user can be easily tracked. I think the real issue is whether Apple makes this data available to apps or web sites. If so, Apple should make this very clear to the users.
The left-wing mainstream media in the U.S. uses a simple formula when reporting news:
* When reporting on Republicans and right-wing ideology, emphasize the negative and omit the positive.
* When reporting on Democrats and left-wing ideology, emphasize the positive and omit the negative.
Again, there is the astonishingly marginalized coverage of so many left-wing stories. And that left-wing media echo chamber, which again and again portrays such groups as the Tea Party in a negative light, takes its toll. I can tell you first hand being a Tea Party supporter that our primary concern is the fiscal recklessness of our government. We want a fiscally sane government which spends within it's limits, not a government with an $18 trillion deficit, and borrowing 40 cents of every dollar! But I've seen many references to the Tea Party being some type of radical fringe group, in this forum as well. Those who believe this have successfully been brainwashed by the mainstream media, which proves my point.
It is because they are losing their monopoly on tracking and spying on their own people.
So, if it's a problem, they can turn bro-location services off.
China is right on, Apps that want your location are a privacy invasion. Most of those Apps don't need that location info.
It's become a pain continually refusing App requests for my location.
Some Apps I delete rather than turn on location for them.
BS. Just don't allow govt. employees to bring cell phones into govt. buildings...
Sounds like someone hasn't been paying their 'protection' money.
What people in China are saying about this (https://applecult.versify-app.com/post/u7ezwr)
In a country where any political system but communism is a national security concern, I don’t think we should care much about whatever else they have to say.