Yes, but a warrant is needed to access the cell phone company's records. It's not as accessible as an unencrypted file in your iTunes folder. And you can turn off Location Services to prevent sharing location information with advertisers.
While this is technically and legally true, in practice the United States the NSA and Homeland Security have direct unfettered access to all the information the cell companies do.
There have been multiple stories in the news about it and several whistleblowers have come forward with the details of how the information is diverted, data mined, and stored for future reference. It's so shocking, that most people probably think that it was discontinued after the Bush administration ended and we found out about it, but there isn't any evidence that I've ever seen that they stopped. The government hasn't even admitted it does it yet.
I don't see why the NSA in particular (which has almost no oversight at all), would stop doing it when they have all that info on everyone pouring in minute to minute. Until someone shows me a video of those secret rooms they use being destroyed or a signed presidential order that the practice be stopped, the safest bet is to assume that it's still going on.
In other words every cell phone call, and every email sent or travelling through the USA should be assumed to be "bugged" or copied. For those of us that don't break any laws it's probably not worth doing anything about but if you are politically active or engaged in anything criminal and you aren't using encryption on *everything* you're being foolish.
Yes to some people this might seem cool. But how would you feel if this information could be extracted at normal check stops by police.
Now in Michegan, police are doing just that with devices that can connect to cell phones so they can extract that data. To me that's an invasion of privacy.
According to the article, police can grab contacts, photos, video, GPS data, and more. They can collect all photos and videos from an iPhone within on-and-a-half minutes.
Anyone remember Apples iconic ad where it ended saying "On January 24th Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984". Seems kinda ironic now that Apple is collecting all our location data and calling it a "bug" when exposed. Today's ad would have Steve Job's face up on the screen with all the drones staring at it and a tag line about why 2011 is "1984".
Back then they were slinging mud at Microsoft accusing them of being Big Brother. Seems with power and money the idealist became the one he despised the most. I'm sure all the frivolous lawsuits, walled gardens, and privacy tracking have kept him much more comfortable than being the little guy fighting the power.
There is no way this is a bug. EVERY cell phone, smart or dumb, can track your location via at a minimum triangulation. If the phone isn't actively storing this information, then a database somewhere at the cell provider sure as heck is. Why? Number one reason is for the government. Number two would be for financial reasons such as targeted advertising on smart phones. If they know where you are, then an ad can pop open in your browser for a nearby business. Again, no way this is a bug. EVERY phone company is tracking you like it or not.
Wait until someone realise his spouse/husband is having an affair using the data in the file, then goes to CNN and you will see what happens when the S*it hits the fan. This is just one example; there is tons of grief that could be done with that information and it spread everywhere you sync your phone. Apple need to remove it as quietly and as fast has possible.
I will not be suprise if Apple gets sued over this and this may hurt sales when people realise they cant trust Apple.
You would think that maybe Apple would see the ever growing DB files if never purged. Just an idea.
How? Unless the files were sent back to Apple, they'd have no idea that it is getting bigger on your phone and in your backups on your computer...
And the engineers at Apple likely wipe their phones constantly as they push new builds onto them for testing and restores likely aren't reliable from internal build to internal build most of the time so their files don't grow... So nothing to notice there either...
..and "forgot" to do anything about this for more than nine months.
You obviously don't know anything about software development.
Quote:
Originally Posted by freshh20
You would think that maybe Apple would see the ever growing DB files if never purged. Just an idea.
Not necessarily. If everything was "working correctly", after a while, the engineers responsible probably wouldn't even be looking at that file, then, they'd move on to something else and no one would be looking at it at all. It's as if your web browser wasn't properly trimming its cache. Unless and until it starts to cause a problem because you're running out of disk space, you aren't likely to notice it because, otherwise, everything appears to be working normally.
So, the assertion that it was a software design oversight (which would be more precise than calling it a 'bug') not to trim it is at least plausible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Galbi
... They got caught red handed and they will brush it off as a bug? ...
What exactly is it that you are asserting they were caught red handed at?
Saying that is just a bug is like Steve Jobs having sex with your wife and as you happen to catch him as he runs out the door he says"I'm just a magical figment of your imagination. Nothing going on here. Have a great day buddy!"
You sure that wasn't Steve Ballmer? He seems more the party animal type. Steve Jobs is more the serious, successful businessman type.
Turns out the so-called tracking process is nothing more than caching data to make the GPS locating feature work faster and more smoothly. It has nothing to do with your privacy ... no one is being tracked ... it's not a bug. Boy do many like to negatively speculate when they don't understand. This is just more FUD
You sure that wasn't Steve Ballmer? He seems more the party animal type. Steve Jobs is more the serious, successful businessman type.
You may be right, but this guy WAS wearing the typical thief outfit...jeans, black turtleneck, lol.
I'm sure the minute we turn our backs all the bigwigs would do just about anything so long as it meant more profit for them. What's the old saying?... better to just do it and call it a bug when caught than ask permission in the first place.
The bug here was that the file and its name was discovered. Apple did not expect to get caught.
The "cache for location data" was supposed to be 'culled' after Apple/AT&T pulled it and filed it under the phone owners account, the 'error' noted here was that it wasn't removed from the handset at that time.
Apple has a good product and great marketing. It does not give them the right to take whatever liberties the choose with customer data, though it is not specifically forbidden by law or statute.
How much crap are people willing to put up with to be seen as, (or to think that they are seen as) cool or 'cutting edge'?
Yes, but a warrant is needed to access the cell phone company's records. It's not as accessible as an unencrypted file in your iTunes folder. And you can turn off Location Services to prevent sharing location information with advertisers.
A warrant is required to look at your iTunes folder, too.
And don't be too sure about needing a warrant for either case. That erstwhile bastion of citizen rights protection (aka Homeland Security) ROUTINELY bypasses your constitutional right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure, all in the name of 'national security'. They've even exercised their powers in cases relating to torrent downloads!
And you can of course encrypt your entire iPhone backup.
Comments
Yes, but a warrant is needed to access the cell phone company's records. It's not as accessible as an unencrypted file in your iTunes folder. And you can turn off Location Services to prevent sharing location information with advertisers.
While this is technically and legally true, in practice the United States the NSA and Homeland Security have direct unfettered access to all the information the cell companies do.
There have been multiple stories in the news about it and several whistleblowers have come forward with the details of how the information is diverted, data mined, and stored for future reference. It's so shocking, that most people probably think that it was discontinued after the Bush administration ended and we found out about it, but there isn't any evidence that I've ever seen that they stopped. The government hasn't even admitted it does it yet.
I don't see why the NSA in particular (which has almost no oversight at all), would stop doing it when they have all that info on everyone pouring in minute to minute. Until someone shows me a video of those secret rooms they use being destroyed or a signed presidential order that the practice be stopped, the safest bet is to assume that it's still going on.
In other words every cell phone call, and every email sent or travelling through the USA should be assumed to be "bugged" or copied. For those of us that don't break any laws it's probably not worth doing anything about but if you are politically active or engaged in anything criminal and you aren't using encryption on *everything* you're being foolish.
Now in Michegan, police are doing just that with devices that can connect to cell phones so they can extract that data. To me that's an invasion of privacy.
Here's the details:
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3458.asp
According to the article, police can grab contacts, photos, video, GPS data, and more. They can collect all photos and videos from an iPhone within on-and-a-half minutes.
... if you are politically active or engaged in anything criminal and you aren't using encryption on *everything* you're being foolish.
Thanks very much. I'll keep that in mind before engaging in my next crime spree!
Back then they were slinging mud at Microsoft accusing them of being Big Brother. Seems with power and money the idealist became the one he despised the most. I'm sure all the frivolous lawsuits, walled gardens, and privacy tracking have kept him much more comfortable than being the little guy fighting the power.
Are you serious?!
They got caught red handed and they will brush it off as a bug?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Sent from my iTrackU phone
There is no way this is a bug. EVERY cell phone, smart or dumb, can track your location via at a minimum triangulation. If the phone isn't actively storing this information, then a database somewhere at the cell provider sure as heck is. Why? Number one reason is for the government. Number two would be for financial reasons such as targeted advertising on smart phones. If they know where you are, then an ad can pop open in your browser for a nearby business. Again, no way this is a bug. EVERY phone company is tracking you like it or not.
Wait until someone realise his spouse/husband is having an affair using the data in the file, then goes to CNN and you will see what happens when the S*it hits the fan. This is just one example; there is tons of grief that could be done with that information and it spread everywhere you sync your phone. Apple need to remove it as quietly and as fast has possible.
I will not be suprise if Apple gets sued over this and this may hurt sales when people realise they cant trust Apple.
You would think that maybe Apple would see the ever growing DB files if never purged. Just an idea.
How? Unless the files were sent back to Apple, they'd have no idea that it is getting bigger on your phone and in your backups on your computer...
And the engineers at Apple likely wipe their phones constantly as they push new builds onto them for testing and restores likely aren't reliable from internal build to internal build most of the time so their files don't grow... So nothing to notice there either...
Pretty much 95% of all cellphones are covered (see here).
Even the hello kitty iPhone lol
http://www.macworld.com/article/1593...#lsrc.rss_main
..and "forgot" to do anything about this for more than nine months.
You obviously don't know anything about software development.
You would think that maybe Apple would see the ever growing DB files if never purged. Just an idea.
Not necessarily. If everything was "working correctly", after a while, the engineers responsible probably wouldn't even be looking at that file, then, they'd move on to something else and no one would be looking at it at all. It's as if your web browser wasn't properly trimming its cache. Unless and until it starts to cause a problem because you're running out of disk space, you aren't likely to notice it because, otherwise, everything appears to be working normally.
So, the assertion that it was a software design oversight (which would be more precise than calling it a 'bug') not to trim it is at least plausible.
... They got caught red handed and they will brush it off as a bug? ...
What exactly is it that you are asserting they were caught red handed at?
Saying that is just a bug is like Steve Jobs having sex with your wife and as you happen to catch him as he runs out the door he says"I'm just a magical figment of your imagination. Nothing going on here. Have a great day buddy!"
You sure that wasn't Steve Ballmer? He seems more the party animal type. Steve Jobs is more the serious, successful businessman type.
Your data can easily be extracted thanks to Cellbrite.
Pretty much 95% of all cellphones are covered (see here).
Even the hello kitty iPhone lol
That's fascinating stuff. Thanks for the heads-up.
You sure that wasn't Steve Ballmer? He seems more the party animal type. Steve Jobs is more the serious, successful businessman type.
You may be right, but this guy WAS wearing the typical thief outfit...jeans, black turtleneck, lol.
I'm sure the minute we turn our backs all the bigwigs would do just about anything so long as it meant more profit for them. What's the old saying?... better to just do it and call it a bug when caught than ask permission in the first place.
Researcher: iPhone Location Data Already Used By Cops
yeah, some bug. Its called the Orwell Bug.
The "cache for location data" was supposed to be 'culled' after Apple/AT&T pulled it and filed it under the phone owners account, the 'error' noted here was that it wasn't removed from the handset at that time.
Apple has a good product and great marketing. It does not give them the right to take whatever liberties the choose with customer data, though it is not specifically forbidden by law or statute.
How much crap are people willing to put up with to be seen as, (or to think that they are seen as) cool or 'cutting edge'?
Yes, but a warrant is needed to access the cell phone company's records. It's not as accessible as an unencrypted file in your iTunes folder. And you can turn off Location Services to prevent sharing location information with advertisers.
A warrant is required to look at your iTunes folder, too.
And don't be too sure about needing a warrant for either case. That erstwhile bastion of citizen rights protection (aka Homeland Security) ROUTINELY bypasses your constitutional right to protection against unreasonable search and seizure, all in the name of 'national security'. They've even exercised their powers in cases relating to torrent downloads!
And you can of course encrypt your entire iPhone backup.