The affects of technology on our freedom and privacy is starting to become a big issue this year. Over the past few days we've looked at reports highlighting State control over search engine results, then rather worryingly the news came that Yahoo had backtracked on promises to keep their service the most free and transparent. Now it's the iPhone infringing on our human rights. The news today is that Apple devices appear to be tracking their owners’ locations and secretly storing the data.
The hidden tracking file has been recording user's whereabouts since June 2010, when the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system was released.It seems that data is stored on an iPhone , 3G-enabled iPad and also on computers that are synced with these devices. Reassuringly there’s no evidence that the data is transmitted to Apple or any other company after it is collected. But maybe that's what Apple had planned to do in the long run? Sell our data to the highest bidder. It may seem like I'm being overly dramatic, but It's the type of tactic we've seen with social networking.
Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden have created an online program which will generate a map of where you have been from data stored in your iPhone in order to highlight the level of data kept by Apple. According to the program developers, “Cell phone providers collect similar data almost inevitably as part of their operations, but it’s kept behind their firewall. It normally requires a court order to gain access to it, whereas this is available to anyone who can get their hands on your phone or computer." And anyone can range from a loopy ex-lover to a government agency which is truly quiet alarming.
Those jumping to Apple's defense have chosen the simple explanation (which no doubt Apple will use) that it was in anticipation of new features. But that doesn't sooth my worries. If it was for a new app it should have been announced and not hidden and users should have been given the option to switch tracking off.
One disgruntled user wrote: “My entire personal and professional life — documented by a phone I didn’t know was also a tracking device. It’s all accessible — where I’ve been, and when. I don’t really have anything to hide, which is why I don’t mind sharing the map. But it’s just not right to have no choice in the matter; I don’t want this information bouncing around in my pocket with me.”
Any iPhone users here? What do you think of the issue?