A news story broke yesterday about how all Apple iPhones are tracking where their owners go at all times and storing it in a hidden – but unencrypted – file on the handset. When the owner links the phone to a computer the file is also transferred there, although it’s never seen by the user.
Apparently it’s in the iPhone terms and conditions that they are allowed to do this, but I still think it’s an incredible invasion of privacy. I don’t know what Apple planned on doing with the data, but if they’re going to track the movements of someone at all times then I think they should explicitly ask for permission. It shouldn’t be hidden in a terms and conditions.
Some people would say that its iPhone users own fault for not reading the T&S closely enough. In reality, no one reads these things, and would a small section that said something along the lines of “we may track your position” have really affected anyone buying the phone? Google have been heavily criticised for privacy issues, but I think keeping a log of wherever anyone with an iPhone (or 3G iPad) goes is worse.
Luckily, I don’t have an iPhone so this isn’t something I need to worry about. I’d be very interested to hear from people who do have an iPhone or iPad though – are you’re worried about this? Are you going to try and find and delete the file? I’m sure there will be guides on the internet for stopping the tracking soon, but it’ll be interesting to see what Apple say about this.