iPhone tracking: Why does Apple keep tabs on you?
Apple鈥檚 iPhone and iPad devices have long been storing positions and timestamps in a hidden file on the user鈥檚 computer. That鈥檚 according to developers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, who reported their finding at the Where 2.0 conference Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.
Allan stumbled on the discovery while looking through iTunes鈥� backup files on his computer. Author of the book 鈥淟earning iPhone Programming鈥� for O鈥橰eilly Media, Allan came across 鈥渃onsolidated.db鈥�, a backup file updated whenever a user syncs their iPhone or iPad with iTunes. Sequenced in a simple database, the file contained thousands of regularly gathered datapoints of the user鈥檚 latitude-longitude coordinates and timestamps, which for some phones have dated back to as much as a year.
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While Allan and Warden suggest there is no immediate privacy concern from the data, they question why Apple is storing it, and why it is kept unencrypted and relatively accessible. In , they recommended iPhone and iPad users encrypt their backups through Apple鈥檚 media management software, iTunes.
The duo have also , an application for the Mac that reads the backup file and projects a map visualization of the stored data. Trying out the application, I could see close to every location I鈥檝e been to in the past year 鈥� which is particularly alarming.
鈥淎pple has made it possible for almost anybody 鈥� a jealous spouse, a private detective 鈥� with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information on where you鈥檝e been,鈥� Warden . The company has yet to comment on the discovery.
PCWorld has an interesting : "Wondering why your iPhone and 3G-enabled iPad are storing your general location in an easily accessible database on your PC? It's simple. Apple uses this information to build a cell tower and Wi-Fi access point location database."
In the video below, the pair discuss the finding and its implications.
