The story is very confusing coming from Apple. On one hand they say they don’t track, on the other they are releasing an update in coming weeks. The database is built and it is available. One update away from making it available to someone who really wants it.
Some of you are wondering, well how do I get access to this data for my own personal use, is there an app I can use that tracks my movements?
You can do it:
iPhone Tracker
How do you feel about it?
Does this change how you feel about owning and having geolocation services turned on?
So Apple is releasing a patch?
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This from Dow Jones Newswire:
Apple Inc. (AAPL) defended the location information-gathering process it uses via the iPhone and unveiled a planned software update to scale back such practices.
The company and Google Inc. (GOOG) have faced increased scrutiny for their practices involving the collection and storage of smartphone users’ location information. Last week, researchers found that Apple’s iPhones store unencrypted databases containing location information that sometimes stretch back several months.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that iPhones, as well as smartphones operating on Google’s Android platform, regularly transmit their locations back to the respective companies.
Apple said Wednesday it is not tracking the location to iPhones, has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
“Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology [including Apple] have not provided enough education about these issues to date,” the company said in a statement.
Apple said it maintains a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around users’ locations, a process that helps the phone calculate its location when such information is requested. The company downloads a subset, or cache, of the database on each phone. The cache is “protected but not encrypted,” and backed up on iTunes whenever users back up their iPhones, the company said.
Apple said it would release an iPhone software update in the next few weeks that reduces the size of the database cached on the phone, ceases backing up the cache and deletes the cache entirely when location services is turned off.
The statement came alongside announcements that the white iPhone 4 will be available Thursday, and that the second-generation iPad arrives in Japan, Hong Kong, and other new markets this week.
Google Inc. (GOOG) last week defended its information location-gathering practices. U.S. lawmakers have invited representatives of the companies to attend a hearing on privacy next month following the claims they regularly track users locations and store data.
-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240; matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 27, 2011 09:12 ET (13:12 GMT)
