Discussion on:

Being tracked by your iPhone: Do you care?

I don't care that I'm being tracked by my phone...my browser tracks my web history also...but I can empty that. Obviously the file has to stay if you want your GPS to work...but you should be able to empty the history. You shouldn't have to have a record of your comings and goings...that's a little privacy violation I would think. Apple: Please make it "empty-able" so I can delete the history.

I may be ignorant of the intricacies of getting a GPS to work, but why does the file have to stay to make the GPS work? Doesn't GPS work by triangulating a GPS receiver with a sattelite at a point in time to calculate lattitude and longitude. Once you've moved I cannot see why this information would be necessary any more. Maybe storing the last successful co-ordinate improves GPS efficiency (maybe not), but this is vastly different to storing a years worth of coordinate history.

GPS is a standalone system. It works fine without a tracking file. The prior poster has no idea what they are talking about.

I guess it could be possible to just remove the file... am I right? I'm not really into the iOS ecosystem, so... yeah. But since the file doesn't seem to be utterly critical, I guess you could just wipe it off the device if you can get to it. (Because usually, these kinds of things are locked down pretty well.)

It is just a matter of time, and there will be an app that can be loaded without the user's knowledge that will supply this kind of information to a concerned husband or wife. I have personal experience with a wife that was seeing other men (even Sexting a cop friend). I discovered it by looking in her unlocked iPhone while she slept, but doing this remotely would be a spouse's dream app!

The app and more is available! You can even listen to other phone call without the other phone knowing someone is listening!

My son has an iPhone. He is a good kid, but I still want to know about his movements. How can I access this data?

Just ask the "good kid" where he has been

Just ask "House"!

Can you trust the lying bastard?

...you could install Google Maps and secretly enable Google Latitude. Nobody will notice! But then again: isn't it bad to spy on your kid? If he's really that good, why doesn't he deserve some trust? I'm just asking...

http://www.accutracking.com/ $5 to $9 per month
http://www.instamapper.com/ still currently free

..and may you all get caught for invading someone's privacy.

Let's remember that GPS was originally a miltary targeting technology. Tracking, targeting, and I get to pay AT&T and Verizon (who often work with the government to spy on folks they consider "bad") for the priviledge of my every movement logged and reported to unseen individuals or organizations.

Let's not all pass around tin foil hats but this is so obviously wrong I'm surprised we're even being asked this question. Do I care? Holy cow - YES!

If you don't care you get what you deserve - some day VERY SOON this info will be routinely used against you. It can't be ungathered.

GPS was originally a navigation system designed to supplement and help correct navigation errors induced by certain terrain or flight envelope conditions. From there it progressed into a targeting system once the exact coordinates of the target could be determined. Of course, a stationary object is much easier to target than a moving one.

That said, any system can be weaponized, as is proven daily by the insurgents in SWA. I can see both positive and negative uses for this technology, and to assume only the negative is the height of paranoia. Should you care? If you're not a criminal, then no; what's the harm?

Forget the paranoia and start looking at the positive aspects--it could save your life.

Technology like electricity will take all paths not just the one of least resistance.
It will be abused and it will save lives, but for most it will be used to annoy and entertain.

Espousing complete rejection of paranoia is a way to get blindsided. Understanding the risks so you can mitigate and deal with them is not a flawed reasoning.

eScoop might be paranoid but his paranoia could save lives also.
The "not a criminal argument" came back to harm many in Germany and other places in history. It will continue to haunt more in the future.

Edit: Spelling

If you have nothing to hide - what's the problem?

Right, most of us have nothing to hide. But why then does apple hide the file?

I once worked in a research institution under contract for the military. You would be surprised what information we came up with and how we were able to follow individuals. And that was in the sixties! Because of that I do not trust any authority. If they go on a fishing expedition you just may become collateral damage.

This response to questions of privacy does not improve with repetition. I don't know - why do most people have drapes or blinds for their windows?

If you're serious, you need a wake-up call. Try reading about why you really should care about privacy . Get back to us after you've pondered for a while.

In what kind of Pollyanna world do you live where the vast conspiracy to do things for your good holds sway in the world?

Once you've moved I cannot see why this information would be necessary any more. Maybe storing the last successful co-ordinate improves GPS efficiency (maybe not), but this is vastly different to storing a years worth of coordinate history ( TECHNO NEWS).

No prob for me, I wouldn't own an iPhone.

"They" can trace you on ANY smart phone

I personally don't care if I'm being tracked but I care a whole lot about anything like this that's being done without my knowledge. Dignan says 'there is a tiny opt-in issue'. It's not tiny, it's huge. It's sneaky and an invasion of privacy. If this was such a trivial matter why didn't Apple introduce this in a transparent manner?

Anyway, I was going to buy an iPhone but I've gone quite off the notion now. Can anyone recommend a good phone made by an ethical company?

I know Nokia 5220 doesn't do that.

Anyway, personally I don mind my location getting tracked so long that it's not GPS accurate. I don't mind if people know which country or state or even street I'm at but I don't want people to know which building I'm at. I don't know about iPhone as it's a icon phone where it's just a phone with a scrollable wall of icons phone to me. I'm more into Android where everything is within my grasp whereas I can disable and enable or even modify virtually anything on my phone to suit my own terms which in this case, GPS sattelite, 3G and WiFi switched off at a touch of a button widget each.

Sorry but they can track you on an Android also...Google it

It's actually cell tower triangulation and any cell phone can do it. Not just smart phones. It's not global because it's based on terrestrial technologies. Very few phone have ever been made with a real GPS module because it is cost prohibative. There were a few NEXTEL models that had a real GPS but they also had an "Off network" radio feature called direct connect and these phones were designed to be used by a team of people that are out of range. The radio and GPS both work globally.

That being said, yes it's accurate. Cell tower triangulation is good within 10 ft. and GPS is 3ft. The cell tower tricks might even be better now. The network knows where you are everytime you place a call, text or data session (which happen randomly in the background). This information is usually not stored on the phone and we all hope they don't keep the data on their servers. Why would they pay to store that much data? They can't and wouldn't want to even if asked. If you were "being watched" would they give this information out? Under pressure of a warrant, I'm sure they would. I used to work for Sprint and this is not common there. Sprint is very resistant to such requests because it costs them money and they don't want bad press. It relates to their bottom line.

"It's actually cell tower triangulation and any cell phone can do it. Not just smart phones. It's not global because it's based on terrestrial technologies."
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I strenuously disagree. I have a Mortorola i856. The literature asserts AGPS. I no longer have the service activated, however when I go on exploratory trips where I am 100 miles or more from a cell tower I take the phone to read the GPS coordinates from the phone. The phone reads the coordinates from as many satellites as it can read.

My Android phone has an application that tracks the satellites exactly as my GPS unit does. You cannot get the satellite positions from the cell network. At least I do not think so. When I turn off my cell phone's GPS the Navigator is on strike.

Test it. My point was that all phones can locate you and they don't need a "GPS chip" to do it.

Just think how many private dicks they left unemployed with this. Maybe we could put a Union to good work for once. Get the Private Dick's Union to sue the government for forced unemployment. Maybe someone or ones can make money off this.

The European Parlament has approved a new version of the data protection directive from 2004 regarding data privacy. The new law, which takes effect 25 May 2011, forbids placement of cookies on enduser equipment whithout specific "opt-in", which now includes not only traditional computers, but also smartphones, tablets, other portable data devices, and the included storage: CD and DVD drives, floppy drives, USB keys, and external harddisks. Session cookies are allowed if the user has specifically opted in, but "Malignent" coodkies and "evercookies" (self-renewable cookies) are not allowed.

This means that Apple, and other companies who track you on your iPhone or have access to data on your smartphone harddrive, will be violating European law after next month!

The new data privacy law introduced to the US congress mirrors the concern in Europe for data privacy of citizens.

Scott Hill M.E.E.
Copenhagen, Denmark
www.twitter.com/frontiersci

There is an enormous difference between blasting your location out to the world via an opt-in service like foursquare and having a record of your every move kept without your knowledge by the manufacturer of your phone. This is the kind of thing which should be disabled by default with an opt-in toggle to turn it on.

Personally I use an Android device and typically keep the GPS, as one of the major battery drains, turned off unless I need it.

Sorry but they can track you on an Android also even if it is off...Google it

And only came up with apps you add to your phone for this...give us a hand and let us in on where you found this info! Thanks in advance!

http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/

or any app using GPS. I'm "off the radar" except when on the road, then I don't care if "whom ever" wants to know where I stopped to "take a POOP!"

It uses cell tower triangulation and it's accurate within 10ft all the time. I know everyone calls it GPS but very few phones have ever had a real GPS module in it. Go find a place where the phone says "no service" and try to use the GPS function.

http://gpscellphonetracking.info/gps-cell-phone-tracking-technology/

http://news.cnet.com/Cell-phone-tracking-raises-privacy-issues/2100-1033_3-846744.html

GPS-enabled cell phones DON'T REQUIRE CELL TOWERS, and may be located anywhere in the world by satellite triangulation in a similar manner. Cell phone companies are required by law in the United States to be able to locate cell phones to an accuracy of 100 feet, "so that emergency vehicles will be able to locate the caller in need."

Phone companies can track you anywhere as long as your phone is on regardless of whether it is an iOS, Android, WP7 or non-Smartphone. It may not be as accurate as GPS but they have had that capability for a while. This is fairly common knowledge

And as jlippsen asked, please provide references to your assertion. Most of the services I know of such as Latitude are opt-in.

But someone has or will break/root that out!

This means employees of the service provider have access to it. Sprint used it once to find a little girl who was kidnapped. The police pulled her out of the car while the perp was filling up at a gas station. It was all over the internal Sprint communications.