iPhone location tracking on Pressure!

Lawmakers pressure Apple over iPhone location tracking
April 21, 2011 — 9:07am ET | By Jason Ankeny

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) are calling on Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) to respond to reports that products running its iOS mobile operating system store user location data in a hidden file. Speaking Wednesday at the Where 2.0 conference in San Francisco, British researchers Alisdair Allan and Pete Warden reported the discovery that iPhone and iPod devices have recorded location and time-stamp data since the mid-2010 release of the iOS 4 software update, effectively creating a comprehensive log of all user movement and activities during that time.

"We're not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it's clearly intentional, as the database is being restored across backups, and even device migrations," the researchers said. "What makes this issue worse is that the file is unencrypted and unprotected, and it's on any machine you've synched with your iOS device. It can also be easily accessed on the device itself if it falls into the wrong hands. Anybody with access to this file knows where you've been over the last year, since iOS 4 was released."

Lawmakers want answers.

"I'm deeply disturbed by this report," Inslee said in a statement. "I have been concerned that current law fails to ensure consumers are protected from privacy violations. Consumers are often left to learn of these breaches of privacy from hackers and security experts because companies fail to disclose what data they are collecting and for what purpose."

Franken fired off a two-page letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. "There are numerous ways in which this information could be abused by criminals and bad actors," Franken writes. "Furthermore, there is no indication that this file is any different for underage iPhone or iPad users, meaning that the millions of children and teenagers who use iPhone or iPad devices also risk having their location collected and compromised." Franken's letter also includes a list of questions seeking insight into why Apple collects the data and how it is generated.

More than half of mobile application users express concern over how sharing their location via phone compromises their privacy, according to a new Nielsen Company survey. Fifty-nine percent of female app users (defined as subscribers who've downloaded a mobile app within the last 30 days) cite concerns over GPS-enabled check-in services and other solutions that automatically transmit geographic information, compared to 52 percent of male users.

Another 36 percent of men and 34 percent of women tell Nielsen they are indifferent to mobile privacy issues, and 12 percent of men and 8 percent of women indicate they are not concerned whatsoever. Age also plays a role: Fifty percent of consumers between the ages of 25 and 34 express fears over location privacy, compared to 61 percent of subscribers ages 45 to 54 and 63 percent of users age 55 and up. Nielsen adds that consumers will become more comfortable with location-based apps as they grow more familiar with the technology and marketers better understand how to offer benefits that compensate users for the exchange of personal information.