Apple not reviewing location data, researcher says

By on Apr 21, 2011 at 9:15 PM
mobile April 21, 2011

On Wednesday, researchers from O’Reilly claimed to discover a tracking feature in iPhones and 3G iPads that reportedly sent location data back to Apple. Another researcher, this time from Katana Forensics, says otherwise. “Apple is not harvesting this data from your device,” said Kata Forensics lead engineer Alex Levinson. “This is data on the device that you as the customer purchased and unless [O'Reilly] can show concrete evidence supporting this claim – network traffic analysis of connections to Apple servers – I rebut this claim in full. Through my research in this field and all traffic analysis I have performed, not once have I seen this data traverse a network.” Levinson argues that the “hidden tracking file” is neither new nor a secret. He wrote about it in a book by Sean Morrissey titled iOS Forensic Analysis, which was published on December 5th, 2010, and says that the collected data is simply used by native iOS apps like Maps and Camera. If you’re still worried Apple is collecting the info – that you likely agreed to provide anyway — Levinson even cites a California state law that says: “No person or entity in this state shall use an electronic tracking device to determine the location or movement of a person.” Hit the jump for more from Alex Levinson.

[Via The Loop]

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  • http://www.briefmobile.com Korey Nicholson

    And laws stop people from breaking them all the time before right?

  • TOMMMMMM

    Can we stop defending Apple by saying “you agreed to these terms anyways?” Something that records your location, time stamps it, and keeps on doing so and even is saved on backups that can be on your computer should be told to the user upfront plain and simple. I don’t understand why users shouldn’t demand Apple to be upfront, much like Android is when you first activate you device.

    Seriously BGR, stop posting these stories if you are going to keep minimizing their impact with stupid hyperlinked articles.

    What if your Windows PC keylogged every single thing you’ve ever typed and kept it on your computer, even kept it unencrypted? Even if it wasn’t ever being used, would you be happy about it being there? Windows could easily have some fine print in their extremely long TOS, would you actually read that and furthermore interpret it as such?

    • Anonymous

      Actually, if Microsoft did something like that, there would be (over) 9,000 comments on every blog post and they would be getting some antitrust lawsuits.

      Apple’s a small company, so they don’t have to worry. They’ll put out an update encrypting this file and/or limiting the amount of data it has, and that’ll be the end of it. Apple fanboys will forget it ever happened, and fanboys of every other ilk will bring it up every time they want to bash Apple.

      • Allen Walker

        Small company my ass. Whose the one smoking now?

      • Anonymous

        … I thought it would be clear that I was talking about small from an overall marketshare point of view. Apple’s line of products is incredibly popular, and they make money hand over fist, but I think everyone knows that Microsoft is the 1,000 pound gorilla in the room when it comes to operating systems.

      • Alexander Leonidis

        In the smartphone market, which is what is relevant to the current discussion, Microsoft are the smaller company any way you look at it.

  • mmmmmhead

    Nobody agreed to have Apple save our location, UNENCRYPTED, for the life of our device. WTF are you smoking BGR????? 4/20 is over.

    • Anonymous

      I commented about this the other day. Ars’ talked about it. BGR just keeps throwing that whole oh you agreed to it crap out there. No…it says you can turn it off. NO, YOU CAN’T! It says apps using it or your global location as in GPS. Problem is the only time it doesn’t track and log the data is if your phone’s signal is COMPLETELY OFF! It uses towers to triangulate your position not your GPS. You are agreeing to apps and software to use it for ads etc, not for your phone to constantly log your position and store it unencrypted. Get off your little Apple-trip BGR and if something is wrong say it stop defending them at every turn. No one is going to hate you for saying for once well you know…maybe they were wrong this time around. Instead you make yourselves look even more like biased bloggers.

    • serpentor

      Let’s be clear, this file follows you across multiple iDevices.

  • http://twitter.com/Alan_Vazquez Alan Vazquez

    no, this is false. I’ll tell you why. We did testing on this. I reset the location warnings and I went into Twitter, refused access, went into maps, refused access, and when we looked, the database was updated. That’s total bullshit.

    • Anonymous

      That’s because this isn’t about location data, at all. It’s about keeping track of the location of celular towers.

      • Anonymous

        Exactly thank you!! But hey…you agreed to that right? Says right there in the agree…wait I don’t see it…

      • serpentor

        This maybe their defense to weasel their way out of this, but it’s clear – if you plot the data to a map it would give you a good idea where you been at what time.

  • DonnyMilkSteak

    I’m shocked that anyone who has access to my precious mac knows where I’ve been for the last year. Are you kidding me??? How is it possible that I can’t shut that off??? How can you say it’s okay for that be wide open? WHAT? This info should only be available via COURT ORDER!!!!!!!

    that’s what she said!

    • Alexander Leonidis

      Really? You are shocked that somebody with access to your computer has access to your sensitive information? Where have you been hiding the past 30 years?

  • Shanghai Dan

    Levinson is also 10 year veteran of working at Apple… Coincidence?

    • Noops

      Nahhhhhhh…. $$$$$

  • Anonymous

    They never claimed Apple was getting it in the first place. If BGR reported they did then that’s their problem.

    • KCRic

      While people wouldn’t be happy about Apple leeching this data for some strange purpose (probably something annoying at best) I don’t think that’s the main concern regardless if it’s going on or not. Apple isn’t going to kick in your front door to rape your family and rob you in the middle of the night or use the info to find out where your hot 15 year old daughter hangs out so they can kidnap her.

      A criminal on the other hand would find this invaluable and all it takes is for your Mac or PC to be hacked, lost, or left unattended for a period of time.

      • Anonymous

        I’m more referring to BGR claiming that previous reports ‘Sent the data back to Apple’, which wasn’t the case at all. GG BGR.

  • Doug Knowles

    The issue isn’t that location data is being used IMHO, as long as they use it anonymously as claimed.. The issue is that the data is not anonymous while it is stored on my apple device.. And could be an issue for me or anyone else if we are not aware that it exists.

  • Anonymous

    The question is why is Apple doing this? It doesn’t matter if they are not storing the data, it’s still out there uncrypted..

    • serpentor

      They are storing the data. They use to get this information (cell towers and wifi spots) from Google and Skyhook, but now want their own db of information.

      Apple isn’t trying to track you, that’s just an unintended consequence, that you can be tracked.

    • Alexander Leonidis

      I don’t of “stored on your iPhone and backed up to your Mac or PC” as “out there”

  • chichi

    this guy was definitely payed off.

    • Alexander Leonidis

      Yes paid by a security company to do his job.

  • Anonymous

    oh I really believe that
    REALLY REALLY
    yea right
    pfft

  • http://www.bloise.co.uk Frankie Bloise

    At the end, this was not a fault, this was another “feature”…

  • Anonymous

    If Apple is not reviewing the data then who is the data for, big brother????????

  • SupAll

    You guys are doing it wrong. Turn on Airplane mode.

  • Anonymous

    If the data is only kept for Camera and Maps, then why is it kept across migrations and phone wipes? Why did it only start with iOS 4? Why does it store wireless access points? This isn’t behavior that should be connected to the Camera or Maps without the user intentionally setting some sort of sync.

  • http://jamieei.org JamieEi

    The data is synced via iTunes, so clearly it is traversing the network.

    • Alexander Leonidis

      Um… No… iTunes syncing to your iPhone/iPad happens via direct USB connection. That is not a network

  • steve jobs

    soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of this garbage. please stop updating us every 4 minutes on this. we know.

    • DonnyMilkSteak

      you should probably leave the internet for a few days.. this is big news.. plus this article was posted yesterday..

  • KCRic

    If you don’t have an iPhone, you can’t be tracked. You don’t give thousands of criminals access to your family and valuables.

    They should add that to the commercial.

    So here’s a thought. What about apps? What security permissions are required to access this file and transmit the data? It is after all, just another file so it can be read and transmitted like a picture or song – or is that not the case? Could an app not be made that leeches the information and transmits it? But it’s no big deal right BGR?

  • http://twitter.com/_sigs SIGS

    Here’s the only problem BGR. Perhaps you need to read about the ACLU against the Michigan State Police.

    Tell me exactly again why I shouldn’t worry about this information being stored regardless of what Apple is doing or not doing with it?

    This is BAD news. Plain and simple.

    • KCRic

      +1

      Wonder how many here have heard about that situation. There will be some serious issues if a cop ever requests my phone without a warrant and tries to hook it up to one of those.

  • Yup

    wow apple’s got a lot of apologists on payroll

  • 1T2dirtnap

    Quick, destroy all electronic equipment, cancel your internet and digital cable service! You are being tracked! Run for your lives!

  • http://www.absolutefiction.com Jed Tylman

    Big deal.

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