Android gathering location data too, researcher develops harvesting tool

By on Apr 22, 2011 at 1:07 PM
mobile April 22, 2011

As enraged as you may or may not be over the fact that your phone is tracking your location, you have to admit… it’s a pretty interesting story. The Wall Street Journal has filed a new report stating that both Apple and Google are collecting location data from their smartphone users — deflecting some of the public outrage in Google’s direction as well. “According to new research by security analyst Samy Kamkar, an HTC Android phone collected its location every few seconds and transmitted the data to Google at least several times an hour,” writes the Journal. Researcher Mike Castleman has developed a program that will harvest and parse location data stored on your Android device. The script isn’t quite as user-friendly as its iOS counterpart — you need root access to your device and some command line experience (as opposed to just clicking on a pretty icon and seeing your coordinates on a map) — but it will present you with a formatted location list. Castleman notes that the code used to collect location is “no longer open from Google” and that the data collected gets “pruned” when new location information is added. “Following the latest days internet outrage/overreaction to the revelation that iPhone has a cache for its location service, I decided to have look what my Android devices caches for the same function,” Castleman writes. If you’re interested in trying to squeeze the location information from your Android handset, hit the jump. The necessary links are waiting for you.

Read [WSJ] Read [android-locdump]

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  • http://twitter.com/dudedos dan

    Hey BGR We all Know Google Apple RIM NOkia, etc Collect that kind of Data …. The Problem here is the Way Apple is handling this information, Which can be easily access(The script isn’t quite as user-friendly as its iOS counterpart) . we all too know that BGR Will do anything to make look apple Less evil….

    Hey no hate here ! i am an iOS, android and Symbian Fan. Just Lets be Clear this OS’s are just plain SOFTWARE, thus they are not free of ERRORS,,, Even the ones made by the Almighty STEVE JOBS…..

  • KCRic

    Are you fucking kidding me! You’re comparing this to Apples fuckup? You guys are just fishing now, doing damage control for you’re gay lover Jobs.

    You don’t need a single bit of administrative access to obtain the one from an iPhone, hell it gladly copies it to your computer for you. Then you just click it and bam, all your shit’s on a map. How is that in any way comparable to needing su access, command line skills, scripting skills, and still having to manually enter the locations on a map – the few locations it contains since it deletes old entries after so long.

    GTFO BGR.

    • Roguefromnyc

      Amen. F Google and f apple they are all full of shit. But this site makes me laugh. They are so far up apples ass that it blinds them from being true journalists. U guys sold out a while ago. I come here to see that there are still people with a brain and own thought process as this world is almost doomed anyways cause of all the greed in the world

  • http://www.facebook.com/gtechdesigners G-Tech Designers

    Nobody ever reads the Full Terms of Service Agreement when purchasing a mobile device. It could easily take 4+ Hours with each cust to explain every little detail of the agreement you’re signing with your carrier. At the same time you agree with those terms of service of the manufacturers. Every cell phone comes with manuals that include or should include software license terms and conditions and they specifically talk about privacy and data collection.

    Now, if you were thinking not to agree with those terms you shouldn’t have a cellphone neither. As simple as that. If you want it You must agree with those TOS.

    Everybody relies on GPS services! If you think you don’t turn off the GPS location servicess and Network triangulation on your device then open start a new search for a restaurant in your area… Then you’ll realize you do need the GPS location servicess On. Of course you can always keept the GPS location servicess off and use 411 instead. Good luck paying your next bill!

    Remember it also provides your location to the E911 services in case of an emergency. Keeping the GPS on could save your life or the lives of your loved ones.

    Yes, this data could be dangerous in the hands of a criminal and all the carriers and manufacturers should make sure that the data doesn’t stay on the devices and computers for too long and that the info is WELL encrypted, see if they can hack your phone, they could access this data also. But at the same time this kind of data could lead and help the police or FBI to capture a criminal and stop a terrorist attack.

    Every website tracks your ip address, does anybody complain? What makes you think by instance that this blog is safe to post on? You always leave tracks online. Unless you are a hacker of course and you have your ip hidden under a powerfull firewall or have special software to hide or fake your ip. Because if you’re using the InPrivate browsing feature that won’t really keep you undercover.

  • http://www.bgr.com Andrew Munchbach

    You were trapped in limbo by our spam filter. You’re not banned :)

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