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iPhone tracking your movements and keeping a secret file

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OCGuy said:
You cant possibly be this obtuse. The ACLU is just going to waste resources on a made up issue?

Michigan isnt even denying it:



"To that end, it's petitioning the MSP to turn over information about its use of the devices under the Freedom of Information Act. The MSP said it's happy to comply, that is, if the ACLU provides them with a processing fee in excess of $500,000. That's more than $100,000 for each of the five devices the MSP says it has in use

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20055431-1.html#ixzz1KCOllpjv
Click to expand...

That did not mention harvesting data
 
MotionMan said:
I wonder if the information is linked to a particular unit in some way, or is it just general batch data?

Is it clear that the "newly-found" document is what is transmitted to Apple?

MotionMan
Click to expand...

I can't imagine anyone but Apple knows. I will hold judgement. I am interested in seeing how they PR all this.

What would be awesome is if this was some secret shared government project to track people and it turns out to be a scandal. For the lulz.
 
JS80 said:
I can't imagine anyone but Apple knows. I will hold judgement. I am interested in seeing how they PR all this.

What would be awesome is if this was some secret shared government project to track people and it turns out to be a scandal. For the lulz.
Click to expand...

It will probably turn out to be nothing, they will turn it off in the next update, and it will be forgotten soon.

At least, that is our evil plan. Muwhahaha!!!

MotionMan
 
MotionMan said:
It will probably turn out to be nothing, they will turn it off in the next update, and it will be forgotten soon.

At least, that is our evil plan. Muwhahaha!!!

MotionMan
Click to expand...

If the report is true and they data is sent to Apple, can you, as a lawyer, see how in the hell this feature made it out of legal without disclosure?
 
OCGuy said:
Why not just have a government video camera placed on you at all times? I mean, you arent doing anything illegal, right? Your life is boring, who would actually watch it?

What if it proves you didnt commit a crime someday?
Click to expand...

You obviously don't live in Chicago.

There is a camera on nearly every street corner
 
JS80 said:
If the report is true and they data is sent to Apple, can you, as a lawyer, see how in the hell this feature made it out of legal without disclosure?
Click to expand...

Depends on if it includes identifying or backtrackable information or not.

MotionMan
 
But if you turn off location tracking, the iPhone won't record your location will it?

Everything I've seen lacks detail. It just say your phone tracks where you are. How is this different from say Google Latitude? Ok, you're not asked on the iPhone, but WHAT exactly is done?

Does it do a location based on location services every 30 minutes? Or what does it do? It obviously doesn't do it THAT often otherwise battery life would be horrendous.
 
On the way home from work, I heard some FUD about this on NPR.

With iOS4, there's a wonderful new API that intelligently preserves your battery and still allows your location-enabled apps to work effectively.

For instance, I use Google Latitude to share my location with family. Before iOS 4.x, this impacted battery life severely. Now, it uses a combination of tracking techniques and battery life is barely impacted. For instance, when I'm at my apartment, it uses the GPS briefly to get a fix. Then, it shuts off the GPS module. With no additional impact on power usage, the baseband uses the cell tower location capability to notify the OS API when you're moving significantly, so the OS knows when to activate the GPS and get a more-precise fix.

I'm sure the file is there so that multiple location-aware apps don't have to poll for the same info and waste battery power. They're all updated at the same time.
 
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