Flagged as political because this will turn political...
Security researchers recently discovered that the iPhone operating system (iOS4) is gathering data via GPS locks, or when the GPS is disabled, by triangulating your position based on the cell towers.
This data can be used to track where you have been over the last several months, or even year, and is stored in an unencrypted format on the phone.
To make matters even more disturbing, whenever you connect the phone to a PC to sync the data, the location data is transferred to the PC and stored in an unencrypted format.
I hate Apple and all of their products. I also happen to detest cell phones. Call me backwards but I don't care. I refuse to use any of their products or waste my hard earned money on these rip off gadgets. Their aim is to suck every last penny out of everyone, get everyone hooked on them like a drug, and pry into all of your information so they can better market more crap and start the whole cycle over again. They probably want to know where you've been so they can figure out the best places to put up more of their advertisements for their products and brain wash everyone a little more. Or, they want to know where to put the next Apple store so they can have line ups that are 10 days long with more Apple zombies waiting to get their hands on the next crappy Apple product that comes out.
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02:28 PM
Rallaster Member
Posts: 9105 From: Indy southside, IN Registered: Jul 2009
I hate Apple and all of their products. I also happen to detest cell phones. Call me backwards but I don't care. I refuse to use any of their products or waste my hard earned money on these rip off gadgets. Their aim is to suck every last penny out of everyone, get everyone hooked on them like a drug, and pry into all of your information so they can better market more crap and start the whole cycle over again. They probably want to know where you've been so they can figure out the best places to put up more of their advertisements for their products and brain wash everyone a little more. Or, they want to know where to put the next Apple store so they can have line ups that are 10 days long with more Apple zombies waiting to get their hands on the next crappy Apple product that comes out.
Don't hold anything back, tell us how you really feel.
I read a report about something similar to this a while back about Apple using the onboard camera and mic to "verify" who was using the phone, and the EULA explicitly allowed such data mining with the privacy policy pretty much allowing Apple to do whatever they wanted to with said data.
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02:34 PM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13797 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
The iphone is just an over priced, very fragile piece of crap.. Half my friends who have one, they are broken in some form or fashion. I don't even have a regular cell phone.. If I'm not home, I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!
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03:25 PM
Doug85GT Member
Posts: 9466 From: Sacramento CA USA Registered: May 2003
I'm not an Apple hater, by any means, but feel that their prices are out of proportion for what you get, and the products themselves are over-rated...
Besides, Open Source is a good thing (<3 Android)...
But this is a bad thing. A very bad thing...
Hope Apple gets smacked for it, and hard..
This will also slap the "Smug" off of the faces of all of the Apple Fanbois who think Apple can do no wrong... THAT is my biggest issue with Apple and Apple product owners... The smugness...
[This message has been edited by Synthesis (edited 04-21-2011).]
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04:12 PM
spark1 Member
Posts: 11159 From: Benton County, OR Registered: Dec 2002
Cellular providers are required to use and store that data, but it is secured in their systems and usually only available to law enforcement either by warrant or in emergency situations.
In THIS case, the phone is storing the data itself, when it has no legitimate reason to store the data.. And then syncing it with the computer and storing it there unencrypted.
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04:26 PM
PFF
System Bot
spark1 Member
Posts: 11159 From: Benton County, OR Registered: Dec 2002
Apple iPhone3G With more than 400 navigation apps in its store, the iPhone3G is still the champ in location-based services and apps availability. GPS apps recently covered here include Snocator, Groundspeak for geocaching, and GPS Lite.
Google Android phones are no better. Android 3.0 will bring with it some powerful encryption features, and there's talk of a new open-source project called Guardian that will add fundamental encryption to Android and could be integrated into Android devices by handset manufacturers. But right now Android phones and tablets have almost no data protection
[This message has been edited by spark1 (edited 04-21-2011).]
I am very open about my hate, and disgust for everything apple.
From the craptastic products, to locking out functionality. Basically forcing you to "hack" something you own to be able to use it for more than just a game player.
To the fanboys that would drink Steve Job's piss if he told them it was lemonade, and tell everybody that it was the best lemonade they had ever had, and very well priced at 200 bucks a cup.
It's all smoke and mirrors, and I couldn't have been happier when I saw this on the news. apple has been crapping on you all for years, but now that someone has actually proved it, how are you going to react?
i donot own one and am not buying one. my phone is 7yrs. old and works just fine. i only turn it on when i need too.thay cannot track me, thay can kiss my gass.
Any new phone can. I have nothing to back this up but I believe that the voice recognition software built into your phone automatically flags certain words that you say so that your conversations can be listened to later by some monitoring group. But then again I don't really know what I am talking about. I do know that the only way to prevent it is to remove the battery from your phone. Btw, you can't take the battery out of your Iphone. (Not easilly anyway).
Privacy is dead and being chopped up by the buzzards. Get used to it. Any new appliance that you buy that has internet connectivity of any sort will be spying on you. Even the water meter in my house now has wireless so that it no longer requires a person to come and read it. I have no idea if they are tracking my usage or just the total quantity. My guess is both. Someday the government will probably want to monitor your thermostat too.
Progressive insurance company will give you a "Snapshot discount" if you agree to allow a tracking/monitoring device to be installed in your car to monitor your driving behavior and frequency. How long before they want to make it mandatory? Btw, every new car has a black box that records many things like speed, g-force, throttle and brake position etc. The new Nissan GTRs that are sold to the Japanese market won't let the engine produce full power unless the GPS senses that it is at a track. It's probably coming here too. Cars will someday automatically report your speed to the authorities causing your bank account to be instantly debited. Even if you drive nice you will still pay a mileage tax.
Its coming.
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05:05 AM
jaskispyder Member
Posts: 21510 From: Northern MI Registered: Jun 2002
Frankly, if someone wanted to track me, great. Most of the time my phone is in and and out of service, so I guess I would look like I could travel though space.
Until the data is transferred somewhere without my permission and used to identify *me* personally its still my data, encrypted on my computer ( my machine is whole disk encrypted ). So what?
And you all can remove your tinfoil hats, its all about future marketing plans.. Much as everyone online does now. Got an account with Amazon for example? They track what you have done and check out your cookies to offer products to you. Google tracks too, for their marketing. Does that make them evil?
Ya, targeted marketing is annoying as hell but its not *evil*.
The new Nissan GTRs that are sold to the Japanese market won't let the engine produce full power unless the GPS senses that it is at a track. It's probably coming here too.
I think in the US they would be hit with a class action for selling a defective product not consistent with their advertising.
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09:26 AM
Apr 26th, 2011
spark1 Member
Posts: 11159 From: Benton County, OR Registered: Dec 2002
According to MacRumors, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has reportedly taken it upon himself to respond to an email from a concerned iOS user. Here’s the inquiring email:
“Steve, Could you please explain the necessity of the passive location-tracking tool embedded in my iPhone? It’s kind of unnerving knowing that my exact location is being recorded at all times. Maybe you could shed some light on this for me before I switch to a Droid. They don’t track me.”
And here’s how Jobs allegedly responded:
“Oh yes they do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false.”
Yes... two file on phone. Only diff files aren't sent to Google by default and files have limit... 10-20 entries for one and 200 entries for other. But... Once data is written, data is good for ages... Only time data is kill as when other need more space. Simple? Use DBAN like software.... Using DBAN or other HD wipes don't work well for Flash memory. Read how Flash memory work...
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
Any new phone can. I have nothing to back this up but I believe that the voice recognition software built into your phone automatically flags certain words that you say so that your conversations can be listened to later by some monitoring group. But then again I don't really know what I am talking about.
Its coming.
I've "screamed" about this before on here, but I think I was ignored.
I'm not sure what's happened in the past few years, but I was the guy setting up the systems in the switch sites. I didn't have clearance for everything, there were places that were only wired in place when nobody else was there.
There are buildings the size of several football fields that are full of data storage. Every phone call that goes through these switch sites is recorded, every call you ever make has to go through these switch sites. Texts are stored as well.
We set up "mirror" sites where the data was mirrored from the main backbone into large storage systems. no drop in signal, no way to tell it was recorded, the data was merely copied as it went past.
All of this was stored for the Federal Government, not the individual phone companies. I have no idea what they did with all this data, or why it was stored. I also have no idea how long the data was stored for. I was told that they had the data, and if something came up they could then get warrants for past calls. I'm sure the Patriot act did away with most of the laws surrounding this.
It doesn't matter what phone you use, or that you shut it off. I'm sure data is recorded on who you call, for how long, what you say, and what towers were used. Even on an old phone. The switch to digital has just made this easier.
Brad
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04:00 AM
NoMoreRicers Member
Posts: 2192 From: Spokane, WA Registered: Mar 2009
Any new phone can. I have nothing to back this up but I believe that the voice recognition software built into your phone automatically flags certain words that you say so that your conversations can be listened to later by some monitoring group. But then again I don't really know what I am talking about. I do know that the only way to prevent it is to remove the battery from your phone. Btw, you can't take the battery out of your Iphone. (Not easilly anyway).
Privacy is dead and being chopped up by the buzzards. Get used to it. Any new appliance that you buy that has internet connectivity of any sort will be spying on you. Even the water meter in my house now has wireless so that it no longer requires a person to come and read it. I have no idea if they are tracking my usage or just the total quantity. My guess is both. Someday the government will probably want to monitor your thermostat too.
Progressive insurance company will give you a "Snapshot discount" if you agree to allow a tracking/monitoring device to be installed in your car to monitor your driving behavior and frequency. How long before they want to make it mandatory? Btw, every new car has a black box that records many things like speed, g-force, throttle and brake position etc. The new Nissan GTRs that are sold to the Japanese market won't let the engine produce full power unless the GPS senses that it is at a track. It's probably coming here too. Cars will someday automatically report your speed to the authorities causing your bank account to be instantly debited. Even if you drive nice you will still pay a mileage tax.
Its coming.
These are the kind of thoughts that prevent me from sleeping at night.
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04:11 AM
Mickey_Moose Member
Posts: 7494 From: Edmonton, AB, Canada Registered: May 2001
Originally posted by RACE: . The new Nissan GTRs that are sold to the Japanese market won't let the engine produce full power unless the GPS senses that it is at a track. It's probably coming here too. .
The reason for this on the Japanese market models is because Japan has a law limiting all cars to a maximum of 180kph (112mph) on the road. Even police cars are limited!
This guy has released a free app that deletes the file every 30 min (for you 'lemmings' that have an iPhone).
Deleting Files won't work. Any Flash memory as same problem. Even with "wiping" can get files back most time. Do not confuse with Flash as a Hard/Floppy Disk. They operate in far different ways in "hardware" level. (See "Wear leveling" and search Google etc. Most Flash controllers use Wear Leveling.) Any police/ICE/etc with dump all flash, including deleted file.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
This is news? Really? Android does this also (do you _really_ think GOOGLE doesn't gather that information? Are you kidding me? Their whole business model is based on gathering information!).
And, you think that even a plain-jane cell phone isn't tracked? Guess again. If 'they' want to know where you have been, all they have to do is triangulate your location based on cell towers you have been near, which the carriers are quite happy to track (and do).
The ONLY way to NOT be able to be tracked is to NOT use any cellular devices. Otherwise, you are 'on the radar'.
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03:40 PM
May 2nd, 2011
dsnover Member
Posts: 1668 From: Cherryville, PA USA Registered: Apr 2006