Apple posts Q&A on Location Data
Following the media circus/storm last week involving location data, how it's collected and where it's stored, Apple has decided to post an online Q&A to address the issues.
- Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so. - Then why is everyone so concerned about this?
Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite. Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date. - Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple. - Is this crowd-sourced database stored on the iPhone?
The entire crowd-sourced database is too big to store on an iPhone, so we download an appropriate subset (cache) onto each iPhone. This cache is protected but not encrypted, and is backed up in iTunes whenever you back up your iPhone. The backup is encrypted or not, depending on the user settings in iTunes. The location data that researchers are seeing on the iPhone is not the past or present location of the iPhone, but rather the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone’s location, which can be more than one hundred miles away from the iPhone. We plan to cease backing up this cache in a software update coming soon (see Software Update section below). - Can Apple locate me based on my geo-tagged Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
No. This data is sent to Apple in an anonymous and encrypted form. Apple cannot identify the source of this data. - People have identified up to a year’s worth of location data being stored on the iPhone. Why does my iPhone need so much data in order to assist it in finding my location today?
This data is not the iPhone’s location data—it is a subset (cache) of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple into the iPhone to assist the iPhone in rapidly and accurately calculating location. The reason the iPhone stores so much data is a bug we uncovered and plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below). We don’t think the iPhone needs to store more than seven days of this data. - When I turn off Location Services, why does my iPhone sometimes continue updating its Wi-Fi and cell tower data from Apple’s crowd-sourced database?
It shouldn’t. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below). - What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years. - Does Apple currently provide any data collected from iPhones to third parties?
We provide anonymous crash logs from users that have opted in to third-party developers to help them debug their apps. Our iAds advertising system can use location as a factor in targeting ads. Location is not shared with any third party or ad unless the user explicitly approves giving the current location to the current ad (for example, to request the ad locate the Target store nearest them). - Does Apple believe that personal information security and privacy are important?
Yes, we strongly do. For example, iPhone was the first to ask users to give their permission for each and every app that wanted to use location. Apple will continue to be one of the leaders in strengthening personal information security and privacy.
Read on for more...
[Apple PR]
Software Update
Sometime in the next few weeks Apple will release a free iOS software update that:
- reduces the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone,
- ceases backing up this cache, and
- deletes this cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.
In the next major iOS software release the cache will also be encrypted on the iPhone.
So there you have it, Apple's reply. Any questions they still haven't answered to your satisfaction?
There are 27 comments. Add yours.
I still don't know why people are making such a big deal out of this it's absolutely dumb as hell
Do you not know how to form proper sentences?
Do you not know that this is the internet and crying over that stuff is just silly?
kill yourself @Michael
Sorry I didn't know I was still in college and had to make sure professor Michael didn't give me a F
Agreed. I mean if you are that worried over people tracking you then what are you hiding? Besides the goverment (who has far more advanced tech then you can get from Apple) can track you. Hell they can take a satliate and beam it down to your back porch and see you picking your nose or doing a bong. Hell those planes you see flying around? They could be spy planes just watching you. Thats what they do in iraq. They are even working on a robot bird that can fly and have a 360 degree view and go undected.
I'm not in all too worried over this as I have nothing to hide.
The 'nothing to hide' argument is such a terrible way of thinking. How about you open up your wallet and let me look through it? How about you post all of your most personal documents up on the internet so everyone can take a peek?
"The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom." - Supreme Court Justice William Douglas
You're correct. Our privacy is slowly being eroded, in large part, because of technology. However, our right to privacy should never change. Just because our privacy can be invaded so easily, it doesn't mean it's ok to do so. When you give up that right, you give up a piece of your freedom.
If you choose to use a device that tracks you, it's obviously your choice to give up that right. We make those choices everyday. But in this case, the issue people were angry about was that Apple didn't provide their customers with the opportunity to provide informed consent. They didn't tell us that the device was storing a year's worth of data that could tell anyone where you've been and they didn't give us an opportunity to opt out (which we now know is because of a bug).
Should you just assume your cell phone manufacturer is tracking you? In today's day and age... maybe. But that's not up to Apple to decide.
I'm glad Apple finally - a week later - clarified what's going on with this.
I cant believe people are so nieve in this day and age of technology, Apple are tracking me...what do you have to hide?
Since the invention of the mobile phone, it has been possible to compose a list of the cell towers you have access via your mobile phone, put your brains into gear, how do you think you phone company can bill you if they dont know where your phone is?
If you dont want to be found, dump your laptop and mobile phone in the bin and stop using the internet.
It's because people are paranoid and they think the FBI, CIA, MI5 etc etc are all watching them. They don't realize that if someone wants to find out what they are doing they don't need to use any form of tracking they just follow you, it's low tech but it works and it's accurate.
I think too many people REALLY DO think that they have something to hide and these cretins don't realize that they are tracked in every day life regardless of how well they think they are keeping off the grid.
Again it just shows that the people that found this file and made a big deal are not as 'smart or clever' as they claim. This file is exactly what Apple has been claiming and has no relation to what you are doing or where you have been. It is simply an aid to improve functionality of location services.
Personally if anyone is worried about this data then they should change phones, I know let's use a windows 7 based phone or an Android phone...
... maybe not, they do exactly the same thing. Guess Payphones at the roadside will have to make a comeback for the paranoid and those that are scared of getting caught doing something they don't want to.
If your worried about being tracked do go android they track your location and send it directly to google. This was also exposed this week but reports were scares as everyone has to hate on apple everychance they get... Not sure on WinMo though
"The file...has no relation to what you are doing or where you have been."
That's simply incorrect. The file has a direct relation to where you have been. It records nearby hotshots and cell towers.
I'm a HUGE fan of the iPhone and Apple, but I'm constantly amazed at how much leeway fellow fanboys give Apple..."Go marry an android phone if you love it so much!". Really? Apple is beyond any criticism?
Your idea that only cretins need privacy is un-American where we believe strongly that it's no one's business where we go! We have to keep pushing for our rights to privacy, even if it us our beloved Apple.
I too think, that worrying about such things are no use. You are being tracked by your Govt., By your Bank, By your Employers and what not.. even if you do not own an iPhone or an Android!
im much more worried about my psn account being hacked. thats what im really pissed at
You know what they'd get from my location data? Single-point-location (work desk) with an occasional change to the local McDonald's.
LOL...now that's funny!
im personally not worried about it but i could see why some people are. its a huge invasion of privacy and the fact is that yeah they are tracking the phones so why deny it. my android is tracked as well and i dont see as much hoopla over that
Well, I just hope this is good enough for Senator Franken. Those idiots that filed lawsuits ought to be laughed out of court (and fined for wasting the court's time).
Nobody should ever be "fined for wasting courts time" because being questioned by law is never "stupid". Tedious, unnecessary, but never bad. That's what makes the system work so well.
@ E, Thats the problem, the "system" doesn't work all that well because it is boged down with silly and usless law suits!
Oh no, break out your tin foil hats, the aliens are coming
these same tards that are so worried about being tracked by apple prob check in every where they go on Facebook. apple doesn't care where you are. stop it.
For those who don't see a need for tracking your cell phone I hope you are never in an emergency and need to call 911 from your cell phone. They might not be able to find you if they couldn't track your phone. What about tracking to find a stolen cell phone? If you are that paranoid, please don't by a GM car with Onstar service which can start, stop, lock or unlock your car. Technology can be intrusive however it can be very useful. Where's the balance? It's called choice. Let the consumer make an educated choice. I choose not to have a car with Onstar in it. I understand the government mandating the tracking of cell phones for the 911 service and the cell phone companies using tracking for a better cell phone experience but I would like more choice.
Apple has clearly been keeping track of where your phone has been to a large extent. Blame in on a bug sure. I'm only upset because I was not informed of this and was not given the chance to opt out. I'm glad somebody brought this to light and changes are being made. Maintaining your privacy does not make you paranoid. I have nothing to hide and I prefer to keep my personal life personal.
As some have mentioned...This is concern regarding our right of privacy which could lead to the degradation of that right. It is the ability of an individual or group of individuals to challenge the possible violation of this right which allows for checks and balances to protect our rights as citizens of the US. Sometimes these groups are just money hungry or seem whacked, but without them, we could lose the very rights we are entitled to. Can't have good without the evil or you wouldn't know the difference!
Considering Steve Jobs and how Apple seems to run the company, I have more faith in Apple doing the right thing versus Android. This is a huge reason that I felt safer to switching from Blackberry to an Apple device rather than Android. Seems that once something is in question, Apple may BS about the real intentions, but they in turn do what is socially acceptable because they do want to keep all of us customers happy which will keep them in business over the long haul.
It is nice to see young people understand the concept of "Big Brother Watching". I do not really worry about it. No matter what door you close, they will just open another one. Live your life, and stay happy. Remember, prayer is asking for rain. Faith is carrying an umbrella. Nothing to do with this subject, but a great saying. Our faith is there will be an iPhone 5 in June 2011.
I wish Apple had answered every single question with "Doesn't matter." :roll:
Doesn't explain why Apple's chief counsel told Congress that they do track, and share with partners, last June.