Secret Tracking Code Found In iPhone Software
Didn’t the Devil deceive Eve with an apple, too?
While iPhone and iPad owners waffled between Skynet jokes and genuine concern over yesterday’s confirmation that the devices may be mapping their every move, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., got down to business, firing off nine pointed questions in a two-page open letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
The tech-savvy senator cuts to the chase — the fact that iPhones and iPads running iOS 4 record and store users’ locations in unencrypted files is serious. Sen. Franken’s letter begins:
I read with concern a recent report by security researchers that Apple’s iOS 4 operating system is secretly compiling its customers’ location data in a file stored on iPhones, 3G iPads and every computer that users use to “sync” their devices. According to the researchers, this file contains consumers’ latitude and longitude for every day they used an iPhone or 3G iPad running the iOS 4 operating system — sometimes logging their precise geo-location up to 100 times a day. The researchers who discovered this file found that it contained up to a year’s worth of data, starting from the day they installed the iOS4 operating system. What is even more worrisome is that this file is stored in an unencrypted format on customers’ iPads, iPhones and every computer a customer has used to back up his or her information.
As well as igniting privacy concerns that make Facebook issues seem downright cuddly, the open cache of very specific information “[opens] the door for a jealous spouse, thief, or even a crafty trojan to take a detailed look at your whereabouts,” writes Ars Technica. “And it’s information that no one should have access to — not even law enforcement, barring a court order.”
Researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden developed an open source application, iPhone Tracker, to illustrate their findings. Msnbc.com reporter Rosa Golijan tested the app yesterday and found “an eerily accurate replay of my travels around my home.” Further, “the location markers get unnervingly close to some of my favorite haunts.” [See the detailed report, complete with maps, here.]
It’s not clear why Apple is recording this information, though the researchers believe Apple is doing it intentionally. Apple hasn’t released a public statement, nor has the company responded to reporter requests for comments.” source – MSNBC
| Print article | This entry was posted by NTEB News Desk on April 21, 2011 at 4:18 pm, and is filed under End Times. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
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about 2 years ago
I think TracFone does the same but it is mentioned in the owner’s manual somewhere. But This Skynet stuff is confusing. I was reading Wikipedia the other day and it said that Skynet was activated August 24, 1997 and became self-ware on August 29, 1997. So where did this April 20th, 2011 stuff come from?, is this the day Skynet starts the Machine vs Man War? But this is mostly fictional movie scripts but it does show how the the two propehts of Revelation could be seen by everyone on earth at the same time when they die after there witnessing period.
about 2 years ago
All I can say is that if Skynet has become self aware, then its Judgement day so may as well kiss our ass’s goodbye an hope John Conner can defeat the machines!!! GO JOHN!