iPhone Location Tracking Leads to Privacy Lawsuit
Apple has been hit with a lawsuit in Florida alleging the company is violating iPhone user’s privacy and committing computer fraud. The case came in response to news that the iPhone maintains a time stamped location log, and that data is also stored on user’s computers.
The lawsuit was filed in Federal court in Tampa Florida on April 25 by two customers who claimed Apple was tracking iPhone owner’s movements without consent, according to Bloomberg.
The case was filed after word that the iPhone and iPad with 3G support maintains an unencrypted log file showing where users are based on cell tower triangulation. That file is transferred to user’s computers during the sync process with iTunes and is maintained as part of the device’s backup file collection.
Location logging has been active in the iPhone and 3G iPad since the release of iOS 4 last June, which means some users have nearly a year’s worth of data stored away. Apple is denying that they are actively tracking user locations.
Award-winning author and identity theft keynote speaker John Sileo trains executives and employees to respect and protect the data that makes their company profitable. His clients included the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, FDIC, Pfizer, Blue Cross and organizations of all sizes. Contact him directly on 800.258.8076 or watch him deliver an Identity Theft Speech.
iPhone and Droid Want to Be Your Big Brother
Remember the iconic 1984 Super Bowl ad with Apple shattering Big Brother? How times have changed! Now they are Big Brother.
According to recent Wall Street Journal findings, Apple Inc.’s iPhones and Google Inc.’s Android smartphones regularly transmit your locations back to Apple and Google, respectively. This new information only intensifies the privacy concerns that many people already have regarding smartphones. Essentially, they know where you are anytime your phone is on, and can sell that to advertisers in your area (or will be selling it soon enough).
The actual answer here is for the public to put enough pressure on Apple and Google that they stop the practice of tracking our location-based data and no longer collect, store or transmit it in any way without our consent.
You may ask, “don’t all cell phone carriers know where you are due to cell tower usage?” Yes, but Google and Apple are not cell phone carriers, they are software and hardware designers and should have no real reason (other than information control) to be tracking your every move without your knowledge. Google and Apple are not AT&T or Verizon, therefore they should not be recording, synching and transmitting your location like it appears they are.
iPad & Tablet Users Asking for Identity Theft
The identity theft and corporate data risk problem isn’t limited to iPad users – it affects all Tablets – but iPads are leading the way. With the rapid increase in highly powerful tablet computers, including the Motorola Xoon and Samsung Galaxy, a new survey is urging users to beware of the risks. Harris Interactive just released a study showing that tablet users transmit more sensitive information than they do on smartphones and are considerably less confident of the security protecting those tablets.
The survey shows that 48% of tablet users transfer sensitive data using the device while only 30% of smart phone users transfer sensitive information. The types of sensitive data included credit card, financial, personal and even proprietary business information. Many factors contribute to the increased risk:
- Users initially bought tablets as book readers and web browsers, but have increasingly added to their functionality with new Apps.
- Tablet computers are in their infancy and haven’t been equipped with the same security features as laptops and desktops.
- Corporate users haven’t yet been trained on securing the data on tablets.
- Tablets are more capable than smartphones, making it a natural laptop replacement, but without the robust, time-tested security.
- Indiscriminate App downloading (covered in detail in the Smartphone Survival Guide) greatly increases chances of accidentally loading malware to your tablet.
Using the iPhone 4 to Spy on Competitors
Steve Jobs unveiled Apple’s new iPhone 4 on June 7 in San Francisco. While the new features keep the iPhone at the forefront of technology, they also cause some privacy concerns.
One concern that carries over from previous iPhone models is the Always-on iPhone Apps that track your every move through the GPS navigation system. Back in April, Apple began allowing location-tracking applications to run in the background. So, for example, companies like FourSquare, Yelp, and Facebook can continuously track your location, providing automatic notifications to your friends when you are less than 1/2 mile away from them, if you allow them.
For example, I just had a highly confidential client meeting at the client’s corporate headquarters. To the uninitiated, that means that the company I was visiting is probably having data theft issues (and has brought me in to help). If the media finds out that they are having these issues before the company has had a chance to start the damage control process, their stock will drop far faster than if they have prepared for the news to go public. If Facebook or FourSquare is broadcasting my whereabouts, my followers already know which company is having the problem, their competitors know it (if they are following my GPS broadcasts), and the media sits and waits for me to enter the building. Luckily, I’m not well-known enough for anyone to care, but just in case, I don’t broadcast my whereabouts. Other, far more influential people, do so without thinking twice about it. Which goes to show you that there are ways to utilize all of the cool new technology without letting it control you. With the right knowledge, you can take control of how your information is utilized.
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