Mac2Windows
Fuss Over iPhone Location Data a Tempest in a Teapot
- 2011.05.10 - Tip Jar
Follow Alan Zisman on Twitter.
Popularity: 
Short link: http://bit.ly/jeaF9R
Last week's big news in the high-tech office: Apple's iPhone and iPads (at least the 3G models) track users' locations.
Unfortunately, as is too often the case when the media try to report on technology, the headlines created more confusion than clarity.
Yes, it's true. Those Apple devices - along with smartphones running Google's competitive Android operating system - store a file logging locations (and times). The fear: Your boss could use this information to learn when you were at a hockey game rather than at work. Your spouse could find out when you were out with your other significant other.
Was "Locationgate" news? Not really. Apple released information on this a year ago, but no one paid it much attention at the time.
Is it a serious security concern? Again, not really. The information resides on your phone and on backups on your computer. Someone would need physical access to one of those systems to get the data - and the log file on the iPhone (etc.) is cryptic and hard to access.
How precise is the data? Not very. When I checked the location information stored by my iPad, it reported I'd taken it to Nanaimo. Except I hadn't. The closest I'd been was Bowen Island. At best, it showed that I'd visited a neighbourhood, not which stores I'd frequented.
(If you want to see where your iPhone or iPad thinks you've been and you sync to a Mac, download the iPhone Tracker utility created by O'Reilly researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden. No Windows version, sorry.)
Should you be worried? Not as far as I can tell. Without physical access to my device or my computer, the information - vague and unreliable as it is - isn't accessible to anyone. And if my iPad went missing, I would be more concerned about someone having access to my email and contacts, rather than knowing that I was in downtown Vancouver at lunchtime last Tuesday.
In fact, most smartphone users routinely give permission to share location information with a variety of apps. Those apps, in turn, share the information with advertisers, who pay to target users with location-specific ads. (According to the Wall Street Journal, the iPhone location data is collected even if "location services" has been disabled.)
If you're nervous about someone with access to your computer accessing the backup log file, you can - in iTunes when your iOS device is plugged in - choose the option to "encrypt iPhone Backup." You can also install Apple's free Find My iPhone app, so you remotely wipe your data if your device is lost or stolen.
My location is routinely tracked in lots of other ways. When I visit my rented storage locker, for instance, I enter a code when I drive in and out, and when I use the elevator. Have you used an ATM or a credit card lately? Or logged into your office's network? In each case, your location was stored in a database.
Apparently, the iPhone (etc.) location log file - which doesn't include accurate GPS data - is used by Apple and Google to fine-tune their abilities to (at least roughly) provide location information based on nearby cellphone transmission towers and WiFi routers. This information is then used on WiFi-only iPads and iPod touches, for instance, which lack GPS receivers, to provide rough location information.
There have also been reports that Apply may be using the location information to check on the strength of mobile phone signals, evaluating both its phone and its mobile providers' performance.
Apple's Steve Jobs has stated that Apple does not track users; data sent to Apple does not identify individual users.
So, iPhones, iPads, and Android smartphones and tablets keep a
record of where they are - more or less. And they periodically "phone
home" with that information. Should we treat this as a major invasion
of privacy? Probably not. 
Update: Apple has already released iOS updates for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. See today's iNews Review for more information.
First published in Business in Vancouver May 10-16, 2011 issue #1124
Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed
Alan Zisman is Mac-using teacher and technology writer based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Many of his articles are available on his website, www.zisman.ca. If you find Alan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.
Other articles by Alan Zisman
- 3 Ways to Use Microsoft Office on Your iPad, 2012.05.14. You can't run Microsoft Office natively on the iPad, but one of these workarounds may do the job for you.
- Adobe CS6: Why Buy When You Can Rent?, 2012.05.01. Adobe hopes its software users will switch to its $50/month Creative Cloud service rather than buy its software outright.
- iPad Dilemma: New iPad or Stick with the Old?, 2012.04.30. Compared with the original iPad, the New iPad has more power, a better screen, and a better camera, but does that really matter?
- More in the Mac 2 Windows index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Unitron Mac512, introduced 1985. Unauthorized Brazilian clone of the Mac 512K.
- May 24 in LEM history: 99: Mac sales up, iMac sales down? - 01: Speeding up digital photography - 02: The Internet, research, and plagiarism - 04: NewerTech TiBook battery - Optical mice from Contour - 06: Power Mac today or Intel tomorrow? - 07: G5: Apple's last fling with PowerPC - G3: From 233 MHz to 1.1 GHz
- Support Low End Mac
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Lion and the End of Bootable OS X Installers, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 2012.05.23. Mac OS X Lion is only available as an upgrade from Snow Leopard. Is this the end of bootable installers from Apple?
- Mac Pro on the Way Out or Changing with the Times?, Dan Bashur, Apple, Tech, and Gaming, 2012.05.22. No other desktop Mac offers a wide range of expansion options, but is that enough reason for Apple to keep the behemoth powerhouse Mac Pro around?
- iPhone 3D: Stereo Photography and 3D Movies for the Rest of Us, Anne Onymus, The Rumor Mill, 2012.05.22. Until now, stereo photography and 3D movies required expensive dedicated equipment. With the iPhone 3D, Apple will make it available to the masses.
- iPad 2 'Feels Like an Upgrade' from New iPad, Samsung Tops Apple in Smartphone Market, and More, iOS News Review, 2012.05.21. Also Apple to maintain tablet dominance, working in portrait mode, Wozniak would like to see end of walled garden, and more.
- MacBook Airs Top Ultrabooks, Boost MacBook Performance, MacBook Pro Update in June?, and More, The 'Book Review, 2012.05.21. Also Retina displays available now but costly, USB 3 expected in next MacBook rev, hybrid drives an affordable alternative to SSDs, and more.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals
- Best MacBook Air Deals
- Best iPad Deals
- Best iPod classic Deals
- Best Mac OS X 10.6, iLife, and iWork Deals
- Best 15" MacBook Pro Deals
- Best iBook G4 Deals
- Best Classic Mac OS Deals
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact
Follow
Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac
on Facebook
Low End Mac Reader Specials
Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
Cult of Mac
Shrine of Apple
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac Museum
Deal Brothers
DealMac
Mac2Sell
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End Mac FAQ
Affiliates
Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay
