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What Do You Think About iPhones Tracking You?

Mark Glaser

by Mark Glaser, April 22, 2011

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There is a bizarre competition among tech firms to see who can creep us out the most. First came Google and its peeping StreetView vans loaded with webcams. Then came Facebook and its "brilliant" Beacon feature that broadcast items you recently bought to your friends. Now comes news from a pair of researchers that Apple has a tracking file in iPhones and iPads with iOS 4 that saves your location data. And twice a day that information is beamed to Apple itself. Now that can be a good thing if you lose your iPhone or have it stolen. And law enforcement officers have been using tracking on phones to hunt down criminals for years. But what about this secret feature that few people knew about? Should Apple come clean? Fix it? Let you opt out? Share your thoughts in our poll, or give us your own take in the comments below.


Further Reading

> Got an iPhone or 3G iPad? Apple is recording your moves at O'Reilly Radar

> iPhone keeps record of everywhere you go at the Guardian

> Apple iPhone Tracking Is Probably a Mistake, Researchers Say at Bloomberg

> Investigators use iPhones to track owners' movements at SJ Mercury News

> iPhone Geo Data Row Rumbles On at Time Techland

> Apple, Google Collect User Data at Wall Street Journal

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Dave Schumaker used the iPhone Finder app to map his location over the past 6 months, and posted it on Flickr

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