A pair of programmers has discovered that iOS 4 devices are regularly recording their positions to hidden files, which reside on the devices and are transferred to any computer the devices are synced with during backup. Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden report for O’Reilly that while working on data visualization projects, they discovered a file “consolidated.db” that contains latitude-longitude coordinates along with a timestamp, and while the coordinates aren’t always accurate, they are rather detailed. According to the report, it appears that the location collection started with iOS 4, and thus the file could potentially contain tens of thousands of data points, or an entire year’s worth of movements. The pair note that the file is unencrypted and unprotected, and have contacted Apple’s Product Security team, but have yet to hear back.
Are no verities eternal? Time was when we Apple fans could feel like we were buying from the good guys. Why, Al Gore is on the board. Remember that girl bringing down the Evil Empire in that long ago Super Bowl? Must we face a world in which Microsoft is Number Two and the Good Guy? Someone on Twitter has already speculated that divorce lawyers will be subpoenaing Iphones before you can blink, and, of course, the government won’t be far behind.
Still, Apple does still lead the way in certain respects. For instance, as these Onion Today Now panelists (or at least the informed among them) demonstrate, Apple holds the key to solving the unemployment crisis. But, how about the woman spouting a load of nonsense about liquidity crises?
Still, even though Apple does hold the key to solving the financial problem, the 1984ish spy capability of the Iphone does give me pause. I’m going to have to give some serious thought to breaking away from the new Evil Empire. I’ll definitely get around to it sometime after my new Ipad arrives, unless of course, Apple comes up with yet another new gizmo without which no life could be complete.
Post a Comment