Apple has said that about every 12 hours iOS devices send back encrypted and anonymous cell tower and Wi-Fi access-point location data. Apple then takes that data to update a master database of world wide cell tower locations. This data then updates in each iOS device to help it find its location faster as opposed to only using GPS to determine our locations.
Within smartphones there are also things called accelerometers that raise concern for a couple of reasons. An accelerometer is a device that measures acceleration and can be used to find the trajectory and starting point of an individual. This raises concern because a persons location is a serious invasion of privacy and security. Also current smartphone systems allow any application to observe accelerometer readings without requiring special privileges, and based off of our phones accelerometer hackers would be able to find out our starting point and based on the accelerometer they can determine our end locations. |
Apple has also said that it will only take data from your device of you are using the device's location services, and an iOS update ensures that the consolidated.db file will not log any cell- tower or Wi-Fi access-point information if you turn location services off.
Apple isn't alone with this either; Google is also doing similar things with their Android phone users. Just as Apple does, Google uses that data to maintain location databases. However, Google also sends back targeted ads and other location-relevant content. Google has also said that all the data sent back to it is anonymized, despite the fact that researchers have found that each users unique ID is included. |