APPLE’S iPhone keeps track of the places that you go to. Worse, it saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device. These details are then copied to the iPhone owner’s computer as soon as the two are synchronized.
This has been revealed by security researchers who studied the iPhone recently.
According to them, the file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone’s recorded coordinates along with a timestamp. What it simply means is that in case your phone is lost or stolen, anyone can discover details about the owner’s movements using a simple computer program.
In some iPhone devices, almost a year’s worth of data could be stored.
One of the researchers Pete Warden says: “Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you’ve been.”
The researchers also set out find out if other phones like Google’s Android phones records the user’s location. However, they said only iPhone has this facility which could be adverse to the user.
Alasdair Allan, another researcher, said they looked for similar tracking code in Android phones and couldn’t find any.
Simon Davies, director of the pressure group Privacy International, was quoted in a news report as saying: “This is a worrying discovery. Location is one of the most sensitive elements in anyone’s life – just think where people go in the evening. The existence of that data creates a real threat to privacy. The absence of notice to users or any control option can only stem from an ignorance about privacy at the design stage.”
