3G Apple iOS Devices Are Storing Users’ Location Data

[Brownian Motion]

Uh Oh

A hidden file on the Apple iPhone 4 and iPad 3G has been found to store location information.

This privacy glitch was discovered by two programmers, Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, who presented their findings at the location-centric O’Reilly Where 2.0 conference in San Francisco.

[Jim Alfredson]

And it gets better.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3458.asp

[papsrus]

Not secret, not new?

How is this data used? It’s used all the time by software running on the phone. Built-In applications such as Maps and Camera use this geolocational data to operate. ...

[Shawn]

And it gets better.

http://www.thenewspa...ews/34/3458.asp

that's more bothersome than the phone itself.

Of course the phone uses location data, how do people think these GPS devices really work?

[Rooster_Ties]

And it gets better.

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/34/3458.asp

From the article...

A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.

"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."

That's fucked up. Perhaps not that such a device exists (though one could argue that), but that some police appear to be using these during regular traffic stops, without a search order or anything even remotely like 'probable cause', is pretty outrageous.