Last week's big news in the high-tech office: Apple's iPhone and
iPads (at least the 3G models) track users' locations.
Unfortunately, as is too often the case when the media try to report
on technology, the headlines created more confusion than clarity.
Yes, it's true. Those Apple devices - along with smartphones running
Google's competitive Android operating system - store a file logging
locations (and times). The fear: Your boss could use this information
to learn when you were at a hockey game rather than at work. Your
spouse could find out when you were out with your other significant
other.
Was "Locationgate" news? Not really. Apple released information on
this a year ago, but no one paid it much attention at the time.
Is it a serious security concern? Again, not really. The information
resides on your phone and on backups on your computer. Someone would
need physical access to one of those systems to get the data - and the
log file on the iPhone (etc.) is cryptic and hard to access.
How precise is the data? Not very. When I checked the location
information stored by my iPad, it reported I'd taken it to Nanaimo.
Except I hadn't. The closest I'd been was Bowen Island. At best, it
showed that I'd visited a neighbourhood, not which stores I'd
frequented.
(If you want to see where your iPhone or iPad thinks you've been and
you sync to a Mac, download the iPhone Tracker utility
created by O'Reilly researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden. No
Windows version, sorry.)
Should you be worried? Not as far as I can tell. Without physical
access to my device or my computer, the information - vague and
unreliable as it is - isn't accessible to anyone. And if my iPad went
missing, I would be more concerned about someone having access to my
email and contacts, rather than knowing that I was in downtown
Vancouver at lunchtime last Tuesday.
In fact, most smartphone users routinely give permission to share
location information with a variety of apps. Those apps, in turn, share
the information with advertisers, who pay to target users with
location-specific ads. (According to the Wall Street Journal, the
iPhone location data is collected even if "location services" has been
disabled.)
If you're nervous about someone with access to your computer
accessing the backup log file, you can - in iTunes when your iOS device
is plugged in - choose the option to "encrypt iPhone Backup." You can
also install Apple's free
Find My iPhone app, so you remotely wipe your data if your device
is lost or stolen.
My location is routinely tracked in lots of other ways. When I visit
my rented storage locker, for instance, I enter a code when I drive in
and out, and when I use the elevator. Have you used an ATM or a credit
card lately? Or logged into your office's network? In each case, your
location was stored in a database.
Apparently, the iPhone (etc.) location log file - which doesn't
include accurate GPS data - is used by Apple and Google to fine-tune
their abilities to (at least roughly) provide location information
based on nearby cellphone transmission towers and WiFi routers. This
information is then used on WiFi-only iPads and iPod touches, for
instance, which lack GPS receivers, to provide rough location
information.
There have also been reports that Apply may be using the location
information to check on the strength of mobile phone signals,
evaluating both its phone and its mobile providers' performance.
Apple's Steve Jobs has stated that Apple does not track users; data
sent to Apple does not identify individual users.
So, iPhones, iPads, and Android smartphones and tablets keep a
record of where they are - more or less. And they periodically "phone
home" with that information. Should we treat this as a major invasion
of privacy? Probably not. 
Update: Apple has already released iOS updates for the iPhone, iPad,
and iPod touch. See today's iNews
Review for more information.
First published in Business in Vancouver May 10-16, 2011 issue #1124
