Winehole23
04-27-2011, 12:15 PM
Apple's broken their silence on the iPhone location tracking controversy with an amazingly self-contradictory Q&A press release. Most notable: they say the massive data cache goes too far, and will be fixed in an impending software update.
Ever since last week's revelation that iPhones and iPads were persistently logging your location without your knowledge or consent, Apple's refused to offer up any sort of explanation. Meanwhile, foreign governments (http://gizmodo.com/#%215795433/will-foreign-governments-get-an-answer-out-of-apple), congress (http://gizmodo.com/#%215794186/congress-and-the-fcc-have-their-eyes-on-apple-tracking-scandal), and pissed off customers (http://gizmodo.com/#%215795685/apples-already-being-sued-over-the-iphone-tracking-scandal) wanted one. As did we. Today, we get one. Pretty much.
The release itself is full of more hedges than a Versailles topiary garden—insisting that "The iPhone is not logging your location," but that instead "it's maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested." While the latter part may be true, their "explanation" of the logging is an arrant falsehood, since the effect of the timestamped database kept by your phone is that it is de facto logging your location. We're not tracking your location, we're just tracking your location! Right. So while this is an admission of some wrongdoing--"We don't think the iPhone needs to store more than seven days of this data"—Apple still refuses to call a spade a spade. Your phone is logging your location, and has been since this summer (http://gizmodo.com/#%215793925/your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-everywhere-youve-been). I've seen it with my own eyes, and so have you. Their defense is akin to saying "I haven't been staring in your window at you while you're asleep, I've been looking inside and admiring all of your decor!"
http://gizmodo.com/#!5796140
Ever since last week's revelation that iPhones and iPads were persistently logging your location without your knowledge or consent, Apple's refused to offer up any sort of explanation. Meanwhile, foreign governments (http://gizmodo.com/#%215795433/will-foreign-governments-get-an-answer-out-of-apple), congress (http://gizmodo.com/#%215794186/congress-and-the-fcc-have-their-eyes-on-apple-tracking-scandal), and pissed off customers (http://gizmodo.com/#%215795685/apples-already-being-sued-over-the-iphone-tracking-scandal) wanted one. As did we. Today, we get one. Pretty much.
The release itself is full of more hedges than a Versailles topiary garden—insisting that "The iPhone is not logging your location," but that instead "it's maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested." While the latter part may be true, their "explanation" of the logging is an arrant falsehood, since the effect of the timestamped database kept by your phone is that it is de facto logging your location. We're not tracking your location, we're just tracking your location! Right. So while this is an admission of some wrongdoing--"We don't think the iPhone needs to store more than seven days of this data"—Apple still refuses to call a spade a spade. Your phone is logging your location, and has been since this summer (http://gizmodo.com/#%215793925/your-iphone-is-secretly-tracking-everywhere-youve-been). I've seen it with my own eyes, and so have you. Their defense is akin to saying "I haven't been staring in your window at you while you're asleep, I've been looking inside and admiring all of your decor!"
http://gizmodo.com/#!5796140