iPhone and Android tracking

[HunkyLuke]

Have you read about the new tracking controversies in the news? Both Apple and Google are taking flack for their tracking technologies in iPhones and Android phones. And this is causing quite a lot of concern about privacy as geo-locations are being stored in databases, which are already actively being used by police to track people.

Apple has been tracking and recording the geographic time-stamped locations of cell towers that are being pinged as users roam, while Google has been doing the same when Android phones access any wifi zones, recording the router's precise location and broadcast it for all the world to see.

Alex Levinson, a forensics expert specializing in mobile devices, blogged here that “geolocational artifacts were one of the single most important forensic vectors found on” the devices. As a result, he wrote a proprietary program called Lantern that law enforcement agencies use to actively examine the contents of the iPhone location database.

Levinson also said iPhone location tracking has gone on much longer than indicated by Warden and Allan, who claimed it began with the introduction of Apple's iOS 4 in late June. In fact, said Levinson, earlier iPhones contained a hidden file called h-cells.plist that contained much of the same baseband radio locations that consolidated.db has now.

A Google spokeswoman issued a statement that read
"All location sharing on Android is opt-in by the user. We provide users with notice and control over the collection, sharing and use of location in order to provide a better mobile experience on Android devices. Any location data that is sent back to Google location servers is anonymized and is not tied or traceable to a specific user."

We're guessing the only way to opt out is to exchange your Android device for a competing handset. We're not sure what to make of the word "anonymized," given the inclusion of a unique ID. We're guessing a determined law enforcement agent might be able to piece together enough of the information Google collects to figure out who you are.

These are from a couple of articles here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/22/apple_iphone_location_tracking_analysis/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/22/google_android_privacy_concerns/

Privacy is becoming more and more an issue these days as companies proceed with tracking and storing information that we never consented to providing. I for one hope that both Google and Apple get in some serious trouble for these latest tracking technologies, otherwise what's to stop all cell phone makers and distributors from doing the same.

[nickbaer]

I'd like to see the map of my travels over the past few years. I've had my current iPhone since Oct 2009, 1st iPhone July 2007, and my iPad since July 2010.

How do I see this map?

[HunkyLuke]

The new file consolidated.db is stored on the User partition within the iPhone’s file structure. The old file (before iOS 4.0) was called h-cells.plist and it was located in the system partition. I suspect you can find an app online that will match it to a google map.

[HunkyLuke]

I just found this site, it may help: http://petewarden.github.com/iPhoneTracker/#2

[HunkyLuke]

The latest info on this is that CNET has discovered that Microsoft is ALSO recording time-stamped geo location tracking information from Windows phones.

Microsoft has admitted that Windows phones transmit a unique ID along with nearby wireless networks, their signal strength, and GPS-extracted location to the company's servers. Windows phones don't store any of the locations on the device itself.

So no matter what your choice of phone, it looks like big brother is not only watching but also recording your info.

[daedal]

Am I the only one that took it for granted, if you was using some sort of GPS or Internet on the move, then you was being tracked.

The very nature of the system means that you are accessing something, and it's really no different to accessing a website from home and that website knowing your location based on your IP address.

It's been known for years that when ever you use your phone to make a call your exact location could be tracked, it's really just an add on to that.