Hell Freezes Over, Apple Admits Locationgate Went Too Far (Kind of)

[x12_Carnage]

Lmao @ apple

[Agustin]

lol all they have to say next is "its a part of the 911 feature we are implementing into our newer ios builds for our customers safety so if your ever in trouble and need assistance fast such as police ems etc.. your iphone device will automaticly send the 911 operator your exact location and closest hotspot incase they need to google your injury"

[Trooper Sam]

This makes more sense to me...after viewing the data, and noticing large omissions in places I'd frequently visited, and large amounts of data in places I hadn't spent much time in, the crowdsource explanation does make sense.

[JacquesChirac]

"Calculating a phone's location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites"

This is just a big fat blatant lie. It's complete bulls$%t and it would be foolish for me to believe anything else apple says.

I installed the cydia mod that prevents the phone from recording that information and has deleted that information, and my GPS localizing time has been completely unaffected. And normal GPS devices, whether on cell phones or not, do not use this data-acquisition nonsense and it does not take them any longer to find your location.

[GenesisDH]

"Calculating a phone's location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites"

This is just a big fat blatant lie. It's complete bulls$%t and it would be foolish for me to believe anything else apple says.

I installed the cydia mod that prevents the phone from recording that information and has deleted that information, and my GPS localizing time has been completely unaffected. And normal GPS devices, whether on cell phones or not, do not use this data-acquisition nonsense and it does not take them any longer to find your location.

The first part of your post is right, but the second part isn't.

It actually does take longer for a GPS signal alone to be acquired at first. A-GPS, which is what most cell phones, newer GPS units, and the iPhone uses by default, lessens that time by as much as 10 times.

My E-71 backup, which can optionally disable A-GPS, can take up to 5 minutes to acquire a location without cell tower or wifi data. With them, it takes 30 seconds or less.

This locationd thing is almost excusively a log, nothing else.

[tudtran]

I don't really have problem with the whole locationgate. Then again I'm faithful to my gf (so far) :-)

[unison999]

[I]no, it's not logging, it's doing something just LIKE logging only we call it something else here at apple, therefore it's not "logging"

Don't you know logging is what lumberjacks do, there is no lumberjacks in Apple so we are not logging.

[Rescuer]

Don't you know logging is what lumberjacks do, there is no lumberjacks in Apple so we are not logging.

[kuhndsn]

Shoot all phones should track location. BUT!!! Only Police should be able to get the info if a crime was committed (murder, rape etc...). And only the time frame of the suspected crime.

No different than DNA or someone pointing the finger that is a whitness in a crime. He'll the brain stores locations as well... Lol.

Of course there are people that think we are always being watched. If that was the case no one would be missing. Plus we would have to hire just about every person in china to watch and track each of us.

Bottom line....don't commit a crime!!!

[Taranis17]

Bottom line....don't commit a crime!!!

Bullcrap.

We have a legal right to privacy, also known as the right to NOT be watched. Saying, "if you're not committing a crime, then you have nothing to worry about" is a socialist cop-out. Why don't you just hand the cops and your health insurance provider a copy of your DNA profile? You know, "just in case they need it." *wink-wink*

Is it anyone's business but my own that I'm at Starbucks at 7:04 a.m., or that I'm on 408 between point (a) and point (b) at 6:50? No. Just because I'm not committing a crime does not give the government, a corporation or any other entity the right to know my whereabouts at any given time.

Paragraph 3. is all I need to read to know that Apple is, indeed, keeping track of the locations of millions of users' iPhones:
.
"3. .....The iPhone is not logging your location....it's maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location,....to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. ..... These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a ... database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by ... millions of iPhones sending the ... locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers ... to Apple.
(edited to remove the "chaff.")

So it's not logging my location, but it "maintaining" (i.e. sending/receiving data) an Apple-based database of cell towers around my location and sending that information back to Apple while using it to triangulate my position? Gee, that sounds like "logging my location and sending that information to Apple" to me!

And I (the "confused consumer") am confused? No, I'm not. I see it for what it is. Apple screwed up, and are trying to obfuscate their explanation in plain sight with cute catch-phrases like, "crowd sourced", "geo-tagged", and my personal favorite, "appropriate subset (cache)"

Hey Stevie J.: Not all of us are as stupid as you think.

[kuhndsn]

Bullcrap.

We have a legal right to privacy, also known as the right to NOT be watched. Saying, "if you're not committing a crime, then you have nothing to worry about" is a socialist cop-out. Why don't you just hand the cops and your health insurance provider a copy of your DNA profile? You know, "just in case they need it." *wink-wink*

Is it anyone's business but my own that I'm at Starbucks at 7:04 a.m., or that I'm on 408 between point (a) and point (b) at 6:50? No. Just because I'm not committing a crime does not give the government, a corporation or any other entity the right to know my whereabouts at any given time.

Paragraph 3. is all I need to read to know that Apple is, indeed, keeping track of the locations of millions of users' iPhones:
.
"3. .....The iPhone is not logging your location....it's maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location,....to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. ..... These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a ... database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by ... millions of iPhones sending the ... locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers ... to Apple.
(edited to remove the "chaff.")

So it's not logging my location, but it "maintaining" (i.e. sending/receiving data) an Apple-based database of cell towers around my location and sending that information back to Apple while using it to triangulate my position? Gee, that sounds like "logging my location and sending that information to Apple" to me!

And I (the "confused consumer") am confused? No, I'm not. I see it for what it is. Apple screwed up, and are trying to obfuscate their explanation in plain sight with cute catch-phrases like, "crowd sourced", "geo-tagged", and my personal favorite, "appropriate subset (cache)"

Hey Stevie J.: Not all of us are as stupid as you think.

Socialist copout? Really? Wrong description brother.

Yes you do have a right to privacy. And we all have a right to people not committing crimes. I feel your point but on the flip side WHO cares!

Lastly things like this are blown way out of proportion sometimes. Before I retired i was in international forensics for 22 years. I can tell you that unless you are a hermit you leave traces of where what and who you are on a daily basis.

Oh and please... I didn't respond to get you all wound up... I can argue both sides very easily. However, I am a father with kids and tend to look at things like this as need with all the crimes against kids these days. But... unfortunately there are those that would exploit "location tracking" and do more harm than good.

[politicalslug]

I hope this "fix" has an option to opt out. I, for one, appreciate not only the benefit afforded by tower logging, but also the ability to store all location data points to later see where I've been, should I find the urge to do so. All these people act like their whereabouts are a big secret they must hide. Wake up people, no one gives a damn where you have been. Get over yourselves.

[creasy425]

Bullcrap.

We have a legal right to privacy, also known as the right to NOT be watched. Saying, "if you're not committing a crime, then you have nothing to worry about" is a socialist cop-out. Why don't you just hand the cops and your health insurance provider a copy of your DNA profile? You know, "just in case they need it." *wink-wink*

Is it anyone's business but my own that I'm at Starbucks at 7:04 a.m., or that I'm on 408 between point (a) and point (b) at 6:50? No. Just because I'm not committing a crime does not give the government, a corporation or any other entity the right to know my whereabouts at any given time.

Paragraph 3. is all I need to read to know that Apple is, indeed, keeping track of the locations of millions of users' iPhones:
.
"3. .....The iPhone is not logging your location....it's maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location,....to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. ..... These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a ... database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by ... millions of iPhones sending the ... locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers ... to Apple.
(edited to remove the "chaff.")

So it's not logging my location, but it "maintaining" (i.e. sending/receiving data) an Apple-based database of cell towers around my location and sending that information back to Apple while using it to triangulate my position? Gee, that sounds like "logging my location and sending that information to Apple" to me!

And I (the "confused consumer") am confused? No, I'm not. I see it for what it is. Apple screwed up, and are trying to obfuscate their explanation in plain sight with cute catch-phrases like, "crowd sourced", "geo-tagged", and my personal favorite, "appropriate subset (cache)"

Hey Stevie J.: Not all of us are as stupid as you think.

Well said sir. Well said.

[unison999]

I hope this "fix" has an option to opt out. I, for one, appreciate not only the benefit afforded by tower logging, but also the ability to store all location data points to later see where I've been, should I find the urge to do so. All these people act like their whereabouts are a big secret they must hide. Wake up people, no one gives a damn where you have been. Get over yourselves.

I've had untrackerd installed, tested native google map AND MSN GPS Drive application. Both of them worked at the same speed as before, google traffic is as inaccurate as before. This log is not being used, you would turn the thing off when you notice it is service no purpose.

[steve-z17]

What...

I don't think I used too many big words in my post....

[JacquesChirac]

What's A-GPS?

How could a log of your wifi from a week ago affect your ability to target your location?

[djarkiz]

Can't u just find that location file in "iFile" and delete it, could have sworn I saw "LocationTdb" under iTunes_Control

[The Amazing Atheist]

Good god! The way Apple responds makes us look the idiots!

Anyone who thinks they're being tracked by apple deserves it.

FINE THEM !

What if next they will install a keylogger just to be able to offer in the future a nebulous "feature" ?

Why not cache and send to apple my bank accounts info if I use it from the iphone ? Just in case they would ever devise in the future a "feature" to "help" me in case I forgot my password ?

FINE HIM. Only that way they might stop these constant freedom/privacy violations.

You're a tool. You joined this site to spew your paranoid half witted comments?

i love how people are so ****** naive!! apple tracks you, its not a bug, they just have really great excuses to make it sound pretty and have people still buy their products! If you guys noticed they keep talking about wifi and cell towers, but they cant give you a croncrete ****** answer!! and they will keep tracking you, even after "the update" they said it themselves. Wake up people!!! other phones like android and htc dont track you and we still get good "accurate information"

Ahh yet another paranoid post. Let me make this very clear to you.

No, apple doesn't track you. I mean really, you're THAT special? a multi-billion dollar company just wants to know where you eat and and where you deposit your **** afterwards?

And you don't think other phones keep track of your location? You my friend are living in the 18th century. EVERY CELL PHONE, ESPECIALLY THE SMART PHONES! keep track of your location via cell towers. Don't want to be "tracked"? Then get off the grid. No cell phones, GPS, sattelite, computers, ipods, etc.

Apple is getting soft without Jobs at the helm, Jobs would never allowed admitting to even a bug in the programming. Apple is infallible!!!



Do you even have an Android? They let owners opt out and turn off the location tracking. Unlike Apple's current setup. Which btw saves a lot of battery.



They check in with full knowledge of the owner and have option not to use it, this tracking is done in the background on iPhone and no option to turn off!

They can opt out of that, but it'll still keep track of their location

bullcrap.

We have a legal right to privacy, also known as the right to not be watched. Saying, "if you're not committing a crime, then you have nothing to worry about" is a socialist cop-out. Why don't you just hand the cops and your health insurance provider a copy of your dna profile? You know, "just in case they need it." *wink-wink*

Is it anyone's business but my own that i'm at starbucks at 7:04 a.m., or that i'm on 408 between point (a) and point (b) at 6:50? No. Just because i'm not committing a crime does not give the government, a corporation or any other entity the right to know my whereabouts at any given time.

Paragraph 3. Is all i need to read to know that apple is, indeed, keeping track of the locations of millions of users' iphones:
.
"3. .....the iphone is not logging your location....it's maintaining a database of wi-fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location,....to help your iphone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. ..... These calculations are performed live on the iphone using a ... Database of wi-fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by ... Millions of iphones sending the ... Locations of nearby wi-fi hotspots and cell towers ... To apple.
(edited to remove the "chaff.")

so it's not logging my location, but it "maintaining" (i.e. Sending/receiving data) an apple-based database of cell towers around my location and sending that information back to apple while using it to triangulate my position? Gee, that sounds like "logging my location and sending that information to apple" to me!

And i (the "confused consumer") am confused? No, i'm not. I see it for what it is. Apple screwed up, and are trying to obfuscate their explanation in plain sight with cute catch-phrases like, "crowd sourced", "geo-tagged", and my personal favorite, "appropriate subset (cache)"

hey stevie j.: Not all of us are as stupid as you think.

who is watching you?!?!!?!?!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!?!!?!?! !?!?!?!

Can't u just find that location file in "iFile" and delete it, could have sworn I saw "LocationTdb" under iTunes_Control

don't delete anything you don't know about, you'll mess up your device and have to restore.