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IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

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Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#171

Post by ars »

adsr wrote: post #137
phlux wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be "good enough for legal work" if they want to associate you with the location of a crime/event.

Not really, since you have physical access to the file you can edit it. That should immediately disqualify it as evidence. I think this type of data normally is gathered from the phone company when used as evidence, then the involved parties can not tamper with the file.

That's not how law works. They don't require absolute proof like in math. This will be included as evidence - evidence is not proof, it's weaker.

You can claim "I edited it", which then weakens the evidence. Then they will look for other evidence, and try to look at everything as a whole.

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#172

Post by nl »

jessedhillon wrote: post #167
nl wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assisted GPS is better than normal GPS. It uses towers to work out how to find the GPS satellites quicker than normal, and additionally can provide some location information when no GPS is available.

> Assisted GPS is better than normal GPS. Really? My Garmin device can locate itself without entailing the possibility of communicating my position to a third-party. There is no possibility that my checking my position can enable anyone else to know it as well. That's not true with AGPS. That is one pretty significant way that standalone is superior.

That is one pretty significant way that standalone is superior.

Maybe.

The majority of people just want to know where they are and the quicker the better.

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#173

Post by andrewgleave »

thought_alarm wrote: post #144
ugh wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location tracking on iOS devices without GPS (for example an iPod touch) sometimes works without any internet connection (it nearly always works with an internet connection – WLAN access points are used to determine the approximate location), especially in urban environments (with a lot of WLAN access points). I always figured that iOS devices download location info on all the surrounding WLAN access points (maybe ev…

Yes, when you use the location services in, say, a new city then your device will download and cache the WiFi location data for a large radius around that initial lookup the next time it has an internet connection. It's pretty cool, actually. That database isn't infinitely large, as unused location information will be removed as new location data comes in.

I seem to remember this being talked about at one last year's WWWDC sessions.

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#174

Post by pieter »

Of course, Apple would know your location most of the time anyway, whether or not this file exists. You send the ID's of cell towers and wifi points to Apple, which returns you the location of those points. Apple could always have been storing your location based on that interaction alone.

In fact, keeping a database like this could actually give Apple LESS information about your location, as you don't have to request a new location if you already have the info of all the near ID's in your database. I'm not sure if this actually happens though.

The same, of course, can be said for any Android device and Google's A-GPS database; you have no guarantees that Google isn't logging your location whenever you're using location services.

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#175

Post by ortatherox »

Atomika wrote: post #169
fredoliveira wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just went through the code and it is indeed pretty trivial to remove both restrictions. If you want to do it, in the iPhoneTrackingAppDelegate implementation file: * Change the precision variable on line 149 to something bigger than 100 (10000 did it for me) - this will mark points in the map with higher precision: const float precision = 10000; * Change the timeBucket variable on line 180 to change the date precis…

Yo! I realise the likelihood of you seeing this is very low, but is there any chance you would do a brief runthrough of how to implement this code? I'm very interested to increase the precision of this app but don't know enough and can't locate the iphonetrackingappdelegate file you speak of.. I'll check back often! Thanks..!

You need a Mac, git, and XCode

in terminal type: 'git clone https://github.com/petewarden/iPhoneTracker.git

open that new iPhoneTracker folder, and load up the xcodeproj ( iPhoneTracking.xcodeproj )

in there go to iPhoneTrackingAppDelegate.m on the left sidebar

from that look at line 179 for changing the time inbetween registering, and look at line 149 for the locational precision

with those changed, hit the play button in the top left corner and the app should build and run

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#176

Post by sigzero »

dustyreagan wrote: post #154
sigzero wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unethical? Really? I don't think it is that at all. A mistake it isn't encrypted? Yes.

I think the fact that they're logging my location without my knowledge or permission for their personal interests (whether their exploiting it now or not), is unethical. The lack of encryption is just an implementation oversight on their part.

It is covered in the EULA. You did read the EULA right? The only issue IS the lack of encryption.

Relevant portion: http://pastebin.com/EdFJr6iU

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#177

Post by Maxious »

andrewgleave wrote: post #173
thought_alarm wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, when you use the location services in, say, a new city then your device will download and cache the WiFi location data for a large radius around that initial lookup the next time it has an internet connection. It's pretty cool, actually. That database isn't infinitely large, as unused location information will be removed as new location data comes in.

I seem to remember this being talked about at one last year's WWWDC sessions.

I remember hearing this on reddit but the post is mirrored at http://www.volnation.com/forum/pub/127425-iphone-bug-2.html#...

'Look at the video for session 115, "Using Core Location in iOS". Skip to around 13:45 for the discussion of "Course Cell Positioning" where they discuss the cache in detail.'

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#178

Post by robgough »

ortatherox wrote: post #175
Atomika wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yo! I realise the likelihood of you seeing this is very low, but is there any chance you would do a brief runthrough of how to implement this code? I'm very interested to increase the precision of this app but don't know enough and can't locate the iphonetrackingappdelegate file you speak of.. I'll check back often! Thanks..!

You need a Mac, git, and XCode in terminal type: 'git clone https://github.com/petewarden/iPhoneTracker.git open that new iPhoneTracker folder, and load up the xcodeproj ( iPhoneTracking.xcodeproj ) in there go to iPhoneTrackingAppDelegate.m on the left sidebar from that look at line 179 for changing the time inbetween registering, and look at line 149 for the locational precision with those changed, hit the play but…

Thanks for posting the instructions. After doing this, it's easy to see that the tracking data is way off base quite a lot. And interestingly, places I visit a lot but never use my location for it has very few data points for. In fact, there's only one even near my office, which I visit nearly 5 days a week. Every week.

Re: IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device

#180

Post by wallnutboy »

thought_alarm wrote: post #144
ugh wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location tracking on iOS devices without GPS (for example an iPod touch) sometimes works without any internet connection (it nearly always works with an internet connection – WLAN access points are used to determine the approximate location), especially in urban environments (with a lot of WLAN access points). I always figured that iOS devices download location info on all the surrounding WLAN access points (maybe ev…

Yes, when you use the location services in, say, a new city then your device will download and cache the WiFi location data for a large radius around that initial lookup the next time it has an internet connection. It's pretty cool, actually. That database isn't infinitely large, as unused location information will be removed as new location data comes in.

Android achieves this well, too. I guess Apple are just following Google's move (remember when Google recorded all the wireless access points with their streetview vans?)
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