iPhone

[RAMA KRISHNA]

Apple 'not tracking' iPhone users
Map of iPhone movements Apple's iPhone and iPad 3G appeared to collect
information about their users' location
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

* iPhone tracks users' movements
* iPhones 'can track movements'

Apple has denied that its iPhones and 3G iPads have been secretly
recording their owners' movements.

In a website posting, the company said it had never tracked user
location and had no plans to do so in future.

Security researchers claimed to have found a hidden file on the
devices containing a record of everywhere they had been.

Some users managed to extract the data and plot it on maps.

More than a week after the issue came to public attention, Apple
released an online question and answer document.

It said: "The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, 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."
Planned fix

The document also addresses the fact - as some users discovered - that
data going back months and even years was being stored.

"It shouldn't. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly," said
Apple.

Ian Fogg, principal analyst at Forrester Research, said that the
company was being uncharacteristically open about the functioning of
its devices.

"I do not think that that the other [makers of mobile operating
systems] have been as black and white about what they are doing with
location data," he said.

While Mr Fogg believes that Apple is trying to do the right thing, he
said that the company may have inadvertently created a security risk.

The fact that the location data file is stored on users' computers in
an unencrypted form made it vulnerable to hackers.

Mr Fogg suggested that owners of Apple devices should go into their
iTunes settings and select the option to encrypt their backups.
Not plausible

Apple's explanation did not convince everyone, however.

Ross Anderson, professor of security engineering at Cambridge
University, described it as "not plausible".

"The researchers' report clearly shows that the phone was recording a
location trace of its user," he said.

"I'll assume that their claim of a programming error may be an attempt
to diminish culpability, and thus the fine they have to pay, in the
event that they get prosecuted, whether by the FTC [Federal Trade
Commission] in the USA or by one or more data protection authorities
in Europe."