Google and Microsoft Tracking Your Location Too

[milktea]

[citation][nom]eaw2539[/nom]Haha. All the Apple-haters/Andriod fanboys were bashing Apple for this, I bet now they have nothing to say.According to the article Toms posted about Apple's activities, turning off location service does stop it.[/citation]
Apple stores your location in a local file in your computer (iTunes). Android does not. And I'm not sure if there's even a way to delete that file manually, since it's in a huge backup database. So iOS users ought to be worried.

Also, in Android phones, when you enable or disable location services, it gives you a prompt to let the user know. And Apple iPhone does not give any warning or prompt.

In the end, Android is not the best, but it's still far better.

 

[joytech22]

I just leave it on, no harm done except for maybe 5% less battery every 7 hours (which is actually the drain rate of my Galaxy S.

 

[Anomalyx]

[citation][nom]eaw2539[/nom]Haha. All the Apple-haters/Andriod fanboys were bashing Apple for this, I bet now they have nothing to say.According to the article Toms posted about Apple's activities, turning off location service does stop it.[/citation]
Wrong. I still bash Apple for this. Google has been upfront from the beginning. Apple was discovered and they tried to distract from it by giving some lie about multitasking (they probably just picked the first buzzword they could think of).
Besides, I have issues with Apple as a corporation, and will avoid giving them money, even if there were to come a day when they sell a superior product. I'd gladly take a Win7 phone, or even go back to a blackberry, before an iPhone. It's my money, and you have no right to complain that don't want to give it to Apple.

PS. notice how Apple-bashing is fact-based and Apple fanbois are "haha!1 j00 are st00pid"-bashing. Just stating a fact.

 

[dgingeri]

[citation][nom]molo9000[/nom]The creepy thing is how accurate they can track your location without GPS.That google maps pin on my iPad is within 5-10m of my real location.[/citation]

luck, nothing more. with tower locating, it can't get closer than a 250ft radius. it other words, it puts the pin in the center of a 250ft circle that you are most likely in. At my apartment, I'm in range of 3 cell towers, and it positions me right in the middle of the street outside. (Apparently, it must be reporting to Google that I'm homeless and sleeping on the street. ) With only a single tower for locating, it gives a circle with a diameter of about 2-3 miles.

 

[dread_cthulhu]

All I can say is... refrain from using mobile devices if you don't want to be tracked in some way/shape/form. Most cell phones have a gps, any smart phone using data can easily be triangulated... heck any cell phone can be, using cell towers, as long as it's powered on and has service. I personally couldn't do this, but your carrier can. I worked for ATT at one point, and while my particular position did not have access to that capability (I was an outsourced agent), the "tech support" guys did...

Big Brother's Watching...

LOL

 

[milktea]

[citation][nom]dread_cthulhu[/nom]All I can say is... refrain from using mobile devices if you don't want to be tracked in some way/shape/form. Most cell phones have a gps, any smart phone using data can easily be triangulated... heck any cell phone can be, using cell towers, as long as it's powered on and has service. I personally couldn't do this, but your carrier can. I worked for ATT at one point, and while my particular position did not have access to that capability (I was an outsourced agent), the "tech support" guys did...Big Brother's Watching...LOL[/citation]
With technology moving so fast, you really cannot refain from it. Otherwise, you'd be dated. Just do you best to stay on top.
When IPv6 becomes mainstream, every single "electronic" devices would have its own unique IP address, that means even your home appliances. You really cannot refrain from that unless you live in a cave.

 

[Camikazi]

[citation][nom]eaw2539[/nom]Haha. All the Apple-haters/Andriod fanboys were bashing Apple for this, I bet now they have nothing to say.According to the article Toms posted about Apple's activities, turning off location service does stop it.[/citation]
Actually I don't think anyone denied that Google did it, hell on setup of your phone it tells you turn on location services for tracking BUT, you can turn it off in Android and they are up front about it from the start. Apple has been doing it quietly and without any mention about what they are doing which is what most don't like about it. If Apple had been upfront and told their users what they were doing it wouldn't be a problem, but they chose to be sneaky about it and got caught.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

APPLE will always be a small market computer company.IPOD , IPAD that's all they have!All mobile devices with internet track you dah!

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]eaw2539[/nom]Haha. All the Apple-haters/Andriod fanboys were bashing Apple for this, I bet now they have nothing to say.
According to the article Toms posted about Apple's activities, turning off location service does stop it.[/citation]Except Apple still stores a permanent local record of everywhere you have been, and backs this data up to your PC so it gets transferred to your next iPhone. This is completely unnecessary. MS only stores your most recent location, and Android falls in the middle.

Also, the previous article you're referencing only reiterates Apple's claims that turning off location services stops it. It doesn't actually say that they tested and verified this claim. But even if this is true, completely disabling location services is an unacceptable fix. Some location services are good, and desirable. If it operated like WP7 everything would be fine. There should be a seperate setting that says "Don't record my location in your stupid consolidated.db! Just remember the last known location like WP7, thanks."

 

[koga73]

Everybody tracks everything... companies need analytics, and what better than knowing where the user is geographically when they receive those analytics. With computers you can use a proxy, but that choice isn't as easily an option... if at all available for a smartphone. The worst part is they can always track your location based on gps, ip address, or what tower your phonw is connected to. If you really don't want to be tracked lose the technology

 

[ericburnby]

[citation][nom]Anomalyx[/nom]PS. notice how Apple-bashing is fact-based and Apple fanbois are "haha!1 j00 are st00pid"-bashing. Just stating a fact.[/citation]
Biggest pile of shit in this thread. Apple bashers are the ones without a clue and post the most useless comments. Broad generalizations that all people who buy Apple are sheep, brainwashed, technically illiterate or similar. And the oh-so-clever putting an "i" in front of a word like crap.

There are no real Apple fanboys. But there are a lot of Apple haters. And since they can't argue with an intelligent Apple consumer they have to resort to labeling them as fanboys. Typical response from someone who has no argument.

 

[pirateboy]

sure they do....but i'd still much rather be boned in the ass by google than by apple

 

[agnickolov]

Just shows how sloppy the Apple engineers are with regards to privacy. The Apple issue was never about the location being tracked -- it was about the information being persisted without proper safeguards in the event the device (or the sync-ed computer) is stolen...

 

[rantoc]

[citation][nom]molo9000[/nom]The creepy thing is how accurate they can track your location without GPS.That google maps pin on my iPad is within 5-10m of my real location.[/citation]

Yeah, the triangulation of normal cell phones have become more and more accurate over time even without the gps assistance and borders on the level of frightening in a way!

 

[phone_tester]

Just one conclusion : open-source community shall take its responsibility and help users to get rid of those hidden features they don't wan't.
By the way, some OS's are supposed to be 'open source' but still do a lot of hidden things ;o)
When will we have an G****** independant Android OS running on our phones ?

 

[xyriin]

It should be no secret that location data is tracked and used.

I believe the real point here is that if you turn off Apple location services your location is still tracked. Also, Apple is the only OS of the three that keeps a lifetime history of that data and backs it up from device to device and any computer you sync it too.

Want privacy? You can completely disable location services on Android or WP7. You simply can't get that level of privacy with Apple.

 

[alzheimerz]

- http/bit.ly/dQaKES

 

[Reynod]

sure they do....but i'd still much rather be boned in the ass by google than by apple

I am not sure how to respond to this other than to say good luck and let us all know how it went.

 

[zak_mckraken]

So Microsoft is the lesser of three evils?

I don't mind them gathering location infos and other relevant statistics, such as signal strength and wi-fi accessibility in thos locations. It's what they can do with that info that is scary.

 

[kartu]

Apple got caught doing sh*t. Now expect torrent of ridiculous BS about competitors, to somehow downplay it.