Apple is now a cult of personality around Jobs. It wouldn’t surprise if he thinks he’s now unaccountable and can say what he likes whether true or not, or whether he knows or not.

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You really should reconsider your policy of giving your iPhone or computer to crazy stalkers. Sounds dangerous for more than just the iPhone file. 😉

If anyone gets that file (and all my other personal information) from my phone and/or my PC I’ll know about it. I honestly don’t know who has access to the phone company tracking records, how they are used/stored, or what purposes they may be used for in the future, marketing or otherwise.

Your supermarket loyalty card database also reveals more information than most people think about, such as likely medical conditions (buying only sugar-free items), alcohol use, bad eating habits, etc. That’s information I certainly wouldn’t put on my resume, yet is collected and controlled beyond my control. At some point that information can be sold for profit for data mining.

The only good thing to come out of this tempest is that now more people know of the existence of at least one teapot.

The reason is that there is some difficulty in acquiring that information from the phone company. Realistically the government would probably need a warrant to access it. And a crazy stalker or someone trying to do something evil to me has almost zero chance of getting it from the phone company.

The difference with the iPhone is that this file is available on the phone (and easy to remove from the phone) and on any computer that has a backup of the phone. It’s available unencrypted and in an easy to read format. I only need a few seconds alone with either device to have your entire location history.

Your cell provider has that information on their computers. How long do they keep that tracking information? Why is no one upset about this but is outraged at Apple?

the question is whether or not that data is used for anything other than the apparent purpose, which is not tracking you, rather keeping a record of network connection locations. what seems to be stored in the file in question is location of cell towers that you have used. not your actual coordinates. though that may be close enough, but as you may have noticed using the maps app in any system that depends on cell phone tower data, sometimes that data can be waaaaay off. (once I found my self in texas when I was 1000 miles away.) in apple’s case, they have very publically made it a point that third parties are not allowed to use your location data. android/google has no such public stance to my knowledge.

as well, its not as if the cell companies don’t already have this set of information available to them at all times, and in a situation that you do not have any control over and are required to store it and divulge it on court order, (and sometimes without.) all cell phones report the same location data when ever they are used. all cell calls have to go through a tower. that tower is noted by the phone company. who knows what they do with it.

I wan to believe Greg Laden,but I can’t get past his frustration with Apple, and his love for Android.

As I write this on my Linux based OS, I’m just stumped.

I don’t KNOW what Apple does, if anything, with the data. (I assume it is MUCH less than Greg does.)

I also don’t KNOW what Google does with their Android, (I assume it is much more than Greg does, it is probably much more than Apple does.)