I’m assuming by now any of you who pay a little bit of attention to the news know that Apple has created a file call consolidated.db on the iPhone and what ever computer you back it up to with randomly collected location data. The data is based on cell tower triangulation so it’s not nearly as accurate as GPS but close enough to provide an interesting track.
The day the story broke the people that discovered this released a program for the mac to parse the file. A coworker and I wrote one for the PC because we wanted to see what my data looked like. Today someone else released a more user friendly version for the PC so I figured I’d toss up this thread and see if anyone else wants to share their map.
Yeah it’s been know for a while that some phones do this. It’s just now that it’s visualized people are saying WTF. For you iPhone people, you accepted that they collect this info when you started using your phone / pad;
For that, we have to dig into Apple’s privacy policy, something you accept every time you blindly click away Apple’s terms and conditions. The policy was last updated on the 21st of June, 2010 – the same day that Apple released iOS 4. Guess what? It talks a lot about collecting and using non-personal information, including location data. Here are a few choice paragraphs:
<b>"We also collect non-personal information − data in a form that does not permit direct association with any specific individual. We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal information for any purpose."</b>
Apple then cites several examples:
<b>"We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier, location, and the time zone where an Apple product is used so that we can better understand customer behavior and improve our products, services, and advertising."</b>
The company later expounds on location services specifically:
<b>"To provide location-based services on Apple products, Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services."</b>
Problem is, the location data is very personal and hardly anonymous because it’s stored right on your phone – the most personal device we own. The consolidated.db is also replicated (unencrypted by default) to any PC or Mac your iPhone syncs with, and subsequently any additional backup devices you might use (Windows Home Sever, Time Capsule, etc.).
Don’t get us wrong, we’re not letting Apple off the hook here – we also want to know why the company needs to collect and maintain so much of our location data for such a long time. And why is it so easily accessible? But we, as consumers, have to pay better attention if we want to reserve the right to scream foul.
Make sure you can see flash animation in internet explorer. The way he wrote this app it’s basically just using an IE shell to display the map. I use firefox so I was having the same problem since I didn’t have the flash plugin installed in internet explorer.
