Last month, Apple denied the allegations concerning privacy issues of the iPhone users as questions were raised after security researchers claimed that a file linked with iPhones allowed them to identify the movements of the phones for up to a year. The development raised major concern among the smartphone users as many started to wonder if their privacy was compromised by the technology used in the iPhones.
In its defense, Apple stated that the file was programmed to record Wi-Fi hot spots and cell towers in the general area of iPhones but was not being used for keeping tabs on the users. The concerns regarding the privacy of the customers raised partially based on misunderstanding, the company added. It claimed that the users were not provided with sufficient education regarding the new technology, which was one of the reasons why people got confused. However, Apple also included that the files keeping one year worth of information was caused by some sort of software error, something that the company is expecting to fix within a few weeks.
According to Apple, the data helps the iPhones to figure out their locations and allows the phone to track down cell tower and hot spot signals. It is to be mentioned that these signals are stronger than the ones generated by the GPS satellites. Since the Wi-Fi signals does not cover a long distance, one being tracked by the phone means it is close to a hot spot.
Apple did not came up with any explanation regarding the use of “timestamps” which were found in the files that can link a phone to some specific cell towers and hot spots at a certain time. These timestamps are the ones that allowed the security researchers to develop maps of a phone’s movement over a year. Questions were raised regarding the information found in the data that why they were so much detailed that the researchers were able to develop maps showing the movements of a phone.
Pete Warden, one of the researchers who played a key role in developing those maps stated that it was possible for Apple to use the location related information effectively without recording the timestamps.
Image:
Andy Newson, FreeDigitalPhotos.net
