Apple users consented to spying app

By Stuart Finlayson on Apr 21, 2011 12:48 PM
Filed under Hardware

Clearly stated in terms and conditions.

Users of Apple’s iPhone and 3G iPad devices consented to having their location tracked by the device for close to a year, it emerged today.

As reported earlier, iPhones and iPads running iOS4 or higher store a plain text, unencrypted log of the coordinates of the user.

While this might come as a shock to some users, a greater shock is that users agreed to it in the first place.

Apple’s iPhone Terms of Service include the following statement:

“Apple and its partners and licensors may provide certain features or services through the Service that rely upon device-based location information. To provide such features or services, where available, Apple and its partners and licensors may collect, use, transmit, process and maintain your location data, including the real-time geographic location of your device, and you hereby agree and consent to Apple's and its partners' and licensors' collection, use, transmission, processing and maintenance of such location data to provide such services. In addition, by enabling and/or using any location-based services or features within the Service (e.g. Find My iPhone), you agree and consent to Apple collecting, using, processing and maintaining information related to your account, and any devices registered thereunder, for purposes of providing such location-based service or feature to you. Such information may include, but is not limited to, your account name, device ID and name, device type and real-time geographic location of your device at time of your request.”

Further into the Apple iPhone Terms of Service, instructions on how to disable this function are also available in the terms:

“You may withdraw this consent at any time by not using the location-based features or by turning off the Find My iPhone or Location Services settings (as applicable) on your device. When using third party services that use or provide location data as part of the Service, you are subject to and should review such third party's terms and privacy policy on use of location data by such third party services. Any location data provided by the Service is not intended to be relied upon in situations where precise location information is needed or where erroneous, inaccurate, time-delayed or incomplete location data may lead to death, personal injury, property or environmental damage. Neither Apple, nor any of its content providers, guarantees the availability, accuracy, completeness, reliability, or timeliness of location data or any other data displayed by the Service.”

iTnews contacted Apple to comment on this issue but have not received a response.

10 comments in this discussion

"Is it just me? whenever I first use an app that needs my location my phone comes up and asks me if that's OK. I don't need to read any small print. And I can easily change my mind in the preference..."

By robjsewell

Tags

apple, mac, iphone, ipad, spying, ios4, location, data, gps, consent, terms and conditions

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Comments: 10

nasz Apr 21, 2011 1:10 PM	Like we have an option to say 'No' and retain full functionality. So just how are you supposed to use your iPhone without accepting the Terms of Service!!! Typical, blaze response!
nasz Apr 21, 2011 1:11 PM	Rant over... just re-read the article with reference to turning off the feature!
Graeme Harrison (prof at-symbol post.harvard.edu) Apr 21, 2011 4:33 PM	The reason we need privacy laws and a Privacy Commissioner is because no normal user will ever read the 63 page licence agreement (with regular updates of same length) from Apple and other major IT companies. Someone with reasonable authority ought to be reading it and saying 'Provision X' is outside the privacy laws of Australia, so remove it. Otherwise, there is no method for keeping control of just how intrusive IT functionality might become.
funkyg Apr 21, 2011 4:45 PM	Do you really think that other phones with GPS are not doing this? Even more to the point, do you not think your phone company is, and you really do have no opt out for them, as they can track you anywhere you can connect to cell towers. I believe in the US, police have a portal to track phones, no court order, no nothing required, apart from a small payment to the service provider.
anonymous Apr 21, 2011 7:04 PM	Sure, we all read and understand every word of the T&Cs for every device and piece of software we acquire. Don't we? After all, the T&Cs are drafted by the finest corporate lawyers that money can buy, and are helpfully printed in grey 8 point text on a light grey background. All 77 pages of them. Who wouldn't want to read every f------ word?
KB Apr 21, 2011 7:40 PM	Good luck to them if my data is of any use. They will have to track me for about 60K around my home town, while I drive a taxi to all the same places every day all day.... all that it will show them is the location of our ranks, where I get some time to check emails and send messages.
ITrant Apr 22, 2011 10:03 AM	Terms and conditions are so general and meaningless these days, I'm sure they wouldn't stand up in court. What we need is strong measures against an App doing ANYTHING unadvertised, most especially concerning privacy. Where's the data privacy act that requires any body to inform us of ANY data and transaction about us. Why should computer technology not be turned around to empower the individual as well as the corporation? Our data is our life/reputation. How about we are provided, as an inalienable right, scrutiny of OUR private data and the uses to which they are put?
cosmicharade Apr 22, 2011 9:42 PM	Oh and I thought Google was the evil empire.. hahaha...
Ezy2Confuze Apr 23, 2011 11:41 PM	Apple aren't making too many friends thse days, firstly they are suing, Motorola, Nokia,Samsung and HTC. Plus theres all the build quality issues that pop up in their products. Soon, no-one is going to want to build their products, because they've ticked them all off with frivolous court cases. It would be interesting to see, out of all Apple's patents, how many are for proper IP and how many are vapour IP. PLus how much is IP they've bought versus created inhouse.
robjsewell Apr 27, 2011 3:06 PM	Is it just me? whenever I first use an app that needs my location my phone comes up and asks me if that's OK. I don't need to read any small print. And I can easily change my mind in the preferences app later, app by app. The only issue here is that the file isn't encrypted on the phone. If you are like me, you have a pin code to prevent access to the phone by others, you have find my iPhone switched on so you can remote wipe if you lose it, and you encrypt your iTunes backups, so there is no real issue. Just another excuse for people to criticise Apple. Which is strange, because a little research will show you that many other services and phones do much the same, or worse. Playstation anyone?