Apple’s iPhones, iPad and Mac Computers Collect Location Information…
More evidence about the data collection that is practiced today at a large scale, through all the intelligent devices we are using in all domains of life.
It appears to be useful since there are interesting applications using our location and other information, but the problem is not there. In my opinion the problem is not that they didn’t ask permission for obtaining this data from people, it is just a misunderstanding that i am sure will be regulated by a law. The problem is the fact that this information is used by a system that is governed by people who are ill intended and who have strange elitist agendas. It is the destination of this information that is a problem and not what ‘useful applications’ we can find for them.
What the Western world is heading towards now (and the East closely follows) is a kind of “informational communism”! Exactly like in communism where people shared all the resources and production units, now we are asked to share all the information. But attention here: considering the fact that in the world nowadays information is power and it is also becoming the new currency … the conclusion is that we are heading towards a neo-communist era! 🙂
And more: communism failed exactly where this new system is weak: the spiritual quality of people was low, therefore the leaders could not help but abuse their position up to a level of dictatorship. In communism the leaders were corrupted by the power they were prematurely given, they were weak people without morality. But isn’t this the same problem we have also today?
Giving away the right to our personal information is giving away a degree of power which should be accompanied with a morality and wisdom that the ones who get this information have proved not to have at all. If people today are spiritually weak (thus the ones in power share this state to be optimistic 😉 ) and they can be corrupted by power, and if information is power… we have a problem!
The conclusion is clear: the ones who get control over the information have to be either saints or they shouldn’t have this control!
We can recall here all the recent situations when different levels of the world power system proved to be irresponsible, having strange intentions, or even hiding something from the ones they are supposed to serve. The 9/11 governmental murders, the swine flu hoax, and the global financial crisis are only a few examples of the level of “maturity” and integrity the people in power have in their approach to life. Since they are almost the same people always in power, the conclusion is even easier: they will make use of people’s personal information for who knows what kind of purpose the money/power machine requires.
They have already proved that no moral rules or spiritual principles will stop them from doing so. This is a real problem to which the solution will be a global raising of the level of consciousness until this will influence even the dynasties of power and will make them ready to carry the scepter of power without mutilating their souls.
(The following article was taken from eweek.com)
Apple told Congress it collects location information about users of the iPhone, iPad and Mac computers in batches and encrypts it before sending it over a WiFi connection from the device to Apple’s servers every 12 hours.
Apple said its iPhone, iPad and Mac computers collect location information, but do so anonymously in batches and encrypt it before sending the data over a WiFi connection from the devices to Apple’s servers every 12 hours.
The normally super-secretive company shed light on its data collection practices for location-based services in a July 12 letter, responding to a list of questions from U.S. Reps. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Joe L. Barton (R-Texas).
The Congressmen June 24 sent Apple a letter demanding to know about the company’s practice of collecting, storing and sharing the location of users’ mobile devices.
Apple June 21 changed its iTunes privacy policy to reflect how it collects data about the location of Apple devices consumers purchase.
Apple, which will not let users download any applications from the iTunes store without agreeing to the new terms and conditions, shares location data with application providers when consumers opt in to providers’ location services.
Apple’s revised privacy policy states:
“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.”
That policy change spurred concern among Congressmen Barton and Markey, who sent Apple a list of nine questions about this practice, which is becoming more pronounced among providers of Web services.
Bruce Sewell, general counsel and senior vice president of legal and government affairs for Apple, pointed out that Apple, like Google and other companies providing location-based services, uses cell tower and WiFi information to collect data from users’ iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.
Apple offers location-based services on the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iphone 4, iPad WiFi/3G and on older iPhones, iPad WiFi iPod touch and Macs running Snow Leopard, and Windows or Macs running the Safari 5 Web browser, albeit to a more limited extent.
However, this only happens when users have toggled their device to turn the services on and only when the user runs an application requiring location information.
At that point the device “intermittently and anonymously collects cell tower and WiFi access point information from the access points it can see, along with the device’s GPS coordinates if available.”
Web services that leverage location such as Google Latitude, Google Buzz, Twitter Foursquare and Gowalla are becoming increasingly popular among users. Google, Yahoo and Bing are negotiating with Foursquare to use its location-based check-in data in their core search results.
The Congressmen nodded to this fact and appreciated Apple’s detailed response.
“As more Americans rely on location-based services as part of their everyday lives, it is imperative that consumers have control over how their personal information is used, transmitted and stored,” Markey wrote.
“Apple’s responses provided additional information about how it uses location data and the ability of consumers to exercise control over a variety of features on Apple’s products, and I appreciate the company’s response.”
He added that he was satisfied that Apple adequately lets users grant or withhold consent in their usage of Apple products, adding that consumer consent is the key to assessing the adequacy of privacy protections.
Barton chimed in:
“Our personal information has moved from our wallets and home filing cabinets, to the file cabinets of data brokers and online files of behavioral advertisers and now, directly to the Internet cloud from our mobile devices. Consumers must be made aware of this collection and they must consent to giving it up.”
Barton did admonish Apple for writing privacy policies “that run on for pages and pages,” which most people won’t bother to read.
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Is this article really saying that once you buy an electronic gadget from apple they can can track where you are?
I ask because i am not up on gadgets or conspiracy stories, (I was actually browsing through looking for some articles about Tantra), but I was so shocked to read this; it is similar to what they do with criminals, they tag them to know where they are. These things are becoming so weird, they begin to seem normal.
Exista 2 aspecte distincte ale francmasoneriei:
– masoneria vizibila, superficiala,care exista, fara macar sa ne dam seama, doar pentru a inducere in eroare, asa cum explica Albert Pike;
– masoneria alesilor ( sau invizibila) pe care nu ajunge sa o cunoasca si sa o practice decat un procentaj mic dintre masonii de grad inalt asa cum afirma insisi Albert Pike si Manly P. Hall.
La randul ei masoneria alesilor este impartita in 3 categorii conform istoricului spaniol Ricardo De la Cierva (doctor in filosofie si chimie, ministru al culturii in Spania in anul 1980) : ” 1) miezul dur al masoneriei aleşilor; 2) masoneria ezoterico-satanistă; 3) masoneria invizibilă a puterii mondiale. In definitiv şi în ultimă instanţă, acestea sunt acelaşi lucru, căci interacţionează şi se confundă între ele; sunt, pur şi sim¬plu, trei feţe ale aceleiaşi monede, ori trei căi de acţiune”.
Gradele înalte şi cele invizibile sunt cele care conduc din umbră toată vasta organizaţie a francmasoneriei, în mod unitar, pe tot globul pământesc. În vârful piramidei stă patriarhul (francmason), sau Împăratul neîncoronat al lumii.
Ridicarea într-un grad nu se face prin alegerea de jos, ci prin selecţie de sus. Cei din gradele superioare ridică pe cine vor dintr-un grad inferior la un grad superior. Intrarea în orice grad se face printr-un jurământ înfricoşător şi printr-o iniţiere. Prin jurământ, cel ce intră în gradul nou se obligă să păstreze secretul faţă de tot ce va vedea şi va cunoaşte în acest grad. Prin iniţiere i se comunică taine din învăţătura şi asa zisa “misiune” a francmasoneriei, necunoscută de gradele inferioare. Secretele comunicate gradelor inferioare sunt anodine, dar cele comunicate gradelor superioare sunt grozave.
. Iată jurământul prestat de ucenicul francmasoneriei ioanite: „Jur înaintea Marelui Arhitect al pământului că nu voi descoperi nimic, nici prin semne, gesturi sau altceva ce poate descoperi şi indica ceva ce nu trebuie descoperit. În caz de călcare a jurământului primesc să mi se taie beregata, să mi se scoată ochii, să mi se găurească pieptul, să mi se smulgă inima, să mi se scoată măruntaiele din trup, să se ardă, să se prefacă în cenuşă şi să se arunce în fundul mării sau să se împrăştie în cele patru vânturi pe faţa pământului”.
Alături de această organizaţie, ocultă chiar pentru membri, există una administrativă, secretă pentru profani.
@ Mihai Stoian,
Great article!
Take a look at ACTA. The purpose of ACTA is to crack down on copyright violations and piracy – but according to underground and mainstream news it grants the authorities liberty to do some pretty extreme things in order to do so.
I provide you here with a few links on the subject – you can find more if you google it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSmvIay-hj4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrRuuSlCCOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82IFC27KAJo&feature=related
Dave TS
An Android app developer has published what he says is conclusive proof that millions of smartphones are secretly monitoring the key presses, geographic locations, and received messages of its users.
In a YouTube video posted on this Monday, Trevor Eckhart showed how software from a Silicon Valley company known as Carrier IQ recorded in real time the keys he pressed into a stock EVO handset, which he had reset to factory settings just prior to the demonstration. Using a packet sniffer while his device was in airplane mode, he demonstrated how each numeric tap and every received text message is logged by the software.
Ironically, he says, the Carrier IQ software recorded the “hello world” dispatch even before it was displayed on his handset.
Eckhart then connected the device to a Wi-Fi network and pointed his browser at Google. Even though he denied the search giant’s request that he share his physical location, the Carrier IQ software recorded it. The secret app then recorded the precise input of his search query – again, “hello world” – even though he typed it into a page that uses the SSL, or secure sockets layer, protocol to encrypt data sent between the device and the servers.
“We can see that Carrier IQ is querying these strings over my wireless network [with] no 3G connectivity and it is reading HTTPS,” the 25-year-old Eckhart says.
The video was posted four days after Carrier IQ withdrew legal threats against Eckhart for calling its software a “rootkit.” The Connecticut-based programmer said the characterization is accurate because the software is designed to obscure its presence by bypassing typical operating-system functions.
You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=T17XQI_AYNo
In an interview just last week, november 2011, Carrier IQ VP of Marketing Andrew Coward rejected claims the software posed a privacy threat because it never captured key presses.
“Our technology is not real time,” he said at the time. “It’s not constantly reporting back. It’s gathering information up and is usually transmitted in small doses.”
Coward went on to say that Carrier IQ was a diagnostic tool designed to give network carriers and device manufacturers detailed information about the causes of dropped calls and other performance issues.
Eckhart said he chose the HTC phone purely for demonstration purposes. Blackberrys, other Android-powered handsets, and smartphones from Nokia contain the same snooping software, he claims.
The 17-minute video concluded with questions, including: “Why does SMSNotify get called and show to be dispatching text messages to [Carrier IQ]?” and “Why is my browser data being read, especially HTTPS on my Wi-Fi?”
The Register has put the same questions to Carrier IQ, and will update this post if the company responds. ®
Update
More than 19 hours after this post was first published, Carrier IQ representatives have yet to respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, computer scientists have uncovered an unrelated Android glitch that could also invade smartphone users’ privacy.
..for some reasons.. I simply can’t find right now that article of yours about Wikileaks..
Anyway, i found here some interesting, perhaps, data:
http://www.wikileaks.org/the-spyfiles .. and! even how to use them?? ..
http://2012indyinfo.com/2011/12/04/wikileaks-exposes-another-dark-secret/
..and more …
I wonder what is the solution to this?
@Giuglio
Yes.. it’s part of the world we live in now.. eventually this will change.. but i doubt it will unless we transform.. tons..
Meanwhile.. there is this Genisys network where i listen sometimes to Alex Jones shows.. and he gives some advices.. at least for a few of these tracking issues.. There exists some jamming signal reception to counter these devices.. in some measure..There are also recommendation to put your id and and credit cards in lead sheets so as not to be scanned by just any people out walking around
The computer and internet issue it’s… touchy.. Even if you use a linux pc or lap top and a browser like konquere or firefox (like I use at work) the internet provider still has “data signal” they could provide to government from their firewall logs…
well… the price for a world of technology, right?.. and for the habits we made..
Yesterday Google’s new prvacy policy went into effect. Basically they claim the right to use any and all of your personal information, acquired from any and all of their services, including Youtube, gmail, google search etc., “according to their discretion.” France claims this violates EU privacy laws and asked them to delay their March 1 launch of the new privacy policy. Google refused. Startpage.com offers the most private web searching. You might want to bookmark it and delete your google bookmark. Just sayin.’