The Guardian, one of the UK’s newspapers, has interviewed some expert researchers regarding iPhone privacy concerns. The interview unearthed some unnerving evidence. As part of your sync, each time you plug in your iOS 4 loaded iDevice a secret file containing your location data is backed up on your computer.
“The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone’s recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner’s movements using a simple program.”
To access the data all you need is a simple program on your Mac/PC to decode the information. So if someone was so inclined, and had the nous, they could quite easily take your phone and find out exactly where you’ve been.
This is probably not an issue unless you’re a celebrity, high powered exec, or if you have a super stalker geek who breaks in to your house to find out your movements. But, is it worrying to you that this info is available? Should there be an option to switch off this data logging?
