In the past week, Apple has been making headlines again. No, Apple did not release a new iPad or iPhone, or some other device that we all MUST have. Apple is in the midst of a lawsuit against Apple claiming that Apple's location-based tracking system on the iPhone and iPad, violates basic privacy rights of an individual. The lawsuit filed by two men in Florida says "Users of Apple products have no way to prevent Apple form collecting this information because even if users disable the iPhone and iPad GPS components, Apple's tracking system remains fully functional".
Two researchers discovered that the iPhone and iPad, stores and sends users' locations in unencrypted files. "These files are basically very long lists of latitude-longitude coordinates and timestamps, and they can be found on the devices themselves"
I decided to make a blog post about this because I felt it fits in perfectly in our class discussion of privacy and whether or not technology has effectively undermined it. I for one have no real issue with Apple obtaining my data, such as where I go or when I use my iPhone, as long as its used in a productive way by Apple. Maybe this will allow Apple to figure out how to fix various issues such my phone calls being dropped constantly while walking down the street to my local grocery store. What I do have a problem with however, is if this data is easily obtainable by third party sources. Obviously this would lead to serious problems. A hacker/criminal may be able to figure out where you are at a specific time and date, which they may then either use or sell to someone else in order to exploit your absence from your household.
Perhaps our privacy today is really becoming undermined by our own obsession with gadgets.
I have attached a video of Steve Jobs talking about privacy at Apple to shed some light on this matter.
I like apple' ideas ,but it is too expensive for me. I think they need to focus on cutting down the price.
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