> We're not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it's clearly intentional, as the database is being restored across backups, and even device migrations.
My understanding is that all data and files is persisted in that manner. Not sure why they're implying this file has been singled out.
Thanks for putting it online. I have a similar project not involving the iPhone logs, but I'm looking to using your visualizations to make sense of the data that I've been collecting.
Pete, the iPhone Tracker application is showing data points in a grid-like pattern, with multiple points visible simultaneously.
I haven't dug into the raw data - is that an artifact of the iPhone Tracker application, or is the raw data already rounded by Apple to fit on a grid, with multiple locations having identical timestamps?
How much I care about this depends a lot on the granularity of the underlying data.
To make it less useful for snoops, the spatial and temporal accuracy of the data has been artificially reduced. You can only animate week-by-week even though the data is timed to the second, and if you zoom in you’ll see the points are constrained to a grid, so your exact location is not revealed. The underlying database has no such constraints, unfortunately.
I just went through the code and it is indeed pretty trivial to remove both restrictions. If you want to do it, in the iPhoneTrackingAppDelegate implementation file:
* Change the precision variable on line 149 to something bigger than 100 (10000 did it for me) - this will mark points in the map with higher precision:
const float precision = 10000;
* Change the timeBucket variable on line 180 to change the date precision (the app currently gives you weekly based data, but it can go as far a data point every second). You could also just "cheat" and change the notion of weekInSeconds:
Yo! I realise the likelihood of you seeing this is very low, but is there any chance you would do a brief runthrough of how to implement this code? I'm very interested to increase the precision of this app but don't know enough and can't locate the iphonetrackingappdelegate file you speak of..
Thanks for posting the instructions. After doing this, it's easy to see that the tracking data is way off base quite a lot. And interestingly, places I visit a lot but never use my location for it has very few data points for. In fact, there's only one even near my office, which I visit nearly 5 days a week. Every week.
EDIT: Data appears around the time I flew from NJ to Seattle -- perhaps my phone was on in-flight and connecting to MN cell towers? Seems unlikely, though, given the # of points.
That could be related to the iOS location bugs. I know there were a couple where the phone would refuse to believe that it was anywhere but 1000 miles away.
If this is only tracking cell towers as has been reported in a few places, why are there so many more dots than cell towers? Actually the FAQ says it is using triangulation, how accurate is that supposed to be?
Apple has been known to collect this information for a while now [1] but storing all this information in a database should not be required for this.
If you tuink about how much information you have on your phone, if somebody has access to it or to your backups, I think your locstion history is the least of your problems. But I do agree that it should not store this information, encrypted or not...
The simple solution is select encrypt backups in your iTunes options. If my computer or phone got stolen, I'd have more important things to worry about than whether the thief can find a list of locations I've been. It's fun/interesting to see it mapped out though.
I thought they added something in iOS 3 that did encrypt the phone and that's why the erase is so fast now?
I also assume that if you put a passcode on with the 'erase after 10 incorrect attempts' setting that this would be permanently erased if they get your passcode wrong 10 times...?
You may not worry about this, but others might (and I can think of scenarios where this would be a very bad thing), and it certainly isn't apparent to most people that if your phone gets stolen, the thief has access to your location history.
Someone with access to your phone can also access your emails, text messages, contacts, photos and more... I guess to some people location data is more sensitive than those things, but not to me.
I can sort of understand the outrage but I don't see the utility of it. Apps that are written for the App store don't have access to this data without the permission of the user. And the only way an app would be allowed access to a file outside the sandbox is if its jailbroken.
I'm not familiar with the in and outs of iOS LocationManager but it generally gives you the immediate coordinates at the time you request and nothing more. As for why the database of locations? It's entirely possible they are using it for QoS.
As for access to device backups. If someone has unauthorized control of your desktop computer you have bigger problems.
Quality of service. Like when the iPhone 3G first came out you could only buy it in areas where 3G service was available. AFAIK, most carriers already do this on all their handsets but their data is restricted to just a few days to a a few months.
Right, if QoS were a concern to att, my phone would not drop/fail to make seriously, 75% of the calls.
I am switching to Tmobile because ATT makes me want to go on a rampage. Of course, now using this file, they'll be able to predict where that rampage will occur.
If it makes you feel better, the little dots aren't your location specifically but the location of the tower you are connected to at that instance.[1]
[1] This is according to a commenter on another blog. I'm still on 3.1 so can't verify these claims either way. But this seems to confirm it http://blog.csvance.com/?p=39#comment-109
>A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.
>"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."
There's a lot of marketing hype in here. There are a lot of mobile device collection tools and none of them fully collect every device out there.
Also, collecting a 64GB i<device> over USB will take at least 24 minutes. (You don't really just want the photos, do you.) That makes for a long traffic stop.
Yes, I have. And been on my way in less than 15 minutes.
There are several reasons that one might turn over one's phone, all well documented in the media. The primary two are:
1) Voluntary cooperation with a request
2) Search incident to arrest
(Obligatory WTF on downvoting: I point out reasonable information and a technical challenge with doing this in the field based on personal experience as a forensic examiner, and I get downvoted?)
1) Never volunteer your property to be searched. That's just common sense.
2) Well that's hardly a traffic stop anymore. They're pretty free to take their time at that point.
They are collecting private information about a person and make them somehow accessible.
I'll give you an example: now your technologically savvy and pathological jealous partner can open that file on your phone while you are sleeping and check where have you been in the past months, day by day.
Iphone users should be aware of that possibility.
EDIT: Actually, now that I looked at the software presented here, it doesn't even require access to the phone, just to the computer. Your partner can do this while you are at work.
The iphone doesn't have a file browser and apps are sandboxed. So how they would get access to this file without jailbreaking or the backup file is a much better case.
Besides, everyone knows mobile me is a jealous stalkers best friend. And it doesn't even require tech savvy, just access to the iPhone to activate the service is enough.
Yes, your partner can do this if you let him or her access to your computer's account. Keep in mind that if you let your partner use your account, he or she can also look at all your cookies, your browser history, and probably your Facebook account and Gmail accounts.
If you don't trust your partner and want to rummage through his or her computer—or if you worry about the prospect of your partner rummaging through your computer—you may want to go to a couples' therapist.
>If you don't trust your partner and want to rummage through his or her computer—or if you worry about the prospect of your partner rummaging through your computer—you may want to go to a couples' therapist.
Thanks, I am fine. But you should know that a number of marriages do in fact end badly in the real world and that a tool like this one can give evidence of cheating and cost a lot of money in a divorce trial. Do I need to make any more examples of why collection of private information is frequently a problem in everyday life?
Yes, evidence is a problem for people who do things that have legal or economic consequences. Of course, actions often have moral and ethical consequences even if they leave no evidence behind.
No. Are you suggesting that Apple's highest moral obligation is preventing the collection of data that might conceivably expose their users' wrong-doing—e.g. their betrayal of their spouse?
To be clear, the collection of the data is only a "problem" if it exposes you as a liar. And it's not a "problem" for the person who was lied to; it's a boon. And if you weren't cheating, well, showing your call or location logs might be a way of saying, "Look, I have nothing to hide."
Privacy vs. disclosure of data is a complicated issue. It involves issues of personal autonomy as well as trust. Do you give up some autonomy because you know that people know what you're doing at any moment? Of course. But there is often a pay-off to doing so: people actually trust you.
Life is complicated, and you can't down-vote moral complexity out of life, no matter how high your karma is.
Turn the issue around: how would you feel if Apple bent over backwards to help your partner fuck other people behind your back and leave no trace?
I don't know why I'm bothering to write this, because you seem resistant to the concept of moral subtlety, but I will anyway: Studies have been done that show that morally equivalent choices can be posed in ways that lead to people using different moral heuristics for making decisions and reliably making different choices.
People move through the world and leave traces of that movement. Where should device makers stand on the continuum between recording everything and distributing it to everyone and recording nothing (and erasing everything it possibly can) and making sure that no information about a user's actions can leak out.
Do you understand that this is not a binary choice? Do you understand that there are outcomes that you and I can agree to call good or bad that can result from making a decision anywhere along this continuum? Do you understand that there is no easy solution? Do you get it?
I don't see where and why you find the need to make such as Shakespearian dilemma out of it. Nokia, RIM, Android, you-name-it, don't record your position with a day to day resolution. There is no need to do that. Apple does it; it does so in an almost hidden way and without apparent reason. Anyone should at the very least be quite suspicious or concerned about it while you seem to come up with a lot of ethical bullshit.
There is an easy solution. Apple has no business making moral judgements about my right to privacy. They should do everything in their power to protect it unless some lawful authority says otherwise in the course of a criminal investigation.
In such an investigation, your location history could be obtained from the mobile provider. Therefore this additional data could only possibly be of use to people who have no right to it in the first place.
So to phrase it in your language; yes, Apple's highest moral obligation is preventing the collection of unnecessary data about me, and indeed to tell me what it is collecting, why, and to whom it will be disclosed. In fact, where I live, all these principles are enshrined in a law called the Data Protection Act.
In the UK and the wider EU at least, Apple could be in a considerable amount of trouble for collecting this data.
Whether or not this is true, Apple should add something like File Vault to iOS. Encrypting your backups is redundant if you're already encrypting your whole home directory, but none of that matters if they have access to your unencrypted phone. Check out the police downloader devices the ACLU is investigating: http://www.aclumich.org/issues/privacy-and-technology/2011-0...
This is incorrect.
Device encryption on 3GS and later devices are only for
1) Apps that implement Apple's device encryption API (ie, stashPro now has this)
2) If you have a strong password set
and
3) Unless you have a device released with iOS4.x, you will need to wipe, then restore it with the flag turned on
It might not be directly related but there was a news story on CNET [1] yesterday about cops in Michigan using a device from Cellebrite to download information from phones of people they stopped for violations that includes contacts, phone logs, messages, photographs and location history.
Does Apple's decision of having such information stored on the phone unencrypted make it easy for such devices? The device claims to subvert phone passwords though.
I've actually used that device before. It's fairly common in law enforcement and inteligence agencies, and it will take everything. Including passwords/deleted info. There is no reason for using it on a traffic stop though, that's just straight up invasion of privacy and would piss me off to no end. It's use is (and should be) for the more criminal/forensic cases.
If you plug your iOS device into another computer it won't connect to iTunes until you unlock the device. Whether that is enforced by the phone or iTunes I don't know.
I wonder if that device utilizes some form of "law enforcement backdoor API", a phone analog of the "lawful intercept" in networking. Because frankly I don't understand how else it could retrieve previously deleted data from the phone.
If you look at apps like BitPim, you'll see there's a standard protocol that many phones use for syncing. That protocol gives access to far more data than you might expect. If you have USB Debugging enabled in Android, the level of access is probably similar, and even if not, they can read your entire micro SD card via USB mass storage. I don't know enough about Android syncing to say whether it's possible to access contact data via USB when the phone is not in debugging mode, or whether there's a way to activate mass storage mode or Bluetooth transfers without unlocking the phone.
Including anyone that hacks into either, and they wouldn't even have to install anything suspicious to do location tracking or even have compromised your phone during the period they were interested in.
I'm not so much worried about the man, (I've given up on that battle) as much as I'm worried about the people out there who like to stick it to the man by whatever neferaous means of looting and pilliging they see fit.
Funny, I had to go to a location without internet access, but where I periodically have to "mark" where I am so I can reference it later. I was about to write my own app for this purpose when I saw this post. To boot, I had my iPhone on me the last few days anyway, so this will definitely come in handy.
Despite the utility I got out of this, I wish we would be told about it...
Interesting idea, although I actually like just injecting noise (add say 500nm to all of the co-ordinates or some such) which would basically corrupt the database that this was being injected into.
On a more interesting note if you put '); droptable; into your file could you delete the receiving database? A whole new vector for SQL injection hacks I suspect.
According to http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2467895 it is being used to get a faster fix for Locations based applications, so doing that would remove the ability for that work.
Does no one else agree with me that this is awesome? I love being able to visualize my comings and goings. It's the story of the last year or so of my life, in colored dots.
I hope Apple doesn't respond to the "outrage" by no longer collecting this data. To a first order approximation, I am with Scott McNealy over in the "Privacy?! Get over it" camp:
As an aside, can real outrage even exist anymore in this age of the easy forum post or re-tweet or tumblr entry or Facebook post? And if it does, how do you identify it? And if you can identify it, what does it mean?
I love being able to visualize my comings and goings.
Then use something like Latitude. There are options for you if you want to see this data other than having Apple collect data from all users whether they like it or not.
I think you are confused: you say that "Apple collect[s] data." Apple's software is collecting data, but is it the case that Apple has access to this data? I don't think so. There are issues of agency here: in my interpretation of things, my phone is collecting and storing the data, Apple isn't.
I guess I have some sort of perverse desire to see my karma auger into the x axis thanks to this issue, because people seem to be whiny hysterics on it. Computers log data. A phone is a computer. The history of the phone's location is conceivably useful—it's like a geospatial stack trace—and even if this data is going to the Apple mothership, I don't care as long as the data gets Tivo-ified.
I said "Apple collects data" as a shorthand for "Apple's software collects data and stores it on your phone" because the distinction you're making seems to be meaningless to most people. I can see your point though.
Still, I don't see why this is better than an optional, third party application for this data. I also think that people should be upset at their phone keeping this data without their knowledge. You say it could be useful, but useful to whom? Advertisers, stalkers, "The Government"? I can't see how this useful to most users at all.
computers log data, A phone is a computer.
I think most people view their phone somewhat more intimately than their computer. Notice the uproar any time privacy issues like these are raised about a phone. Furthermore, tracking someone's location is just about the creepiest thing you could do for most people. It's just ripe for abuse, and as I stated earlier, I can't see much in the way of positive use.
"the distinction you're making seems to be meaningless to most people"
No, the distinction is critical to most people. Apple's iPhone software records all the calls I make, the phone numbers I call and the duration. That's fine.
I'd be pretty peeved if that information was harvested by Apple Inc.
The comparison is very apt. Consent often changes how we view things. Rape and privacy violations are not the same but when it comes to consent very similar.
So you think it's defensible to say that Apple is raping its users? Let's get some people who have been victims of rape in here and ask them how they feel about this over-the-top analogy.
But why make the comparison if not to inflame? That's the point, isn't it? Comparing data collection to sex in the context of consent—as if the concept of consent applies in the same way, which is on its face a bold assertion—isn't about a logical argument, it's about trying to win a war over people's sentiments. And I think the sentiment that's being fought for here is irresponsible and simplistic.
It's simple really, many people believe that privacy relevant data shouldn't be collected without the users consent. There is nothing at all wrong with collecting location data if the user has agreed to it, that changes if said consent is missing. Just as with sex.
I found the comparison was very apropos to the context and useful. Call me simplistic, but I'm glad it was cast and totally not inflamed (save for my original inflammation towards Apple).
It's not apropos. Can you be raped by your vibrator or your blow up doll? This is about a device passively logging data, not a moral agent doing something to you.
Show me the person that Apple has hurt. The only people I've been reading about here taking actions are law enforcement officials, people in black helicopters, and betrayed lovers.
Exactly. Count me as one feeling Apple's rep is severely damaged. The notion that this device stores gigs of personal data (without my prior knowledge) and has been transmitting it back to Apple, somehow this is okay with you? Not I guy, not I.
if the feature was opt-in it might, conceivably, be called awesome. But not being told that my iDevice will log my every move and leave this data open to the next johnny-come-lately to get his hands on my device? Terribly uncool.
Logging should be a setting, or better, an app. Not a hidden, no opt-out feature imposed on over a hundred million iDevice owners.
I think he asked for the full database dump, not a meaningless country-level zoomed screenshot. But I give you props for revealing even this much; I would have certainly not done so.
I was going to do so, if only to prove that I don't give a shit, but after glancing at the instructions, I'm not going to do it unless someone provides me with a shell script. It's too much of a pain in the ass.
But if any of you are pathetic and creepy enough to want to know where I was on any particular day, feel free to send me e-mail at edw@poseur.com and I'll let you know.
If it is, the database is seriously overengineered. Find my iPhone will not let you access past locations, it seems to always only let you access freshly requested location information.
Such sensitive data should not be saved without the user's explicit permission if it's not needed for some purpose the user explicitly wants to use the device for.
In addition to cell tower and Wi-Fi hotspot locations iTunes keeps a backup of all text messages and recent calls. A while ago I've even made a small web app to chart it - http://datalysed.com/?p=130
I didn't know this was news. I and other security researchers & law enforcement have known about it for a while. I assisted in one court case where the data was used as evidence.
I suspect the slick-looking iPhoneTracker app finally made it interesting to the media.
Edit: There was a similar deal on iOS 3 but it seemed more like a bug, not a feature. Data would be purged at some unpredictable interval. I can't recall the file path and don't have an iOS 3 device handy.
In deed nothing new. About a year ago a man discovered that his wife's iPhone was sending about 75 Mb of data to Apple via wifi in early morning : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2450738?threadID=245073...
It turned out it was dumps of GPS data and other stuffs.
II / C / 1 / a. :
"Second, to help Apple update and maintain its database with known location information, Apple may also collect and transmit Cell Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information automatically. With one exception, Apple automatically collects this information only if the device’s location-based service capabilities are toggled to “On” and the customer uses an application requiring location-based infomiation. If both conditions are met, the device intermittently and anonymously collects Cell Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information from the cell towers and Wi-Fi access points that it can “see”, along with the device’s GPS coordinates, if available. This information is batched and then encrypted and transmitted to Apple over a Wi-Fi Internet connection every twelve hours (or later if the device does not have Wi-Fi Intemet access at that time)."
It's important to note that the above use of "anonymous" is laughable in context.
In order for that uploaded data to be useful by Apple, it needs to maintain both the lat/long and wi-fi access point ethernet addresses & signal strengths. This is pretty much a globally-unique identifier.
Identifier of what, though? The two data points you just described identify the wireless network, not the iPhone. In fact, what you just described is precisely the data required for obtaining a device location from the nearby wireless networks, a la Skyhook.
I noticed Google asks to do this in Android, too. They make you explicitly OK it though, at least on my (Verizon Droid) phone.
In location options, if you check certain options it warns you that Google will be logging wifi info and other details even while apps that access this info are not running.
The warning shown when you click "Use wireless networks" in Location settings is
"Location consent
Allow Google's location service to collect anonymous location data. Collection will occur even when no applications are running."
My analysis is that this turns the phone into a mobile sensor that performs the same function as one of the Google mobiles driving around with cameras performs relating to wifi and location logging. Google probably collects the GPS coordinates and SSID of every wifi network that comes into range of a phone with this enabled. Given their recent legal troubles relating to wifi discovery, hopefully it doesn't gather more than that.
Yes it does scan surrounding wifi SSID because Google Maps uses Skyhook ( http://www.skyhookwireless.com/ , belongs to Google) to geolocate users faster than just using pure GPS signal. So does Apple which also use Google Maps geolocation services on their iPhones.
My guess is that Apple is gathering all those data in order to build their own Skyhook. It makes sense, specially when you keep in mind that Apple bough the mapping company Poly9.
Given the response on HTCIA, HTCC, and the CCE lists, this was news to many people in the LE community. I think your edit touches on the difference - this is a new source for the information, and it is very easy to collect from the sync host.
Makes me curious about what else "isn't news" that I don't know about this "discovery". That's a lot of awkwardly disclosed (if at all), personal (why do they even care), unencrypted data points (I'd be in trouble for not encrypting) for the one of the world's most valuable companies to persist into eternity. Would it be news if this was MSFT?
Side question, could you explain your ethics in helping the cops bust someone by using a tracking device they did not know they were carrying? Personally I find it repugnant and would not participate, the right to privacy is more important than a single crime.
For those with jailbroken iPhones and SSH, the data can be accessed or copied directly. The information is stored in this file:
/private/var/root/Library/Caches/locationd/consolidated.db
The file can be viewed with any ol' SQLite browser, and the location information is stored in the "CellLocation" table.
After using an iPhone 4 since release day, I have ~1400 entries.
I have tried this but i cannot the open the database.
i just given the path
/private/var/root/Library/Caches/locationd/consolidated.db
it is giving the SQLITE error 14. Kindly make a reply.
About 6 months ago, I left an ipad on a plane. Unsurprisingly, all my attempts to recover it led to dead ends. I didn't have the mobileme / findmyiphone app installed on it. I understand privacy concerns, but I'd actually like it if Apple did have a copy of this db, and they allowed me to proxy through them / law enforcement so that I could locate this lost device. I know someone has it b/c I can see they were using my Netflix account.
BTW all cellular devices are recorded as they move through tower locations while they are on and police don't feel they need a warrant for such data, so your location is pretty much available without that file.
Earlier, entities recording: cell company.
Earlier, entities with access: police, cell company
Now, entities recording: cell company, Apple
Now, entities with access: police, cell company, anybody who temporarily gains access to my phone, anybody who temporarily gains access to my iTunes computer
See, how the "attack surface" is dramatically bigger now?
I'd love to use this data to geotag the photos I've taken on my digital camera over the past year, so I've downloaded this script along with the consolidated.db file into a directory, however, when I execute: python iphonegpx i get the below error, could you provide some more detailed usage instructions?:
C:\Users\<xxxxx>\Desktop\serialx-iphonegpx-a124079\serialx-iphonegpx-a124079>pyth
on iphonegpx.py
File "iphonegpx.py", line 24
<time>""" + data[0][0].isoformat() + """</time>
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
From what I understand, at least with google, this data (the data sent anonymously) is used amoung other things, for the maps traffic feature. If a fair number of phones are traveling below the speed limit on a road, it can be assumed that the traffic is bad on that road. Not sure if the apple data is used for that, or if they get the traffic data from google, but it is one legitimate use.
195 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 302 ms ] threadMy understanding is that all data and files is persisted in that manner. Not sure why they're implying this file has been singled out.
I haven't dug into the raw data - is that an artifact of the iPhone Tracker application, or is the raw data already rounded by Apple to fit on a grid, with multiple locations having identical timestamps?
How much I care about this depends a lot on the granularity of the underlying data.
To make it less useful for snoops, the spatial and temporal accuracy of the data has been artificially reduced. You can only animate week-by-week even though the data is timed to the second, and if you zoom in you’ll see the points are constrained to a grid, so your exact location is not revealed. The underlying database has no such constraints, unfortunately.
* Change the precision variable on line 149 to something bigger than 100 (10000 did it for me) - this will mark points in the map with higher precision:
* Change the timeBucket variable on line 180 to change the date precision (the app currently gives you weekly based data, but it can go as far a data point every second). You could also just "cheat" and change the notion of weekInSeconds:I'll check back often! Thanks..!
in terminal type: 'git clone https://github.com/petewarden/iPhoneTracker.git
open that new iPhoneTracker folder, and load up the xcodeproj ( iPhoneTracking.xcodeproj )
in there go to iPhoneTrackingAppDelegate.m on the left sidebar
from that look at line 179 for changing the time inbetween registering, and look at line 149 for the locational precision
with those changed, hit the play button in the top left corner and the app should build and run
http://imgur.com/ORgYu
EDIT: Data appears around the time I flew from NJ to Seattle -- perhaps my phone was on in-flight and connecting to MN cell towers? Seems unlikely, though, given the # of points.
If you tuink about how much information you have on your phone, if somebody has access to it or to your backups, I think your locstion history is the least of your problems. But I do agree that it should not store this information, encrypted or not...
[1] http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20010948-260.html
I also assume that if you put a passcode on with the 'erase after 10 incorrect attempts' setting that this would be permanently erased if they get your passcode wrong 10 times...?
Anyway, of course I'd agree it's worth fixing on Apple's part. In the meantime... hold onto your phones, I guess?
I'm not familiar with the in and outs of iOS LocationManager but it generally gives you the immediate coordinates at the time you request and nothing more. As for why the database of locations? It's entirely possible they are using it for QoS.
As for access to device backups. If someone has unauthorized control of your desktop computer you have bigger problems.
I agree that it's not a security risk from an app store perspective but I'd still prefer not to be tracked.
I am switching to Tmobile because ATT makes me want to go on a rampage. Of course, now using this file, they'll be able to predict where that rampage will occur.
[1] This is according to a commenter on another blog. I'm still on 3.1 so can't verify these claims either way. But this seems to confirm it http://blog.csvance.com/?p=39#comment-109
>A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.
>"Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags," a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device's capabilities. "The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps."
Also, collecting a 64GB i<device> over USB will take at least 24 minutes. (You don't really just want the photos, do you.) That makes for a long traffic stop.
Also, what the hell are you doing turning over your phone to police officers during traffic stops......
There are several reasons that one might turn over one's phone, all well documented in the media. The primary two are:
1) Voluntary cooperation with a request 2) Search incident to arrest
(Obligatory WTF on downvoting: I point out reasonable information and a technical challenge with doing this in the field based on personal experience as a forensic examiner, and I get downvoted?)
(I didn't downvote you)
yes, with access to a plist file from iTunes
[credit to morganpyne http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2465752]
I'll give you an example: now your technologically savvy and pathological jealous partner can open that file on your phone while you are sleeping and check where have you been in the past months, day by day.
Iphone users should be aware of that possibility.
EDIT: Actually, now that I looked at the software presented here, it doesn't even require access to the phone, just to the computer. Your partner can do this while you are at work.
Besides, everyone knows mobile me is a jealous stalkers best friend. And it doesn't even require tech savvy, just access to the iPhone to activate the service is enough.
If you don't trust your partner and want to rummage through his or her computer—or if you worry about the prospect of your partner rummaging through your computer—you may want to go to a couples' therapist.
Thanks, I am fine. But you should know that a number of marriages do in fact end badly in the real world and that a tool like this one can give evidence of cheating and cost a lot of money in a divorce trial. Do I need to make any more examples of why collection of private information is frequently a problem in everyday life?
To be clear, the collection of the data is only a "problem" if it exposes you as a liar. And it's not a "problem" for the person who was lied to; it's a boon. And if you weren't cheating, well, showing your call or location logs might be a way of saying, "Look, I have nothing to hide."
Privacy vs. disclosure of data is a complicated issue. It involves issues of personal autonomy as well as trust. Do you give up some autonomy because you know that people know what you're doing at any moment? Of course. But there is often a pay-off to doing so: people actually trust you.
Life is complicated, and you can't down-vote moral complexity out of life, no matter how high your karma is.
So to answer his question honestly: Yes, you are implying exactly that.
Turn the issue around: how would you feel if Apple bent over backwards to help your partner fuck other people behind your back and leave no trace?
I don't know why I'm bothering to write this, because you seem resistant to the concept of moral subtlety, but I will anyway: Studies have been done that show that morally equivalent choices can be posed in ways that lead to people using different moral heuristics for making decisions and reliably making different choices.
People move through the world and leave traces of that movement. Where should device makers stand on the continuum between recording everything and distributing it to everyone and recording nothing (and erasing everything it possibly can) and making sure that no information about a user's actions can leak out.
Do you understand that this is not a binary choice? Do you understand that there are outcomes that you and I can agree to call good or bad that can result from making a decision anywhere along this continuum? Do you understand that there is no easy solution? Do you get it?
In such an investigation, your location history could be obtained from the mobile provider. Therefore this additional data could only possibly be of use to people who have no right to it in the first place.
So to phrase it in your language; yes, Apple's highest moral obligation is preventing the collection of unnecessary data about me, and indeed to tell me what it is collecting, why, and to whom it will be disclosed. In fact, where I live, all these principles are enshrined in a law called the Data Protection Act.
In the UK and the wider EU at least, Apple could be in a considerable amount of trouble for collecting this data.
Edit x2: grammar.
You really are hung up on this "nothing to hide" deal aren't you?
The backups are stored on your Mac/PC, which are likely to have Flash.
http://www.tipb.com/2011/03/18/daily-tip-enable-data-protect...
Does Apple's decision of having such information stored on the phone unencrypted make it easy for such devices? The device claims to subvert phone passwords though.
[1]http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20055431-1.html
Most forensics labs have multiple tools such as this, and still have issues fully collecting devices.
Despite the utility I got out of this, I wish we would be told about it...
On a more interesting note if you put '); droptable; into your file could you delete the receiving database? A whole new vector for SQL injection hacks I suspect.
I hope Apple doesn't respond to the "outrage" by no longer collecting this data. To a first order approximation, I am with Scott McNealy over in the "Privacy?! Get over it" camp:
http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/1999/01/17538
As an aside, can real outrage even exist anymore in this age of the easy forum post or re-tweet or tumblr entry or Facebook post? And if it does, how do you identify it? And if you can identify it, what does it mean?
Then use something like Latitude. There are options for you if you want to see this data other than having Apple collect data from all users whether they like it or not.
I guess I have some sort of perverse desire to see my karma auger into the x axis thanks to this issue, because people seem to be whiny hysterics on it. Computers log data. A phone is a computer. The history of the phone's location is conceivably useful—it's like a geospatial stack trace—and even if this data is going to the Apple mothership, I don't care as long as the data gets Tivo-ified.
Still, I don't see why this is better than an optional, third party application for this data. I also think that people should be upset at their phone keeping this data without their knowledge. You say it could be useful, but useful to whom? Advertisers, stalkers, "The Government"? I can't see how this useful to most users at all.
computers log data, A phone is a computer.
I think most people view their phone somewhat more intimately than their computer. Notice the uproar any time privacy issues like these are raised about a phone. Furthermore, tracking someone's location is just about the creepiest thing you could do for most people. It's just ripe for abuse, and as I stated earlier, I can't see much in the way of positive use.
No, the distinction is critical to most people. Apple's iPhone software records all the calls I make, the phone numbers I call and the duration. That's fine.
I'd be pretty peeved if that information was harvested by Apple Inc.
It's simple really, many people believe that privacy relevant data shouldn't be collected without the users consent. There is nothing at all wrong with collecting location data if the user has agreed to it, that changes if said consent is missing. Just as with sex.
Show me the person that Apple has hurt. The only people I've been reading about here taking actions are law enforcement officials, people in black helicopters, and betrayed lovers.
If either of those has sex with me without my consent, then yes. I would call that rape. Who in their right mind wouldn't?
More people should know.
Thank you in advance.
http://bbb.poseur.com/post/4777454362/the-last-year-or-so-of...
My amusement outweighs my outrage.
But if any of you are pathetic and creepy enough to want to know where I was on any particular day, feel free to send me e-mail at edw@poseur.com and I'll let you know.
And I assume Cydia will now get an app that forces them off if the os ignores the setting.
If so, this is probably a non-story. I'd be interested if it still logs if Location Services are off, too.
Such sensitive data should not be saved without the user's explicit permission if it's not needed for some purpose the user explicitly wants to use the device for.
I suspect the slick-looking iPhoneTracker app finally made it interesting to the media.
Edit: There was a similar deal on iOS 3 but it seemed more like a bug, not a feature. Data would be purged at some unpredictable interval. I can't recall the file path and don't have an iOS 3 device handy.
Apple acknowledged that to the House of Representatives. They're gathering data about their customers, including GPS : [PDF] http://markey.house.gov/docs/applemarkeybarton7-12-10.pdf
II / C / 1 / a. : "Second, to help Apple update and maintain its database with known location information, Apple may also collect and transmit Cell Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information automatically. With one exception, Apple automatically collects this information only if the device’s location-based service capabilities are toggled to “On” and the customer uses an application requiring location-based infomiation. If both conditions are met, the device intermittently and anonymously collects Cell Tower and Wi-Fi Access Point Information from the cell towers and Wi-Fi access points that it can “see”, along with the device’s GPS coordinates, if available. This information is batched and then encrypted and transmitted to Apple over a Wi-Fi Internet connection every twelve hours (or later if the device does not have Wi-Fi Intemet access at that time)."
It's important to note that the above use of "anonymous" is laughable in context.
In order for that uploaded data to be useful by Apple, it needs to maintain both the lat/long and wi-fi access point ethernet addresses & signal strengths. This is pretty much a globally-unique identifier.
In location options, if you check certain options it warns you that Google will be logging wifi info and other details even while apps that access this info are not running.
The warning shown when you click "Use wireless networks" in Location settings is
"Location consent Allow Google's location service to collect anonymous location data. Collection will occur even when no applications are running."
My analysis is that this turns the phone into a mobile sensor that performs the same function as one of the Google mobiles driving around with cameras performs relating to wifi and location logging. Google probably collects the GPS coordinates and SSID of every wifi network that comes into range of a phone with this enabled. Given their recent legal troubles relating to wifi discovery, hopefully it doesn't gather more than that.
My guess is that Apple is gathering all those data in order to build their own Skyhook. It makes sense, specially when you keep in mind that Apple bough the mapping company Poly9.
Skyhook is suing them due to this.
Curious. It certainly seems to be logging way more than just when the location services icon is showing.
Maybe the news just hasn't happened yet?
http://blog.csvance.com/?p=39
Good detail on how and why it is generated.
The file can be viewed with any ol' SQLite browser, and the location information is stored in the "CellLocation" table.
After using an iPhone 4 since release day, I have ~1400 entries.
Earlier, entities recording: cell company. Earlier, entities with access: police, cell company
Now, entities recording: cell company, Apple Now, entities with access: police, cell company, anybody who temporarily gains access to my phone, anybody who temporarily gains access to my iTunes computer
See, how the "attack surface" is dramatically bigger now?
I'm just saying keep in mind this info is also available to others without an iphone.
https://github.com/serialx/iphonegpx
make print statement to print() function.