Saturday, April 23, 2011

Yes, your iPhone is tracking you -- the question's why

Overshadowing Apple's earnings news this past week was the publicity surrounding the discovery that iPhones and 3G iPads track users' locations and store the data in an unencrypted file. The discovery was made by O'Reilly researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, and it caused quite an uproar.
The file, named "consolidated.db," is an unencrypted SQLite database that can be found in the devices' file systems and in the iOS backup files created and updated by iTunes every time an iPhone or 3G iPad is synced. Although the file isn't immediately accessible on the device itself, it can be accessed on a jailbroken device via the iTunes-generated backup file. It also could potentially be accessed using other tools that allow you to explore an iOS device's file system while it's attached to a computer.
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