Privacy at issue in iPhone, iPad tracking

SAN FRANCISCO -- Privacy watchdogs are demanding answers from Apple Inc. about why iPhones and iPads are secretly collecting location data on users -- records cellular service providers routinely keep but require a court order to disgorge.

It's not clear if other smartphones and tablet computers are logging such information on their users. And this week's revelation that the Apple devices do so wasn't even new -- some security experts began warning about the issue a year ago.

But the worry prompted by a report from researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden at a tech conference in Santa Clara, Calif., raises questions about how much privacy you implicitly surrender by carrying a smartphone, and the issue of smartphone makers' responsibility to protect sensitive data.

Much of the concern about iPhone and iPad tracking stems from the fact the computers are logging users' physical coordinates without users knowing it -- and that information is then stored in an unencrypted form that would be easy for a hacker, a suspicious spouse or a law officer to find without a warrant.

Researchers emphasize that there's no evidence Apple itself has access to this data. It apparently stays on the device itself, and on computers the data is backed up to. Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

Tracking is a normal part of owning a cell phone. What's done with that data, though, is where the controversy lies.

A central question is whether a smartphone should act merely as a conduit of location data to service providers and approved applications -- or as a more active participant by storing the data, to make location-based applications run more smoothly or help better target mobile ads or any number of other uses.

Location data is some of the most valuable information a mobile phone can provide, since it can tell advertisers where someone's been, where they might be going and what they might buy when they get there.

Allan and Warden said the location coordinates and time stamps in the Apple devices aren't always exact but appear in a file that typically contains about a year's worth of data that when taken together provide a detailed view of users' travels.

Allan said in an email to the AP he and Warden haven't looked at how other smartphones behave, but he added there's suspicion phones that run Google Inc.'s Android software might behave in a similar way and this is being investigated. Google did not respond to a request for comment.

The issue has prompted several members of Congress to write letters to Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., for answers.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said it raises "serious privacy concerns . . . [since] anyone who gains access to this single file could likely determine the location of a user's home, the businesses he frequents, the doctors he visits, the schools his children attend, and the trips he has taken -- over the past months or even a year."