When I first heard that Apple iPhones were collecting location data on users, I was a little skeptical of the possibility that this was just a mistake. The data, you see, was collected in a .db file, and that’s not really something you’re likely to do by accident. If your intent is to hold just the current location data in memory (and there are plenty of good reasons to do that), you’d just hold it in memory. You wouldn’t create a database structure to do it.
Well, according to the Wall Street Journal, my skepticism was warranted:
Apple Inc.’s iPhones and Google Inc.’s Android smartphones regularly transmit their locations back to Apple and Google, respectively, according to data and documents analyzed by The Wall Street Journal—intensifying concerns over privacy and the widening trade in personal data.
Google and Apple are gathering location information as part of their race to build massive databases capable of pinpointing people’s locations via their cellphones. These databases could help them tap the $2.9 billion market for location-based services—expected to rise to $8.3 billion in 2014, according to research firm Gartner Inc.
Neither Apple nor Google have deigned to comment on this issue. If they actually have an explanation for this, that better change pronto.
