Location tracking puts Apple in spot

WASHINGTON, 22 April 2011(AFP, AP): US lawmakers are seeking an explanation from Apple following claims that iPhones and iPads constantly log the location of the devices and store the information in a hidden file.

Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, sent a letter to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Wednesday, while Democratic Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts sent Jobs a letter on Thursday. The letters came after a pair of British security researchers, Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, said the position-logging feature is contained in iOS 4, the operating system for the iPhone and iPad released in June.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google's Android smartphones also regularly transmit their locations back to Google. Google and Apple are storing location information to help them tap the $2.9 billion market for location-based services, according to the paper.

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

The data apparently stays on the device itself, and computers the data is backed up to. Tracking is a normal part of owning a cellphone. What's done with that data, though, is where the controversy lies.

A central question in this controversy 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 itself, to make location-based applications run more smoothly or help better target mobile ads or any number of other uses.