Apple collecting and sharing users locations now

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lol..That's nothing. Next they will amend the policy to allow for installation of video cameras in your bathroom. Big brother will be watching you. :P 1984 ftw..!!!
 
smoky004 said:
Android fanboi's forget that google has been doing this for ages now.:P
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Not quite. When you start up an Android phone for the first time, it gives you a list of options and everything can be turned off. (Location by GPS, Location by Cell Tower, Usage Habits, etc)

For each app installed, a similar list is provided, detailing what the app can have access to.

The issue is not with companies collecting data, but Opt-In vs Opt-Out.
 
lol.. so much for Apple's spyware talk at WWDC.. So, basically what they told their users.. Leave the old/boring spyware, it will do scary things to you and check out the new iSpyWare... It's... MAGICAL...
 
whatsinaname said:
Not quite. When you start up an Android phone for the first time, it gives you a list of options and everything can be turned off. (Location by GPS, Location by Cell Tower, Usage Habits, etc)

For each app installed, a similar list is provided, detailing what the app can have access to.

The issue is not with companies collecting data, but Opt-In vs Opt-Out.
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And you reckon iOS doesnt provide options to turn individual options and/or apps off ?
 
Pat said:
And you reckon iOS doesnt provide options to turn individual options and/or apps off ?
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From what I've heard (from blogs and the couple of iPhone users I know at work), iOS4 does not give you the option. There is the option at oo.apple.com, but only for the iAd recommendation engine. No way to stop apple from collecting your location information. Android has options to turn off that as well (Again, information provided from a couple of Android users I know).

(Personally, I am a bit paranoid about these things. I don't even have a smart phone :P)
 
One In Five Android Apps Access Your Private Data

The Android Market's openness comes with a significant hitch: a full 20% of its app offerings can access and share your private data. Some can even make calls and send texts from your phone without your knowledge or consent. Scary.

One In Five Android Apps Access Your Private Data

So much for consent abt sharing private data!!!!
 
whatsinaname said:
From what I've heard (from blogs and the couple of iPhone users I know at work), iOS4 does not give you the option. There is the option at oo.apple.com, but only for the iAd recommendation engine. No way to stop apple from collecting your location information. Android has options to turn off that as well (Again, information provided from a couple of Android users I know).
(Personally, I am a bit paranoid about these things. I don't even have a smart phone :P)
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A question: what if you disable the hardware GPS of the phone? Or is it not possible to turn off the hardware GPS functionality?
 
^^ not too sure abt. that.Although for android, you can prevent ? google from gathering data there is still no way foolproof way to completely prevent(or even find out whether) the third parties are accessing your private data even if you disable it in the options menu.It's entirely dependent on the goodwill of third party devs and unfortunately such a system is open to abuse.There are already apps on the android store that do just that without the user ever knowing(doesn't matter whether you disable sharing data or not).The chances of such abuses by third party devs are much less on the app store.
 
whatsinaname said:
Yes, for the Apps you can. (I never disputed that)

Is there a similar option to block Apple from tracking the information? That is the issue here.
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Yes sir, you can completely turn off location services!!!
 
whatsinaname said:
Yes, for the Apps you can. (I never disputed that)

Is there a similar option to block Apple from tracking the information? That is the issue here.
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Exactly..

Pat said:
Yes sir, you can completely turn off location services!!!
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Not really. How can you be sure that iOS can't turn on location services on its own when it wants to track you?
smoky004 said:
^^ not too sure abt. that.Although for android, you can prevent ? google from gathering data there is still no way foolproof way to completely prevent(or even find out whether) the third parties are accessing your private data even if you disable it in the options menu.It's entirely dependent on the goodwill of third party devs and unfortunately such a system is open to abuse.There are already apps on the android store that do just that without the user ever knowing(doesn't matter whether you disable sharing data or not).The chances of such abuses by third party devs are much less on the app store.
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The same thing as I mentioned above to pat applies for android. There is a soft switch provided in these smartphones to turn on/off location services but there is no guarantee that the OS itself cannot do it on its own if needs to.

However, where Android policy is slightly better off is that Apple requires you to agree to its location tracking policy as a blanketing policy, i.e., if you want to access app store and stuff, you need to agree that it can track your location. BUT for android, the policy states that if YOU turn on the location services, google can take your location data. So, essentially on Android if you turn off location services, android cannot take your location data legally though technically it is still possible. In apple's case, it is technically as well as legally possible if you accept the TOS and then turn off location services manually.

Edit: BTW, just to make it clear. I don't think there is anything sinister behind this from apple. This is standard terms that they would like you to accept to save themselves from frivolous law suits.. I am just ROFLing because they say that google is evil for the same reasons and then do the same thing themselves.. :P
 
^^Trouble is i don't trust google and it's claims.After all the reason google is sellin this free open source software is because they can make money from adverts.If i am not wrong not too long ago google was also involved in wifi-gate. Google also heavily monitors web usage like how many times i have visited b**gbus in the last one month which so worries me:P The irony is their motto is "don't be evil"I am a bit worried goggle might eventually throw a googly at me.
 
^^ FYI Apple just went into ads business and claimed that they will become world no. 1 in mobile advertising..so that point is moot..
 
^^ I never said apple is saint here.The point i was always making was that both are bad....maybe android is worse because of what it does and google seems to have little control over third party apps. And google's own prying eyes are a mojor cause of concern more so than apple.Infact the original poster or somebody else claimed apple was collecting data.What i wanted to point out was google did the same so that some android fanboi doesn't suffer such illusions.
 
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