iPhone and iPad 3G have been secretly keeping a database of all of user’s locations
Apple has been tracking every user of an iPad 3G or iPhone’s location since that person has upgraded to OS 4.0. Some security researches recently discovered that each device has a secret database of user positions and timestamps, kept on the user’s mac or pc that he syncs his Apple device with. The researchers also found out that the information about the times and dates is unencrypted. The researchers have even create an app, iPhone Tracker, to show people how much data is actually being collected when one is using his phone.
The database, or otherwise known as consolidated.db, contains information such as the longitude and latitude coordinates as well as a timestamp. It is unknown what actually prompts the phone to collect this info, but the device uses the cell-tower triangulation on devices with 3G connectivity to pinpoint the device location.
The researchers also pointed out that a list of wireless hotspots that the iPhone or iPad has connected to has also showed up in the database. The researchers said that iPhone user’s best bet until Apple responds is to choose the “Encrypt iPhone Backup” option while syncing your device in iTunes.