> but neither the OP article, or the Kerbs article suggests that Apple is collecting location data derived from location services on a phone and sending it back

> but neither the OP article, or the Kerbs article suggests that Apple is collecting location data derived from location services on a phone and sending it back to the mothership That is literally what the OP article is saying. Apple phones home your gps location even if you don't sign in. That's the claim of the OP article (really the claim of the paper the article is quoting) From the paper: "iOS sends the MAC addresses of nearby devices, e.g. other handsets and the home gateway, to Apple together with their GPS location. Currently there are few, if any, realistic options for preventing this data sharing."