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- We still don't know whether or not the companies on the PRISM slides were participating voluntarily or even knowingly. - I don't see how constructing a datab

- We still don't know whether or not the companies on the PRISM slides were participating voluntarily or even knowingly. - I don't see how constructing a database of cell tower locations violates privacy. They are beacons used for finding the user's location when they have location services turned on. - iAd is a joke of an ad network, and stores a negligible amount of user data compared to Google's. It's also relatively easy to reset tracking on iAd, for the few apps that do use it.

nitrogen 12y ago
- I don't see how constructing a database of cell tower locations violates privacy. They are beacons used for finding the user's location when they have location services turned on. They were storing location history: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/04/20/iphone.tracking/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/04/20/iphone.tracking/in...
- glhaynes 12y ago
  On the user's devices.
  - nitrogen 12y ago
    Where anybody with physical access to their phone or their computer, or access to their cloud sync data, could get at it.
    - feld 12y ago
      Do you have proof that it was synced to iCloud? I don't believe it ever was.
      - nitrogen 12y ago
        It was definitely in computer sync data. I don't use iTunes, so couldn't say whether it went into the cloud from there. Edit: there are more ways for data to get into the "cloud" than "iCloud".
- uxp 12y ago
  This again? They were storing location history as to more easily pinpoint the user's location without having to maintain a constant connection with a GPS satellite. They weren't storing it and sending it off to the NSA, your local police, or their own data center to mine it.
  - nitrogen 12y ago
    Were users warned about this before the tracking started?
    - feld 12y ago
      It's NOT tracking. It was only ever stored locally on that device. That's called logging.
      - nitrogen 12y ago
        Were users warned about this before the logging started? Edit: FWIW, "track" is the word used in the CNN article I linked.
mpyne 12y ago
> - We still don't know whether or not the companies on the PRISM slides were participating voluntarily or even knowingly. Sure we do. PRISM has an NSA part and a company part. The company had to build out their end in order to participate in PRISM. However it's important to realize that compliance in some form with NSLs and warrants was not optional for Apple. By not participating in PRISM they would simply have turned over the same data on each request by manual means. That modality is probably an even bigger threat to user privacy than PRISM. In PRISM, Apple's legal team would have to vet each and every single NSL or warrant and then manually activate an automated process to ship the required data over. While Apple didn't release a ton of details about how they implement it, this automated process is precisely the thing that can be done without a raft of Apple employees having to map/reduce it all manually (and possibly leak part of it themselves, maliciously or accidentally).

nitrogen 12y ago

- I don't see how constructing a database of cell tower locations violates privacy. They are beacons used for finding the user's location when they have location services turned on. They were storing location history: http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/04/20/iphone.tracking/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/04/20/iphone.tracking/in...

glhaynes 12y ago
On the user's devices.
- nitrogen 12y ago
  Where anybody with physical access to their phone or their computer, or access to their cloud sync data, could get at it.
  - feld 12y ago
    Do you have proof that it was synced to iCloud? I don't believe it ever was.
    - nitrogen 12y ago
      It was definitely in computer sync data. I don't use iTunes, so couldn't say whether it went into the cloud from there. Edit: there are more ways for data to get into the "cloud" than "iCloud".
uxp 12y ago
This again? They were storing location history as to more easily pinpoint the user's location without having to maintain a constant connection with a GPS satellite. They weren't storing it and sending it off to the NSA, your local police, or their own data center to mine it.
- nitrogen 12y ago
  Were users warned about this before the tracking started?
  - feld 12y ago
    It's NOT tracking. It was only ever stored locally on that device. That's called logging.
    - nitrogen 12y ago
      Were users warned about this before the logging started? Edit: FWIW, "track" is the word used in the CNN article I linked.

mpyne 12y ago

> - We still don't know whether or not the companies on the PRISM slides were participating voluntarily or even knowingly. Sure we do. PRISM has an NSA part and a company part. The company had to build out their end in order to participate in PRISM. However it's important to realize that compliance in some form with NSLs and warrants was not optional for Apple. By not participating in PRISM they would simply have turned over the same data on each request by manual means. That modality is probably an even bigger threat to user privacy than PRISM. In PRISM, Apple's legal team would have to vet each and every single NSL or warrant and then manually activate an automated process to ship the required data over. While Apple didn't release a ton of details about how they implement it, this automated process is precisely the thing that can be done without a raft of Apple employees having to map/reduce it all manually (and possibly leak part of it themselves, maliciously or accidentally).