No new dick extensions to China
Finally China is leading the way. No new stubid dick extensions to execs. That is anyways so last season.
Chinese state media have been warning that Apple's iPhone is a threat to national security, despite the firm's denials*. Why? It's all down to its creepy ability to track users and transmit data back to its Cupertinian overlords. A report broadcast on CCTV claimed the iPhone's "Frequent Locations" function was dangerously …
Apple doesn't need consent - it knows what people wants and goes ahead and does it while its users roll over and joyfully let their bellies get tickled.
.. whereas Google simply lies to them. I find it interesting that this is so Apple focused, whereas the company that specialising in grabbing data in any shape or form by whatever means they can get away with is Google.
In reality you cannot trust any phone.
Amen!
And Verizon allows them hardware access, Microsoft gives them backdoors, Facebook, Yahoo, et.al. so many cooperative firms that the NSA needn't rely on breaking encryption, they merely gather it at the source. Almost all the major players do this type thing for their own gain and to please their government masters. Apple is hardly the Lone Ranger here...
And Verizon allows them hardware access, Microsoft gives them backdoors, Facebook, Yahoo, et.al. so many cooperative firms that the NSA needn't rely on breaking encryption, they merely gather it at the source. Almost all the major players do this type thing for their own gain and to please their government masters. Apple is hardly the Lone Ranger here...
Let's be accurate here: a US company HAS NO CHOICE. If a US company (or one with a US HQ) gets a legal demand for data it has but one choice if it wants to avoid fines: roll over. I'm pretty sure that the whole of Silicon Valley would love to tell the 3 letter agencies to f*ck off when it's not about a reasonable suspicion of terrorist activity, but they have no leg to stand on due to a truly atrocious mix of federal laws. Sure, especially the ones that make a living profiling people such as Google and Facebook will probably make a good mint selling that data on, but your average cloud or hosting company can do without that risk because it hampers sales to any company in the EU.
There are other types of data, of course, but the location data at issue here is collected by carriers so no matter what brand of phone you have your location is being tracked and recorded. The towers keep logs of attached devices by ESN and signal strength, and can determine your location to a pretty good degree. Google and Apple may have slightly more precise data, but they can definitely tell when you're "home" when you're at "work", and when you're at "your mistress' apartment".
This is an issue for everyone, even those outside the US. Do you really believe the carriers in the UK or Germany never share that data with anyone? Or that the database is hackproof?
If I lived in China frankly I wouldn't care about a US company, or the US government, having my location data. If I was some important government official or an officer of a major corporation, OK, then it matters, but for the common man? I would much rather have China tracking my location than the US, simply because China doesn't have any reason to care about me and can't do anything to me with that knowledge. I don't think that's true of my own government. But since I can't use a Chinese carrier, in reality it makes no difference.
Maybe the Chinese should all own US smartphones, and Americans should all own Chinese smartphones... Let the "other guy" track us, and make it less likely our own government can do so.
The Chinese government doesn't really care, either way they can track their citizens through the carriers, with whom they have a far closer relationship than the US does to its carriers.
maybe then the world would find out that china lets people walk around the block so that it appears more populated than it actually is.
Obviously that is a china state secrect and now the helicopters are approaching my position...
should not have bought an iphone ...
Yes, and given that the PRC would likely do the same with any iPheng knock-offs, this is all probably about business and *not* security. I.e., good old protectionism disguised as concern about security.
Just as Japan once closed its borders to keep Christianity out, perhaps China is taking a page from their book to close domestic markets and keep the Jesus phone out?
So much of an enemy that they still manufacture the phones for Apple.
On the other hand, all this really says to me is "Phones manufactured for Chinese companies feed intelligence back to the Chinese government, so we assume phones manufactured for American companies are doing the same."
The moral of the story is, don't buy phones from Chinese-owned companies.
...you turn Location Services off? Turning it off is supposed to save battery life so it must be stopping something. I would like to know, because if it continues to leak data, then I'm not buying one.
I don't use a fondle-phone anyway, so I'm not in any Apple/Google debate.
If you believe Apple's statements on the matter, turning Location Services off turns them off. You can also turn them off on an app-by-app basis. You can also get notified (with an icon) when a so-authorised app actually tries to make use of Location services.
>Does it still collect data when... ...you turn Location Services off? Turning it off is supposed to save battery life so it must be stopping something. I would like to know, because if it continues to leak data, then I'm not buying one.
Turning off location services on most devices will save power by not using the GPS chip, and possibly saving more power by not using the WiFi and cellular chips as much (since they are used to assist the satellite location).
Whether the device transmits this data to another party depends on the OS, the settings, apps installed, permissions, presence of malware etc
.., it'll still know your broad location though, as it will still know which cell towers it is near. That being said, the cell towers know when you're near them so if a government wanted to track a mobile phone user in slightly broad terms, it could do so regardless of the handset.