While Apple has since remained refused to respond to any media-inquires about using its iPhones and iPads to track and forever keep your movements, another privacy snafu last year gives insight into what the company is doing with the information.
International Business Times reports that hints about the purpose of the tracking were disclosed last June.
“In June 2010, Congressmen Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas wrote a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs inquiring about Apple’s privacy policy and location-based services. In response the company’s general counsel Bruce Sewall wrote a letter explaining its practice, and shedding light on the rationale the company uses to monitor users.
“To provide the high quality products and services that its customers demand, Apple must have access to the comprehensive location-based information,” Sewall told Congress in the letter.
After emphasizing Apple’s commitment to users’ privacy, Sewall said that to provide these location-based services, Apple, its partners and licensees, may collect, use and share customers’ precise location data, including GPS information, nearby cell towers and neighboring Wi-Fi networks.
“By using any location-based services on your iPhone, you agree and consent to Apple’s and its partners’ and licensees’ transmission, collection, maintenance, processing and use of your location data to provide such products and services,” Sewall’s letter reads, citing Apple’s End User Agreement. But he added that the information is collected anonymously and the devices give users controls for disabling the features.
“In addition to giving Apple customers the ability to turn off all location features with one “on/off” toggle switch, Apple requires applications to get explicit customer approval when it asks for location information for the first time.”
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