Thursday, before the Senate Consumer Protection, Safety and Insurance Subcommittee, Apple Vice President of Global Affairs Catherine Novelli testified that Apple is not changing its stance on tracking users’ locations. The company representative stated that Apple does not now, has never, and will never track users’ locations.
Apple rebutted claims about a database file found in iOS 4, saying that the data was merely being used to crowd-source the locations of relevant Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers, and contained no identifiable user location information whatsoever. The company stated that any claims to the contrary are false, and that the data is strictly being used to aid in making its devices location detection features work faster and more reliably for the users.
At the same hearing, Google claimed that it has no control over what the Android application developers do, and cannot be held responsible for their actions. In other words, Google claims no responsibility whatsoever if every app on your Android device is tracking your location and reporting it to whatever corporation built it. Android was created primarily to be a mobile advertising platform, by the largest and highest valued advertising corporation in the world, so this should not come as a surprise.
The Senators present expressed concern about the lack of regulation in the app markets, and especially in the lack of responsibility claimed by the companies running them. They stipulated the possibility of creating a “do not track” list to govern mobile in-app advertising, much akin to the existing “do not call” list that governs telemarketing.
Article Via AppleInsider
Photo Credit: chriswatkins
