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Ten other things your iPhone knows about you
Image via O’Reilly Radar
Today, iPhone owners are getting a queasy feeling in their stomach as they learn that their device (or 3G-enabled iPad) is tracking their movements, writing that information to a file and uploading that file to their computer when they sync. (More information about it in this informative YouTube video.)
I know it’s a huge privacy faux pas on the part of Apple (and one I’m sure they’ll be forced to respond to soon), but for me, honestly, I can’t imagine a situation where this affects me. I’m a parent of two tiny children. I don’t go anywhere remotely interesting. I go home. I go to work. I go buy diapers and baby butt paste and sometimes, if I’m having a great week, I get to go eat BBQ at a nearby restaurant. The location data that my iPhone might track would bore Steve Jobs to tears.
Much more damning is other non-location related data on my phone and yours. Here are 10 other things your iPhone knows about you that would be worse for you if exposed:
- How many fart-related apps you’ve downloaded.
- How many times you’ve listened to songs by the 80s group Starship all the way through.
- The total number of Angry Birds you’ve carelessly killed.
- Number of phone contacts you have where you only remember the person’s first name and are afraid to ask for a last name to go with it.
- Total Justin Bieber YouTube video viewings.
- Multiple waxing appointments in the same week listed in your Calendar app.
- That private home movie you shot that is NEVER EVER EVER supposed to get out on the Internet EVER or you will be dumped by your significant other.
- Self-help iBooks you’ve downloaded that do not seem to have helped.
- Google Map routes that have ended at donut or cupcake shops.
- That time you got every single question wrong in “Qrank.”
What else are you worried your phone might reveal about you? Post it in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Applications, Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Videogames
Comments
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By Beth
April 26, 2011 8:29 AM | Link to this
A better question is: Who's data would you like to see revealed so they can be taunted by their enemies?
Governor Hair?
By Owen Pellegrin
April 21, 2011 10:39 AM | Link to this
People characterizing it as an Apple problem have an agenda. *Every* cell phone collects this data (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/03/what-location-tracking-looks). The only thing special about the iPhone is it stores a copy of the data on the phone. It's worth asking Apple why, but more concerning that cell companies keep all of this anyway.