Apple Denies Tracking iPhone Users

To all the iPhone users alarmed at recent reports of location tracking, Apple says it doesn't keep track of your comings and goings.

"Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone," the company said in a statement posted on its website. "Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so."

Apple issued the response after last week's report that researchers had discovered a file containing location information on the iPhone and iPad. The researchers asked why Apple needed the data, suggesting there was no obvious purpose. Others speculated that the information is being sold to advertisers, to more precisely target their marketing.

In its statement today, Apple said it does not maintain the location of individual phones, but does keep a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers. It uses the data to quickly provide local information.

Google makes similar statement

Apple's statement follows a similar response from Google, whose Android operating system also maintains similar files. Google said it always makes its customers aware of when information is being collected and stored.

Apple said it is coming out with a software update soon that will reduce the size of the database on iPhones. When the location services option is turned off, the file will be erased. The next version of its operating system, the company says, will encrypt the database.

Attention from lawmakers

The initial report drew immediate reaction from privacy advocates and some members of Congress. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) issued sharply worded warnings to service providers not to overstep the bounds of privacy.

"The existence of this information-stored in an unencrypted format-raises serious privacy concerns," Franken wrote in a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs last week. "The researchers who uncovered this file speculated that it generated location based on cell phone triangulation technology.  If that is indeed the case, the location available in this file is likely accurate to 50 meters or less. Anyone who gains access to this single file could likely determine the location of a user's home, the businesses he frequents, the doctors he visits, the schools his children attend, and the trips he has taken-over the past months or even a year."

Franken has asked Apple and Google to send representatives to a hearing on privacy next month.