Privacy Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple patents privacy displays

by Michael Grothaus (May 23rd, 2011)

Electronista has discovered an Apple patent that would allow users to set privacy viewing parameters on their device's displays in order to keep unwanted eyes from seeing what they are doing. The patent, titled Systems and Methods for Electronically Controlling the Viewing Angle of a Display, ...

iPhone location data to be closely regulated in Europe

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 19th, 2011)

The fuss over the storage of location data by iOS has crossed international waters. The EU data protection advisory panel, a watchdog group that advises the European Commission, has said that location data is personal data. This ruling may lead to further restrictions limiting how this data may ...

Apple and Google headed for round two with Senate privacy hearings

by Chris Rawson (May 17th, 2011)

Following the first round of Senate hearings on privacy last week, representatives from Apple and Google will appear before the US Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance on May 19, according to CNET. In attendance for Apple will be Vice President of Worldwide ...

Half of iPad subscribers willing to share information

by Mike Schramm (May 12th, 2011)

At first, publishers were wary of the terms of publishing for Apple's iPad that would require them to ask consumers whether or not they could use their information. In traditional magazine publishing, magazines would get access to their subscribers' information, and publishers worried that they ...

Apple sued again over location data

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 11th, 2011)

Apple is facing another lawsuit over its handling of location data, according to a report from The Loop. The latest complaint was filed by Lymaris M. Rivera Diaz in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. Rivera is asking for monetary damages stemming from Apple's ...

The difference between Apple and Google at the Senate hearings

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (May 10th, 2011)

Earlier today, the US Senate judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on privacy, technology and the law. You can view a video of the opening statement by Senator Al Franken from today's hearings here. The purpose of this hearing was to aid lawmakers in understanding if current privacy laws ...

iOS 4.3.3 to fix location tracking issue, due soon

by Kelly Hodgkins (May 2nd, 2011)

A rumor out of BGR suggests iOS 4.3.3 will land in the upcoming weeks. As expected, the update will fix the location tracking issue that blew up last week. In this public debacle, Apple confirmed cell tower and Wi-Fi hotspot information was being stored on the iPhone and 3G iPad to improve ...

Apple, Google to testify at Congressional hearing on location tracking

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Apr 29th, 2011)

Senator Al Franken released a statement today thanking Apple and Google for agreeing to attend a hearing on mobile technology and privacy. According to Franken, the goal of the hearing is to "serve as a first step in investigating if federal law protecting consumer privacy-particularly when it ...

Apple responds to location tracking controversy

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 27th, 2011)

This morning, Apple officially responded to the location tracking controversy that has plagued the Cupertino company. [Apple executives, including Steve Jobs, spoke on the record with AllThingsD about the issue.] In a press release, Apple asserted that it is not tracking user locations (despite ...

A roundup of today's "Locationgate" news

by Steven Sande (Apr 25th, 2011)

Last week's news that relatively imprecise cell phone tower location data from iPhones is stored in a file that is backed up onto your computer seems to be gathering a lot of attention. It was even the main topic of discussion on last night's TUAW Talkcast. "Locationgate" began when two ...

Untrackerd wipes stored location data on your jailbroken iPhone

by Samuel Gibbs (Apr 21st, 2011)

The iPhone and iPad seem to be storing location data about your travels using cell tower information. Whether you believe that Apple is secretly spying on you or just storing the locations of cell towers for some purpose, such as speedier connections to said towers, if you don't like it, you ...

Your iPhone is silently and constantly logging your location [updated]

by Richard Gaywood (Apr 20th, 2011)

Update 2: Apple has issued an official response. Update: This story has generated followups from Thomas Ricker at Engadget, David Pogue, Andy Ihnatko and Dan Moren at Macworld. Researcher Alex Levinson points out that despite the Guardian's positioning of the location data as a shocking ...

Do-not-track feature coming to Safari

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 14th, 2011)

The latest developer release of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion includes a Safari web browser with do-not-track features built in. Do-not-track features in a web browser allow that browser to send messages to websites and advertising networks informing them that the user wishes not to be tracked. However, the ...

App developers could face US privacy investigation

by Dana Franklin (Apr 6th, 2011)

Hey app, did you just send my personal data or my phone's unique electronic identification number over the internet without my permission? Federal prosecutors in New Jersey are trying to answer this question in an ongoing investigation, the Wall Street Journal reports. The federal probe aims to ...

Pandora says grand jury looking into Apple and Android apps

by Mel Martin (Apr 4th, 2011)

One of the most popular music services, Pandora, has revealed that a federal grand jury is examining information sharing by mobile apps. According to the Wall Street Journal, Pandora was served with a subpoena to produce documents relating to "information sharing processes of certain ...