The spying iPhone is no accident. A recent Apple patent application reveals that the location-tracking dossiers accumulated in iPhones are to be used in apps from Apple and any number of other companies.
Ronald Huang, an Apple senior engineering manager, filed patent application 12/553,554 last month, “Location histories for location aware devices,” which explains how Apple can amass and use location data in the very ways Apple critics fear. The patent application, for example, envisions a searchable map plotting the owner’s location history; tying location to financial transactions; transmitting location data over the internet to remote servers; and many other uses.
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