Comment by avianlyric
4 years ago
I don’t think anyone is saying that iOS does report back to Apple (and I don’t think there is any evidence that iOS does this).
The original concern was caused because iOS would still activate location services and display the icon during these checks, even if you had turned location services off completely in settings.
That is exactly what the article is talking about.
I’m not sure which article your looking at, but neither the OP article, or the Kerbs article suggests that Apple is collecting location data derived from location services on a phone and sending it back to the mothership.
The OP article suggests that IP data from the uploads could be used to estimate location, and their table has a “location” column. But that column seems to be referencing the fact that iOS reports when location services are turned on and off, rather than a specific location derived from the phones sensors.
This is of course ignoring opt-in telemetry which is used to improve maps etc. Which obviously involves sending your location back to Apple.
> but neither the OP article, or the Kerbs article suggests that Apple is collecting location data derived from location services on a phone and sending it back to the mothership
That is literally what the OP article is saying. Apple phones home your gps location even if you don't sign in. That's the claim of the OP article (really the claim of the paper the article is quoting)
From the paper: "iOS sends the MAC addresses of nearby devices, e.g. other handsets and the home gateway, to Apple together with their GPS location. Currently there are few, if any, realistic options for preventing this data sharing."