South Korean regulators are investigating Apple following reports that the iPhone and iPad log user movements, joining other countries concerned about mobile privacy issues.
collects and saves data -- whether users are aware and consenting -- possibly on company servers.
The Korea Communications Commission joins authorities in France, Germany and Italy in asking Apple to answer reports of iOS 4's position-logging features.
Apple's software stores latitude and longitude coordinates along with a time stamp, possibly using cell-tower triangulation methods. The security experts that discovered the logging said there were no signs that the data was being used by Apple.
The company has made no response to the furor, though the location logging behavior has reportedly been an open secret in the law enforcement community since last year.
Location logging is only the latest in a burst of privacy-related bad press for mobile technology. There's an ongoing federal investigation into mobile app developers that may be selling detailed personal information about their users to marketers.
These controversies make the case for increased transparency between the mobile industry and users about data policies. In many cases, location data has legitimate purposes, and if the information is anonymized, it can provide the needed data without the accompanying invasion of privacy.
Last week, a Nielsen survey revealed that consumers are growing more aware and concerned about how mobile personal data is collected and shared. The survey concluded user trust could be regained if consumers understand how data is being collected and used.
In the U.S., there is no legislation yet to prevent this type of tracking, but recently lawmakers proposed a bill that would require companies to detail what information is collected and get permission to share it with third parties.
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