Apple’s tracking response: A baby step toward transparency?
The notoriously mum computer company’s admission it didn’t do enough to explain how it tracks iPhone use may signal a change, experts say.
In an uncharacteristic move this week, Apple responded to news reports that the company was tracking where iPhone and iPad customers had been. In the form of a Q&A, Apple stated there was a distinction between what news outlets said it tracks and the information it really collects.
“The iPhone is not logging your location,” according to Apple’s statement. “Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”
The statement also includes something akin to an apology, in which Apple states, “The creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date.”
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