iPhone and iPad keep time-stamped track

As I did some “research” on the internet for some facts about it, I stumbled on this one-year-old story that actually demonstrates that iPhone (as well as iPad) keep time-stamped track of every places the iPhone has been to. Well, this, IMHO, is quite interesting (or horrifying, depending on how private your movements should be).

If you read the article above, you’ll see that once someone gets access to specific files stored on your iPhone (or iPad) then they can plot it on some kind of map (here, the example refers to Open Street Map). So, you can get a nice set of points plotted on actual maps showing where the iPhone has been, at what specific time. Duh? I can see you now doing a rewind of all the “lies” you may have said about the location you should be.  You are not that kind of person who says that you’re already “on the way and should be there soon “while you’ve just put your pants and shoes on and locking the door – aren’t you?

But how does phone tracking work?

In fact, if you are a happy owner of an iPhone or an iPad (and gosh, there’s a lot of them out there), I suggest you install this opensource app that will plot your movements into a nice map.  Install it and then see how phone tracking works. Under normal circumstances, this app should draw a nice map of the places where your iPhone (or iPad) have been. You may wonder what’s the point here of this game?

Well, first of all, I just want to get some feedback from actual users if the same thing applies one year after this story has made the front page. Heck, if this has made such a huge coverage last April, won’t it be great to know if things have changed (or not) one year later? And one of the ways to verify it is to test it by yourself. Isn’t it? I have put this article into the “funny” category since the result for each one of How-to-hide-ip readers may be funny (hey, I’d love to hear from your results in the comment section).

I’m pretty sure most of our readers won’t find it funny once their phone (or the app) actually plot correct locations on a nicely Open Street Map. I suggest you view the results alone first since there may be someplace you don’t want your friends to know- if you know what I mean.

What to do?

So why don’t you go ahead and download the app, then check if the map still shows the correct result? One caution though, I haven’t checked if there have been some updates at Apple’s side since that one-year article. So chances are that result may vary depending on if your phone has been updated, or if some privacy settings have been modified on your iPhone/iPad since then. But I bet it’s always interesting to be fixed on that point by actually testing it out.

Hey, in case you’re still too amazed by this “discovery”, just don’t let these results hang around as they may be used against you. And, remember, How-To-Hide-IP readers are eager to know some excerpts of your results: is it still tracking your movements? Is it showing something else?

Personal data protection video

In fact, as Internet users, we’re too busy using our favorite online platforms that we usually forget how exposed we are. And that’s what I like about the video that I’m showing here.

[Video no longer available]

Have you noticed how those same people in the video still act as if everything were normal even though, in between, they’re completely exposed and naked: call it unconsciousness or exhibitionism but there’s definitely something we need to worry about. After all, who wants to be the next guy in town that has his very life exposed to all the city?

Be aware of your personal data protection

What I also like about this smartly conceived video is how it refers to the usual things we do:

The guy at the airport terminal playing with his tablet

How can common such situation be? And I’m sure most travelers can relate to this. I know I’ve been using some airport-provided Wi-Fi to connect to the Internet while waiting for my check-in (especially during transit).

Well, if you don’t connect to Wi-Fi, but only use your computer or tablet for watching movies, the risks are limited – but since we are addicted to the internet, chances are that we would want to go online.

With the advent of WiMax technologies, I experienced, somewhere in Cape Town, a case where the Wi-Fi codes that my hotel gave me could still work with the Wi-Fi system that Cape Town airport is using. In fact, they were using the same provider, though the ability to do so. While this was quite practical, I guess this makes that same Wi-Fi installation more prone to hacks and attempts to get into the lambda user computer. I guess that the same kind of system also exists in other big (or not so big) cities all around the world.

So what’s the point here? Don’t be like that guy at the airport transit surfing with his tablet (or laptop) and be publicly exposed without even knowing it. At least, use a VPN solution that will protect your connection from hackers and spies.

Look at that woman working at the office

She just thinks that it’s a safe environment (probably because she assumes that the same office has IT support people who manage to protect her personal data while she’s online).

We all go on the Internet doing things that aren’t necessarily related to our work. And even if we don’t, chances are that the tools that we use at work (browsers, e-mail software) have some built-in tracking feature that will expose some of the personal things that we do online. Those can be cookies or logs that can be stored on your computer, or on some of the office’s server. The fact is, most of the things related to the internet connection are not only limited to you and your own computer. Some solutions exist so as to limit exposing your personal data: either surf in the incognito mode of your browser or try enabling your browser’s do-no-track feature. This later has some limitations though.

Conclusion

Anyway, I strongly recommend you sharing this same article to people who do not necessarily care about protecting their personal data online: I expect that humorous tone that the video adopts will help open their eyes.

As I started talking about the opposition between law and internet on my end of year book reading recommendations, it seems like I’ve opened the Pandora’s box.  The issue is simple: innovation is happening so quickly in the internet field, and then legislation tries to catch-up by trying to pass some laws and regulations. The most widely covered law/bill is currently the Stop Online Piracy Act that is about to be passed in the U.S. Learn about law and the Internet.

On the other side of the North Atlantic ocean, the European Union is also busy trying to address some privacy issues with regards to websites. It is called the EU cookies directive and you can check the full details here.

So what’s the point here?

Clearly, this law will enforce website owners to ask for permission from the internet user before setting a cookie to be stored on that user’s computer. Again, the main goal here can be legitimate:  website owners are trying to collect as much information as possible from the internet visitor so as to customize the browsing experience, this law just wants to systematize the fact that those websites should ask for permission first before setting those cookies.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m brave enough to check the cookies that are stored on my computer, I’m more than astonished to find out the huge list of cookies that lies around. Most of them come from domain names that I’m not even aware of. So, I tend to think that for any website that I visit, there must be multiple cookies that are used.  I can only think of all those sites using JavaScript that can do so, among which is the biggest player of the internet, I name Google with its Google Analytics tracking software.

Wanna simulate how it’d work?

So I searched the internet for a site who’d be daring enough to simulate what would happen if a website would have to ask for permission before setting a cookie on a user’s browser. And I found a gem and funny page. So, I tried to answer all the questions, and I can tell you I was a bit tired at the end after answering 5 or 6 cookies-related questions. Wanna have a good laugh? Go and check this webpage that simulates how the user experience would be with the EU cookie law.

Funny? Disturbing?

Made you wanna run away from that website? I had the same feelings too. Now imagine a big e-commerce site (or even a small eCommerce website) who’d ask that number of authorizations when someone wants to visit the site (think of Amazon, eBay or that niche e-commerce site): would you still buy from such website?

I know, this law (or the way it is written as of now) may seem “non-sense”, anyway, it seems to be taken seriously into account by big guys (again): have you noticed that Youtube, for example, have included the embedding via iframe of their videos instead of JavaScript? They now ship with a “privacy enabled mode”.

As unbelievable as it may seem, this topic is yet to become another “story of the year”. What’s your view on this “law and Internet” issue?

A Chinese version of… everything

For countries like China, well it seems it has been set up as a policy. But on their end, instead of only blocking those popular services, they launch their version. So for any great online platform out there, you can find the Chinese version:

–  in the search engine field, when most regular internet user would refer to Google, Chinese would be molded to use Baidu.

– while we tweet a lot, Chinese would use Sina Weibo for micro-blogging.

– while we are busy updating statuses on Facebook, the chances are that a considerable portion of the Chinese online population would be hanging on Renren.

– while Youtube still reigns on the video platform, it won’t surprise me that there soon will be a Chinese version.

I won’t try to argue against (or for) the reasons behind those approaches. However, one thing’s for sure: there will always be another popular platform rising after the death (or the obsolescence) of today’s popular ones. It has already happened often:

– when Google outpaced Yahoo as the most popular search engine platform,

– when Facebook became the place to hang on, to the disadvantage of MySpace.

Indeed, this is common in the internet technology space. And it’s even happening now.

Instagram? Or, maybe, Pinterest?

Instagr.am has quickly become the preferred photo-sharing service for mobile users (at least for those using  Apple iOS and Android phones and tablets). Once again, Yahoo (who owns Flickr) missed the turning point of the mobile trend, thereby “leaving” most potential Flickr users to Instagr.am (who, BTW, was quickly bought by Facebook for a massive $1 billion). Indeed, mobile is taking over a significant portion of the internet usage.

If we consider another popular platform on the internet, it’s Pinterest: I’m sure you’ve seen it popping in your “internet timeline: people pin to a board, share photos. Again, we go back to that same media: photo.

In fact, whether it is with Pinterest or with Instagr.am, photos are playing a significant role in their success. On the other hand, people are also telling stories with pictures. Every internet user has a digital camera or a smartphone that come with a digital camera. Moreover, as part of an internet that has become social, most of those photos will be shared online.

At first, people will take photos of their families and pets, but once riot happen, or other “interesting stories” unfold, chances are there will be a lot of citizen journalists that will capture the moment with their camera and upload it on popular platforms – be it Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, or whatever …

What do you think? Which one will be the next blocked platform?

We know that there have already been attempts to block access to Facebook, Twitter and Youtube during recent events (at the Arab spring, or n China), so the question I raised on the title of this article: which online platform will be the next one to be threatened by censorship according to you? Come on, let’s play the game and try to “predict” it… Bets are on.

Answer in the comment section.

For the braves …

For those who were brave enough (or serious enough about protecting their online data), the chances are that they’ve been through that same set of automatic password criteria evaluation. Remember sentences like the following?

• Your password needs to be at least eight characters long
• Your password should contain at least a number
• Your password should at least include one upper case letter
• You can’t reuse a password

… and the list goes on.

Most of the times, that same website had made you thinking of that great password, and even though it asks you to enter it twice, the chances are that you’ll forget that awesome-uncrackable password the next time you need to login to that same website. Raise your hands if you already encountered that issue? I did.

The nice password validation process

Next time you come back to that same website (assuming that you are smart enough not to check the “keep me logged in” feature on some websites), chances are that you’ll click on that “reset your password” link. And guess what? You’ll have to go again through all the password validation process to get another awesome-uncrackable password. Then you start thinking of writing it down somewhere – which is a terrible idea, and some websites even have the courtesy of reminding you that you shouldn’t write it down.

So, you’ve watched that funny video. Have you seen how creative that Gal could be finding some variations on a topic that she loves: dogs? I especially like the portion about the “You cannot use passwords that have been used in the last six months.”

Have you noticed the trick she is using?

She increases some numbers, hoping this will do it. We’ve all used that trick, I’m sure. And that “palindrome” criteria are just plain crazy. I had to check on my dictionary to find the right meaning of “palindrome”- and I do admit it takes some imagination to find some palindromes – then trying to apply it to a password is just way out of most people’s mind.

Indeed, the times where you could just put your birthday as a password are way behind us (at least for serious online platforms). I wouldn’t be surprised that at some point of time, not only would websites increase the difficulty for generating passwords, but they will also ask you to enter some Captcha to make sure there’s no robot out there trying to crack user’s password.

Anyway, while this sketch is “a bit” out of reality, there’s a lot of actual issues that are raised in it. But I can’t help mentioning the irony of the sketch when it shows she did all of this for what? For being able to vote for the cutest puppy, and then for the cutest horse? Come on. Who needs a password for that?

Your two cents: do you find it hard creating a password?

P.S: I kind of like the look that girl on the video has with her big glasses, don’t you?