Tag Archives: Privacy

iOS devices track user’s location without permission

Tech and Gadget blogs are aflutter today with news that devices running iOS4 (iPhone 4 and iPad 3G) have been tracking and storing the user’s location data, without their knowledge. The discovery was made by researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden and announced at the Where 2.0 conference. They’ve even released an OSX app you can download and use to take a look at where you’ve been with your iDevice.

It’s a little bit creepy.

While most blog are just reporting on the fact that this exists, ArsTechnia’s got some pretty level-headed analysis (if you ignore the giant header graphic featuring Steve Jobs as some evil action-movie villain): How Apple tracks your location without consent, and why it matters.

This is not at all political – except in that it sort of is.

Self-proclaimed web nerd Adria Richards was otherwise minding her own business as a technology consultant when she read a Twitter post that Sen. Norm Coleman’s website had crashed – due to an onslaught of donor activity, the campaign said.

When Adria found the site, she noticed (and documented) an unsecured database of donor information – readily available to anyone who knew where to look. A few Flickr posts later, Adria found herself busy as a nonpartisan media pundit on web security matters. Adria’s social media habits and reporting on her blog went on to influence stories in more mainstream outlets.

As first-time hosts of The Twin Cities Web Design & Standards Group, we welcome group organizer David Skarjune and Aden Networks’ founder Adria Richards to The Nerdery next Tuesday evening to discuss her experiences, as well as:

• Website design; past, present and future
• Security risks of web 2.0
• Website compromises (XSS, SQL injections, incremental GUID)
• Famous sites that got hacked and how they did it
• How to keep your client site safe and secure

Beyond The Norm: Building Secure Websites
Twin Cities Web Design & Standards Group
Tuesday, May 12 from 6-8 p.m.

Even if you work/live at The Nerdery, please register here.

Nerdery Interactive Labs, a division of Sierra Bravo Corporation, is a nonpartisan, for-profit organization.