WiFiData
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AccuWeather’s iPhone app may track you even if you opt out (update)
AccuWeather on iOS might be deceiving users and violating Apple's developer terms of service, security expert Will Strafach has discovered. If you deny it access to location info, the popular app reportedly still sends WiFi data, namely your router name and BSSID, to a third-party ad firm called Reveal Mobile. Furthermore, the app can even track you when it's not open by using Bluetooth beacon data.
Google confirms it still has a 'small portion' of Street View WiFi data, apologizes
It has seemed like Google was close to putting its Street View snooping controversy behind it a few times now, but one thing or another keeps bringing it back to the forefront. Today, it's an admission from Google that it hasn't deleted all of the so-called payload data in question after all. That revelation comes in a letter from Google Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleisher to Steve Eckersley, head of enforcement at the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (or ICO), in which Fleisher says that Google is still in possession of a "small portion of payload data collected by our Street View vehicles in the UK." Fleisher adds that Google "apologizes for this error," and says that the data was discovered after an extensive review of its Street View data that it has been conducting in recent months. For its part, the ICO has acknowledged that it received the letter, and notes that the data was supposed to have been deleted in December of 2010, adding that "the fact that some of this information still exists appears to breach the undertaking to the ICO signed by Google in November 2010." You can find both statements in full at the ICO link below.
Copenhagen airport tracks your every move using WiFi signals
Hello, Big Brother! According to the New York Times, Copenhagen International Airport is currently testing a new program that monitors passengers based on WiFi data emitted from devices like laptops and smartphones. Airport officials observe travelers from a remote computer, and can tell, within 10 feet of accuracy, where they spend their time -- those arriving and departing are represented by different colored dots. The program, created by Geneva-based SITA, also gives visitors the option to download an iPhone app that provides location-based information, like promotions from nearby restaurants. SITA's VP said the software isn't intrusive, as it follows devices, not individuals, but we're not sure we want anyone to know how long our Android spends in the bathroom -- and you thought those naughty-bit scanners were creepy.
