Title:
Mobile Devices' Location Tracking Raises Privacy
Concerns
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Technology Report.
See text below
Text:
American lawmakers have expanded an investigation
into the use of location-tracking systems on mobile
devices. This follows recent reports about the
storing of information on the Apple iPhone, iPad and
iTouch. Questions have also been raised about Google
Android devices. Some people consider location
tracking to be a threat to personal privacy and
security. Allan Friedman is the research director
for technology and innovation at the Brookings
Institution in Washington. He says all wireless
companies do some amount of location tracking as
part of their networks. Mr. Friedman says this
information is usually stored by the companies, not
the devices, and there are laws to protect it. He
says: "Law enforcement, for example, has to have a
fairly high standard before it can access that data.
And the phone company is also prohibited from
selling that information."Congress discussed the
issue of mobile privacy last year. Now, two
researchers reported that location tracking
information is being stored directly on Apple
devices. They said Apple's newest operating systems
gather global positioning system and timestamp
information. The information is stored on the device
in a file that is also uploaded to any computer that
the device is connected to. The researchers say the
information is available to anyone who has access to
the device or computer. Allan Friedman says
applications that a user buys or get tricked into
downloading might also be able to access this data
and somehow misuse it.Apple said it is "not tracking
the location of your iPhone." The company said the
phone simply keeps a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and
cell phone towers near the user's location. Apple
said this is meant "to help your iPhone rapidly and
accurately calculate its location when requested."
In late April, leaders of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee sent letters to some of the
leading mobile device developers. These include
Apple and Google. The letters asked for more
information about their location tracking systems.
Allan Friedman says there should be stronger
controls over things like location data. He says we
need to understand who is getting this information,
how long are they keeping it and what exactly they
are doing with it.For VOA Special English, I'm Carol
Presutti. For more stories about technology and for
English teaching activities, go to
voaspecialenglish.com.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
