Now, according to The Wall Street Journal, the users of the Android phone are being tracked in a similar way as iPhone users, only the information is sent to Google rather than stored. So some jerk at Google now knows everything you are doing. Are these companies setting up a blackmailing operation? Are they planning a kidnapping?
U.S. Senator Al Franken has asked for a Congressional investigation, and this is going to be fun to watch, as these companies (and who knows who else is doing this?) try and weasel out of this. I can assure you that more than a few members of Congress have Android phones and iPhones, and none of them want anyone to know what they are doing and they don't want to be tracked.
People would be saying, "So I see, Senator, you've been spending a lot of time at the lobbyist office. Why? Are you pals?" or "Well, Senator, isn't this the address of a well-known hooker!"
The political implications of this are astonishing. And blackmail would be so easy. Are these corporations so dimwitted that they thought they wouldn't be caught pulling this stunt?
Of course, both Apple and Google will blame some underlings or the GPS chip maker for this "mistake." This response will be bogus, and hopefully any investigators will see though it. If the data was indeed being sent to Google, then someone must have it on a computer, and it must be there for a reason.
While many users of the iPhone have been amused by the data after examined it, others have said that some of the data is wrong. I know two instances of faulty data. The phone says they went someplace, but they did not actually go there. Other data is also missing. Someone is going to be screwed if the data is ever used in police investigations.
Be that as it may, I'm sure that more than one or two people would be concerned that a third party could see what they were up to on a minute by minute basis. A lot of people say they have nothing to hide, but those people are dull and boring. Most people who are active in the world have plenty to hide. You might be working on a deal to buy another company, and your movements could lead to a smart analyst figuring out the deal in advance and screwing it up or finding a way to profit from it.
You may be looking for a new job. Tracking you would be one way to find this out. You could get fired from your old job because of it. Heck, you may have a secret fishing hole you want to keep to yourself. There are hundreds of reasons you do not want some geek at Apple or Google to know what you are up to.
Any testimony before Congress will be about how the companies "were" going to use the data for data mining. Wouldn't it be interesting to know the driving pattern of Larry Ellison? What route does Steve Ballmer take to work? Does he vary his route? Or not? Where is his secret lodge? Let's look and find out! Yes, all good marketing research, eh?
There had to be conversations about this technology in meetings at both Apple and Google. This is not a renegade program. Google has already been under fire for collecting data on users, and it is only a step away from becoming the secret police with what it knows. Now this comes out.
If anyone doesn't think this is a big deal, then they should come forward and say why. There are already too many Americans who are incredibly short-sighted about privacy and it implications. They have an incredibly naive and cavalier attitude about it. When Sun CEO Scott McNealy made the stupid comment, "Privacy is dead, get over it," he signaled a new attitude that was headed in the wrong direction fast. It was a dangerous, irresponsible, and stupid comment.
The hypocrisy of these CEOs is absolutely incredible, since they commonly get bent out of shape when anything is revealed about them, such as their home addresses or mobile phone numbers. It's out and out sickening how arrogant many of today's executives have become.
I can assure you that this situation with the mobiles phones is going to blow up in their faces once the public-at-large sees what is going on and understands the real implications.