For those of us who need to stay under the radar or even want to enjoy the normal level of privacy, it would seem to me that the iphone is not the best choice for guys enjoying our little hobby, according to the attached article too much information is captured.

I can just imagine what an opposing lawyer in a divorce case for example, would do with the information that could be harvested from one of these devices. In fact if I was a suspicious SO I'd be buying one as a present asap and let's not forget there are many who would consider us criminals for using WG's.

Personally I'll be sticking to my not too smart mobile telephone and camera.


More eye spy than iPhone as smart device does the legwork for police
TOM LEONARD
July 12, 2010
               
NEW YORK: Criminals using the Apple iPhone may be unwittingly providing police with a wealth of information that could be used against them, research has revealed.
As the device grows in popularity, technology experts and US law enforcement agencies are devoting increasing efforts to understanding its potential for forensic investigators.
While police have tracked criminals by locating their position via conventional mobile phone towers, iPhones offer far more information.

''There are a lot of security issues in the design of the iPhone that lend themselves to retaining more personal information than any other device,'' said Jonathan Zdziarski, a former computer hacker who now teaches US police how to retrieve data from mobile phones.
''These devices organise people's lives and, if you're doing something criminal, something about it is going to go through that phone.''
Apple has sold more than 50 million iPhones since it was introduced in 2007.
Mr Zdziarski said he suspected that security had been neglected on the iPhone as it had been intended as a consumer product rather than a business device like the BlackBerry. An example was the iPhone's keyboard logging cache, which was designed to correct spelling but meant that an expert could retrieve anything typed on the keyboard over the past three to 12 months.
In addition, every time an iPhone's internal mapping system is closed down, the device snaps a screenshot of the phone's last position and stores it.
Investigators could access several hundred such images from the iPhone and so establish its user's whereabouts at certain times, he said.
In a further design feature that can also help detectives, iPhone photos include so-called ''geotags'' so that, if posted online, they indicate precisely where a picture was taken and the serial number of the phone that took it.
''Very few people have any idea how to actually remove data from their phone,'' said a researcher for US Customs and Border Protection. ''It may look like everything's gone but for anybody who's got a clue, retrieving that information is easy.''
Telegraph, London
Link here:
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-li ... 20100709-1042e.html

Not many people know about these data logs.  Did you evervread the book "1984".

Are you sure it is now for all phones? I mean as long as there is a simcard under you name, I am pretty sure they can scratch some information from that almost like google and facebook haha

True in some countries.  I think in the USA there is demand for services that help you find your lost or missing phone or to help you locate should you be in an emergency or know whether your friends are in your vicinity or not.  So of course these phones will have built-in GPS, geotags, last picture taking, etc to facilitate those services.  But many ppl forget all those features also facilitate others tracking you too, including your spouse and law enforcement.

In HK and China I can buy a simcard in 7-11 without having to leave a name and address.  Plus I use a simple non-smartphone mobile. Complete anonymity.

[ Last edited by  doghead at 13-7-2010 16:28 ]

It really has not been publicized all of the info that is left behind in your phone etc.  That is the first article that even addressed it. People will definitely care about these privacy issues if they knew about them.