Judgement Day For Apple?

In a twist that appears to have slipped by largely unnoticed, the news that Apple's iPhone and 3G version of the iPad are storing detailed location data for subsequent transfer to synchronised computers, broke, in the UK at least, on 21st April 2011. Fans of the Terminator series will recognise this date as Judgement Day.

Quite why Apple is storing the data and what present or indeed future use they intend to make of it is unclear, and Apple aren't saying. It's also true that mobile telephone companies store the same data, but in their case it's held securely behind firewalls. The location data stored on a synchronised computer is visible to anyone with access to that machine.

Although public opinion appears to be mixed, with many people appearing unconcerned, there are clear implications for anyone with perfectly legitimate reasons for keeping regular routes used and locations visited from falling into the wrong hands.

Here's a trip I made to France as stored by my iPhone and recovered from my Mac, showing the route I took by car. Zooming in reveals with fair accuracy, the location of the shoot itself and the hotel I stayed in. My recent trip to Brussels is also shown in the top right of the picture.