The ability for iPhones and iPads to log users' locations probably reflects an error, say the programmers who discovered it.



From BusinessWeek:

"If this was a conspiracy, this file would have been hidden better and we wouldn’t have found it,’’ said Alasdair Allan, one of the computer programmers who discovered the tracking feature. “Our best guess is this was an engineering mistake.”

Allan and former Apple software engineer Pete Warden said they stumbled upon the file where all the location data was being stored by accident while toying with the iPhone to see what other data could be pulled from the device. They were surprised to find a file with about 29,000 logs of their whereabouts -- about a year’s worth.

  Apple Tracking Likely a Mistake, Say Researchers