Tracking

Apple researching combining mouse and trackpad into one ‘motion touch’ control device

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 11, 2013

How do you get the speed of a computer mouse and the fine control of a trackpad? Apple's answer is to combine the two motion sensors into one device and wrap it all into a patent filed and published Thursday.

The patent application, published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, is entitled 'Hybrid Inertial and Touch Sensing Input Device'. The 2012 filing outlines a type of motion-sensing traffic cop which determines whether inertia (mouse) or touch (trackpad) should control your iDevice's cursor...

Korean iPhone users drop privacy suit against Apple to pursue $25M case

Cody Lee ∙ January 18, 2013

Back in 2011 a group of 29 people took action against Apple, claiming that the iPhone-maker was illegally enabling location-based features without their consent (you remember locationgate, don't you?). Today, however, they've backed down after failing to provide sufficient evidence.

The group had been seeking 800,000 won (or $757 USD) per person, but will now turn their attention to a separate class-action privacy suit filed with a regional court, which involves claims from roughly 27,000 iPhone owners in the country and could be worth up to $25 million...

Judge approves Google’s $22.5M Safari tracking fine

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

It looks like Google may have to start writing out that $22.5 million check soon, to cover the fine it agreed to pay in order to settle the FTC claim that it illegally bypassed user privacy settings in Safari.

US District Judge Susan Illston approved the fine in a San Francisco federal court late Friday, which will go down as the largest penalty ever levied against a company by the Federal Trade Commission...

How to stop Verizon and AT&T from sharing your user data with advertisers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 29, 2017

New iPhone owners on the nation's largest LTE network might be interested to know that the carrier gives its customers 30 days to opt-out of participating in a user data sharing program with advertisers.

The program tracks smartphone users, recording things like location data (though it's anonymized), age, dining habits and other demographics, and shares them with advertisers for targeted marketing...

Official: Google to pay $22.5M fine in Safari privacy breach scandal

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 9, 2012

As hinted last month, Google has reached a deal with The United States Government and has agreed to pay a $22.5 million fine for overriding iOS Safari users’ privacy settings in order to better track their web browsing activity.

The unusually high fine is meant to set an example for other companies who may be thinking about violating users' privacy in sneaky ways...

Google to pay $22.5M fine in Safari privacy debacle settlement

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 4, 2018

Remember when Google was caught with its hands in the jar, overriding privacy settings of both desktop and iOS Safari users' privacy settings in order to better track their web browsing activity? The issue snowballed into a privacy scandal as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in April it would investigate the practice. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the FTC and the search Goliath are now close to finalizing a settlement that will see Google pony up a whopping $22.5 million to settle the privacy issue, FTC's largest ever fine...

FTC looking to fine Google for bypassing Safari users’ privacy

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 17, 2012

Following a report that claimed Google had been overriding Safari users' privacy settings to set tracking code in order to collect web browsing habits, a newspaper story this morning asserts that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking a long, hard look at the search giant's practice.

The FTC is said to be “deep into an investigation” of Google’s tactics of bypassing Apple’s security settings on both the desktop and iOS versions of Safari.

Apparently, they are looking to fine Google and the financial sanctions could be "sizable", according to the obligatory people familiar with the matter.

How to easily track your new iPad and Apple TV order

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated May 30, 2017

It's that time of the year again. We're all waiting on pins and needles until March 16th when the new iPad is officially available to the public.

As Cult of Mac's Killian Bell points out, Apple's own Apple Store app is a great way keep tabs on your new iPad and/or new Apple TV shipment.

It's not going to make your new iPad hit your doorstep any faster, but it's a nifty way to ease some of the anxiety of waiting...

Google caught overriding Safari users’ privacy settings

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 18, 2018

User privacy has been a hot button issue over the past few months thanks to high profile scandals like the CarrierIQ fallout, and the more recent Path debacle. And now it looks like we can add Google to the list of violators.

In a recent investigative report, The Wall Street Journal claims that the search giant has been intentionally overriding the privacy settings of both desktop and iOS Safari users to better track their web browsing activity...

Apple Listed in Carrier IQ Class Action Lawsuit

Cody Lee ∙ December 5, 2011

We all saw this coming. BGR is reporting that multiple law firms from the north eastern region of the United States have just filed class action lawsuits against Apple and several other manufacturers and wireless carriers due to their part in the Carrier IQ scandal.

Carrier IQ's IQRD app comes pre-installed on millions of handsets each year, and was recently exposed for secretly collecting private user data. The software is hidden within mobile operating systems and never asks for a user's permission to collect their information.

Carrier IQ’s Creepy User-Tracking Software Found in iOS, Here’s How to Turn it Off

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 28, 2016

Over the last couple of days, there has been a lot of talk around the web regarding Carrier IQ. The company makes user-tracking software for Android, BlackBerry, and Symbian handsets that secretly logs keystrokes, text messages, and other data.

Initially, the program was thought to be exclusive to the above-mentioned operating systems, so we didn't feel the need to report on it. But chpwn, a well-known developer of jailbreak apps, has recently found Carrier IQ's software hidden within iOS...

MobileMonitor: The Creepiest iPhone Jailbreak App Ever!

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 24, 2011

Want to see something really creepy? I mean, really creepy?

MobileMonitor is a jailbreak app that just appeared in Cydia, and as its name implies, it lets you monitor mobile devices remotely.

It really has to be seen to be understood, but MobileMonitor basically allows you to track virtually every facet of an iPhone's usage remotely, completely unknown to the user of the device. Full video inside...