Privacy Concerns Over iPhone, Android Data Sharing Could Squelch iPhone 5 Features

A new report indicating that both the iPhone and Android phones store users' visited locations are stoking condemnation from governmental officials and raising privacy concerns among smartphone users. Could an escalation in the privacy debate prompt Apple to abandon certain new features on the iPhone 5?

The privacy debate spurred on by Google's Street View a few years back has now expanded into the realm of the iPhone.

A recent article from the Wall St. Journal's tech department reveals that two of the top smartphone designers — Apple and Google — are in fact tracking users' whereabouts and activities and storing this data without encryption. While Google is no stranger to being at the center of privacy concerns with respect to user data collection, the fact that the iPhone is now caught up in the discussion comes as much more of a shock to Apple customers,considering that Apple has not traditionally offered products or services that would require collecting and processing user data.

WSJ.com writers Julia Angwin and Jennifer Valentino-Devries are reporting that the iPhone and Google's Android smartphones, "regularly transmit their locations back to Apple and Google, respectively, according to data and documents analyzed by The Wall Street Journal—intensifying concerns over privacy and the widening trade in personal data."

Both Google and Apple are claiming in one way or another that their collection and storage of this data is innocuous, and is meant to enhance services and features that their customers rely on daily. According to the WSJ.com article, the data is said to be used to "build giant databases of Internet WI-Fi hotspots . . . help local-business lookups and social-networking features . . . help cellphone networks more efficiently route calls . . . build accurate traffic maps . . ." and eventually provide valuable intelligence that will allow Google — and Apple, apparently — to custom-target advertising based on their daily patterns and habits.

It all seems brilliant to users in theory, but when reports like these surface and iPhone users learn that their movements are indeed being tracked, smartphone technologies become a bit more worrisome to the average user. For as much as this sort of data collection is presented to consumers as a "technological marvel" for improving search results, shopping experiences, and customized information, many fear that devices like the iPhone could be invasively used by governmental and law enforcement institutions to incriminate users, as well as make it easier for hackers and identity thieves to steal information.

MSNBC recently highlighted the possibility in a segment, claiming that racial minorities in the United States could be targeted as a result of this functionality on the iPhone. Host Thomas Roberts stated that both the iPhone and Android smartphones use a, "Universal Forensic Extraction Device," which can "copy the entire content of a cell phone including text messages, contacts, GPS data and do it in just minutes. Michigan State Police purchased this device, though we don't know how exactly they're using it but civil liberties groups worry that the device endangers the privacy rights of blacks and Latinos. A Nielsen study shows blacks talk on average twice as much each month on their cell phones as white counterparts."

You can read the rest of the report here.

Whether or not this report rings true for minorities in the United States is debatable. However, the report illustrates how privacy issues can indeed dampen the evolution of smartphone technology for average users and make them wary of using devices like the iPhone 5.

Will Privacy Concerns Affect Purported iPhone 5 Features?

As many iPhone 5 devotees know, there are several rumored iPhone 5 features that could be affected by a surge in concern over whether the iPhone is providing Apple and other agencies sensitive, private information. This would be particularly true with NFC technology, which would undoubtedly interface sensitive banking information with the iPhone platform, and would also increase the occasions where users reveal their location and patterns, since the iPhone 5 could used dozens of times a day to pay for goods and services.

The iPhone 5 News Blog wrote about the privacy issues with NFC almost nine months ago in this article, long before privacy concerns were even being talked about for the iPhone.

Other iPhone 5 features could also be affected, such as Air Sync technology and even the rumored cloud data storage feature that many iPhone users are hoping will bump up the iPhone 5's ability to store more music, photos, videos, and files. If a plurality of users are concerned enough about the fact that Apple is collecting user data, it could be enough to shy away from purchasing the iPhone 5 if several of its features expose too much of users' private information.

Now that the privacy debate has reached the iPhone, Apple will most definitely have to address it for the iPhone 5. At present, Apple has declined formal comment about the allegations levied in the WSJ.com report, but they are most likely preparing an explanation for the media that will debut next week. In the meantime, Apple's marketing department will be hard at work re-crafting their feature descriptions to focus less on how cool technologies like NFC are, and more on how Apple is safeguarding all of the user data that gets tracked and collected as a result of using them on a daily basis.