Pre Tracks Your Location And Tells Palm All About It
Palm Pre’s webOS, besides juggling your life or whatever that creepy girl says, sends information back to the mothership periodically, like what apps you’ve installed and how much you’ve used ‘em. And location data. Wait. What?
That’s right, part of the data package it delivers to Palm includes your GPS location, according to Joey Hess, on top of ever webOS app you use, and how long you use it:
The first thing sent is intended to be my GPS location. It’s the same location I get if I open the map app on the Pre. Not very accurate in this case, but I’ve seen it be accurate enough to find my house before.
{ “errorCode”: 0, “timestamp”: 1249855555954.000000, “latitude”: 36.594108, “longitude”: -82.183260, “horizAccuracy”: 2523, “heading”: 0, “velocity”: 0, “altitude”: 0, “vertAccuracy”: 0 }
Which their privacy policy totally allows.
Pre Central makes the most out of the info, breaking down their privacy policy and who they’re allowed to share it with.
Palm will most definitely be attempting to “clear up” this disturbing bit of information, but in the meantime, what’s apparent is that the Pre uploads your GPS location to Palm to the best of its ability, and that’s just a little creepy. [Joey Hess, Pre Central]
- Next Post: Mini-Tumbler Is Perfect For Taking Down Children In Joker Costumes »
- « Previous Post: Ten Of Your Best Home Theatre Setups
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
So does android, under Settings>security & location if you select “Use wireless networks” (and I think it’s selected by default, can’t remember) it states “Allow Google’s location service to collect anonymous and aggregate location data. Collection will occur regardless of wether any aplications are active.” if you disagree, no wireless network triangulation for you.