WCA July 2011

From the americas

“No family should ever have their most secret information hacked into by strangers who could be predators,” Mr Markey told the Herald . “I think that these security experts who hacked into the iPhone are demonstrating how vulnerable the devices are to being exploited.” ❖ ❖ Ms Van Sack observed that global positioning system (GPS)-like mobile technology developed by Boston- based Skyhook Wireless in 2003 is now “baked into” all Apple phones. According to Skyhook co-founder Mike Shean, however, separate Apple technology enables the tracking function. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Washington- based Electronic Privacy Information Center, dismissed any suggestion that the data-tracking capabilities could be an an unintended adjunct of location-tracking software. “It is quite clear that Apple made a decision to create this file” and needs to fix the problem, Mr Rotenberg told the Herald . “They’ve placed their customers at risk.” ❖ ❖ Writing in the “Bits” technology blog of the New York Times (22 nd April), Miguel Helft noted the possibility of a more benign explanation for the secret data collection. Some security experts told him that they believed Apple collects the data not to track users but to be able to pinpoint a phone’s location more quickly. This saves bandwidth and battery life when the owner of a phone uses location-based navigation and map services. Many cellphone owners believe that the services that pinpoint their location on smartphones rely on GPS technology. But Mr Helft observed that, more often than not, companies like Google and Apple identify a phone’s location by comparing the names and strengths of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots against a database of Wi-Fi hotspots – the technique pioneered by Skyhook Wireless. “Apple initially relied on Skyhook’s technology. But, over time, Google and Apple began building their own databases of Wi-Fi hotspots,” Mr Helft wrote. “Google did so with its StreetView cars. And both companies do so by using their customers’ phones as sensors.” As a Google spokesman told the “Bits” blogger: “Phones know where you are, and they need to for many of the services we offer.” For his part, Steve Jobs has said that, unlike many of its Silicon Valley competitors, Apple takes privacy very seriously. Mr Helft recalled that, last year, the Apple CEO singled out location as an area of particular concern. “Privacy means people know what they are signing up for,” Mr Jobs said. “In plain English and repeatedly, that’s what it means.”

As the US marks time in fifth place, Nordic countries and ‘Asian Tigers’

lead in communications and computing advances

According to the most recent results of a study conducted annually by the World Economic Forum, the United States for the second consecutive year ranked fifth in a comparison of 138 countries on their use of information and communications

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2011