The recent iPhone software update is interesting, to say the least. Although this hasn’t happened to me yet, a few of my friends mentioned the iPhone knew where they were going as soon as they sat down in the car! That’s a little creepy I think. One of my friends said it told him he was going to work and the time it would take him to get there without it being prompted to do so. He freaked out and so did my other friends who experienced the same thing. And they have every right to be, in my opinion.
I’m assuming the phone looks at your pattern of driving and assumes based on some probability statistics where you are most likely going at that time of the day but without it being prompted is a little much. There should be some feature that asks you if you want that option when you are going through the the sign-in steps after your update is complete. Maybe some question like: “Hey there, would you like me to attempt to read your mind before you start driving? Click yes or no.”
Technology these days is so advanced, no wonder my grandma thinks the cell phone is the devil. Now, she’s a little old-school and can’t even use a cell phone but I understand her fear and inability to understand the way it works.
Another issue I have is with the Find Your Friends feature. That’s all fine and dandy if you are a 200-pound guy whom no one will mess with but if you are a small girl and someone that happens to have your number can geo-locate you, THAT’S NOT COOL. This feature surely should be another question asked at startup. “Would you like anyone that has your number to know where you are with the click of a button? Click yes or no.” Scary, scary! It’s bad enough with social media these days defaulting to geo-locating you every time you post. Now your trusty iPhone is doing it, without your knowledge. Tisk, tisk.
And what is Apple doing with alllll this information they are collecting from iPhone users. The amount of information they have access to is mind-blowing! From name, numbers, emails, addresses, passwords, birthdates, frequently visited locations, pictures…. The list goes on and on! Am I being paranoid or are others on this train of thought? My iPhone probably knows more about me and my friends then I know myself. It was a conscious effort for me to not keep pertinent information on my iPhone but how many millions of people don’t even think about it?
What are your thoughts on the matter? I’d really like to know.
Albin
September 24, 2015Hi Andreea!
The fact that the phone can tell you were you’re going is scary as hell (pardon my language). I don’t have an Iphone, but an Android instead and I assume in time, Google will probably create a similar feature and implement it in their software, if they haven’t already done so that is.
I may be paranoid, but when me and my friends went to see “Terminator Genisys“, I started thinking about the way we implement computer hardware and software in basically all areas of our daily lives, be it phones, watches and even cars and what makes this so scary is we don’t know what it’ll lead to. As I see it we’ve experienced a drastic decrease in personal privacy since the release of the smartphone, not that smartphones are bad, they are indeed very handy and useful, however I draw the line at the phone being able to as you put it “read our minds”.
All in all, great post Andreea, really gets one thinking about the subject. Thank you!
Take care/Albin
Andreea
September 30, 2015Yes Albin, we definitely have a trade-off for the convenience. Kinda scary to see what it will be like in 5 years.
Chrismarq8
September 24, 2015I REALLY dislike the update and wish I hadn’t done it. Not only is it tracking your every move, but my phone is much SLOWER, it’s driving me nuts!! It seems to have slowed down my processor in every way. I currently use a, iPhone 5, but Pre-ordered the new 6S that should be arriving tomorrow morning. Praying it does NOT have the update installed already.
Not only are we losing privacy on our own devices, Facebook is also using similar techniques to track your search and shopping habits. So, everything I look up on Google will magically appear on my FB timeline. For example, I was recently searching for a new Moutain Bike helmet online, then logged into FB and what do I see immediately??? All these links advertised on my timeline of the same helmet I was just searching!! I was like, W-T-F is going on here??? Why is it doing that? As much as they say, ” it’s to better serve our users!” Bullshit, you’re snooping and further finding ways to clutter everything with more advertising. Thanks for the thought, but unless I asked for it, I DON’T WANT IT, and don’t want to see it on my timeline.
It’s kinda scary how they are using our phones to track our every move and hoping someone changes it, quick. On the other side, It may be helpful for tracking criminals, but that’s about it. Other than that, just seems very creepy and is invading our privacy in my opinion. I don’t like it, in fact, I HATE IT.
Andreea
September 30, 2015one way to stop that is to delete the cookies on your computer. That is how they track your searches and activity. As for the iPhone, you can turn off frequent locations so it won’t track you.
StepaniaFoster
October 2, 2015Getting a new iPhone 6S, then watch this video and transfer data from old smartphones to new iPhone 6S or 6S Plus
http://fb.com/KSOFT.CC/videos/725839117521403/