iPhones can track our every movement - should we be worried?

Wherever you are, wherever you're going, if you're an iPhone owner,  Apple are going to know about it.


That's because iPhones and iPads are apparently tracking our every movement, according to researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden (original report - BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13145562 ).

It's a pretty terrifying use of technology we assume is designed to make our lives easier, rather than spy on us without telling us.

According to Warden and Allan, the spying is covered in Apple's terms and conditions, in a sort of PR-gibberish way, but frankly we could have all promised our lungs to fifty different companies several times over by now. No-one, no-one reads them, and Apple know it.

So they're being a tad sneaky, but should we be concerned that we're essentially being spied on, 1984-style, by Steve Jobs' Apple army?

In short, no. I want to be spied on. I want my data to be tracked. Yes, it's one small step between data tracking and my iPhone despatching police to my house because they can see I'm at the brothel again, but data tracking actually has the power to make all our lives much easier if it's done right.

Keep getting stuck on the M1? What if Apple send you a reccommendation for a Traffic Check app? Keep going for petrol at your local pump? Perhaps your iPhone informs you it's 3p cheaper to go a mile further afield. Keep shopping at Tesco? Perhaps your phone downloads you a Clubcard app you didn't know existed.

Though it's tempting to see data tracking as some looming freedom-destroyer, it can clearly be used to enrich our lives. We have waited years for technology to be able to do all it can to increase our convenience. We shouldn't shirk it now because we don't want to be a stat in a pile of anonymous data.

I can't wait for the day my fridge orders me fresh milk because it sees I'm running low, or my microwave suggests a dating service because it sees I'm eating a ready-meal lasagne for one for the fifth day running.

Yes, we should all be wary. We don't want our freedoms sold down the river, one app at a time, nor do we want our data handed over to governments to be used to make our lives hell instead. But as long as we keep that healthy caution, there's no reason technology can't be trusted to make everything better.

Don't like it? Sell your iPhone, or don't buy one in the first place. It's probably only a matter of time before a phone comes out which sells itself on the sole premise that it won't track your data, won't analyse your habits or make reccommendations.

But for everyone else, it's a brave new world. And it's damn exciting.