Apple Issues Statement on Location Data

To allay fears about Apple iPhones tracking personal locations, the company issued a statement.

Excerpts below:

Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.

Then why is everyone so concerned about this?
Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite. Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date.

Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.

When I turn off Location Services, why does my iPhone sometimes continue updating its Wi-Fi and cell tower data from Apple’s crowd-sourced database? 
It shouldn’t. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly.

For more information, Apple has supplied press contacts:

Natalie Harrison
Apple
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(408) 862-0565

See also our video library where the Wall Street Journal reviews this issue.