Is Big Brother Small Enough To Fit In Your iDevice?
by Sean Capelle
November 22, 2012
According to AppleInsider, Apple won a patent that will open up geotagging every single event that occurs on an iDevice.
With the implementation of Patent No. 8,316,046, an iOS user would be able to know where and when exactly a call was received, an app opened or closed, and a song played, just to name a few examples.
This would be possible because every single system event would be geotagged and time stamped. The information would then be displayed on a user interface (UI) in a similar fashion as the iOS Photos app.
A user could enter search criteria, including dates, times, and specific events, and the relevant information would appear in the UI. A settings menu would be included to customize which events would be recorded, and for how long.
It’s not clear yet when or if this feature will be included in an iOS update.
How valuable would this information be for the user? I imagine it’d be neat to look at, but not wholly practical. Apple has publicly declared during “Locationgate” that they are not interested in looking at an individual user’s information.
Though there are certainly others who would love to. For example, this type of data mining would be a boon for advertisers.
Would a system-wide geotagging feature be useful enough for a user to warrant the collection of such data?
Source: AppleInsider
