Apple and Google testify on the Hill tomorrow
Steve Chiotakis: A Senate subcommittee will hear testimony today from Apple and Google executives on cell phone tracking technology. Congressional members want more information on the technology like which businesses might be interested in knowing where you’ve been and when you’ve been there.
Marketplace’s Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.
Nancy Marshall Genzer: The hearing comes after news that iPhones were tracking users’ movements, and storing the data for up to a year. This is valuable information. Your health insurance company, for instance, might be interested in knowing if you went to the gym or a candy store.
Jeff Chester heads the Center for Digital Democracy.
Jeff Chester: Other companies can collect this data and then use it to make determinations about what you may pay for insurance, or whether, in fact, to hire you for a job.
Marc Rotenberg heads the Electronic Privacy Information Center. He says Congress should require companies to delete cell phone location data immediately.
Marc Rotenberg: If someone does a GPS search on their local movie theater, they get back the information they needed. And that would be a very good moment to actually delete the data.
Rotenberg commended Apple for moving quickly to make some changes — iPhones are now only supposed to store location data for a week.
We contacted Apple and Google. Apple referred us to its website. It says personal security and privacy are important. Google says it looks forward to “engaging with policymakers.”
In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.
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