Apple and Google are facing another appearance with politicians to explain their location tracking practices and policies for the iPhone and Android-based smartphones. Now Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan contacted both companies on Monday seeking a meeting, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
Illinois now investigating Apple, Google mobile privacy
The meeting request follows reports that Apple’s iPhone tracks user locations, and stores that data on their phone and computer in unencrypted files. It appears that Apple isn’t collecting the logs from user’s computers, but Google is apparently gathering location data from Android-based devices more than once an hour.
The news prompted Senator Al Franken to schedule a Senate hearing with the companies for May 10, and also led to a Federal lawsuit against Apple alleging the company has committed computer fraud and violated consumer’s privacy.
“I want to know whether consumers have been informed of what is being tracked and stored by Apple and Google and whether those tracking and storage features can be disabled,” Attorney General Madigan said. “It’s important that these companies ensure that their users’ private information is protected.”