quinta-feira, 21 de abril de 2011

DRM abusivos: I-Phone

Security researchers have discovered that Apple's iPhone keeps track of where you go – and saves every detail of it to a secret file on the device which is then copied to the owner's computer when the two are synchronised.
The file contains the latitude and longitude of the phone's recorded coordinates along with a timestamp, meaning that anyone who stole the phone or the computer could discover details about the owner's movements using a simple program.
For some phones, there could be almost a year's worth of data stored, as the recording of data seems to have started with Apple's iOS 4 update to the phone's operating system, released in June 2010.
"Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you've been," said Pete Warden, one of the researchers.
Only the iPhone records the user's location in this way, say Warden and Alasdair Allan, the data scientists who discovered the file and are presenting their findings at the Where 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. "Alasdair has looked for similar tracking code in [Google's] Android phones and couldn't find any," said Warden. "We haven't come across any instances of other phone manufacturers doing this."
Simon Davies, director of the pressure group Privacy International, said: "This is a worrying discovery. Location is one of the most sensitive elements in anyone's life – just think where people go in the evening. The existence of that data creates a real threat to privacy. The absence of notice to users or any control option can only stem from an ignorance about privacy at the design stage."
Warden and Allan point out that the file is moved onto new devices when an old one is replaced: "Apple might have new features in mind that require a history of your location, but that's our specualtion. The fact that [the file] is transferred across [to a new iPhone or iPad] when you migrate is evidence that the data-gathering isn't accidental." But they said it does not seem to be transmitted to Apple itself.
iphone-data-map Map shows location data collected from an iPhone that had been used in the southwest of England Although mobile networks already record phones' locations, it is only available to the police and other recognised organisations following a court order under the Regulation of Investigatory Power Act. Standard phones do not record location data.
MPs in 2009 criticised the search engine giant Google for its "Latitude" system, which allowed people to enable their mobile to give out details of their location to trusted contacts. At the time MPs said that Latitude "could substantially endanger user privacy", but Google pointed out that users had to specifically choose to make their data available.
The iPhone system, by contrast, appears to record the data whether or not the user agrees. Apple declined to comment on why the file is created or whether it can be disabled.
Warden and Allan have set up a web page which answers questions about the file, and created a simple downloadable application to let Apple users check for themselves what location data the phone is retaining. The Guardian has confirmed that 3G-enabled devices including the iPad also retain the data and copy it to the owner's computer.
If someone were to steal an iPhone and "jailbreak" it, giving them direct access to the files it contains, they could extract the location database directly. Alternatively, anyone with direct access to a user's computer could run the application and see a visualisation of their movements. Encrypting data on the computer is one way to protect against it, though that still leaves the file on the phone.
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the security company Sophos, said: "If the data isn't required for anything, then it shouldn't store the location. And it doesn't need to keep an archive on your machine of where you've been." He suggested that Apple might be hoping that it would yield data for future mobile advertising targeted by location, although he added: "I tend to subscribe to cockup rather than conspiracy on things like this – I don't think Apple is really trying to monitor where users are."
iphone data The data inside the file containing the location and time information. This is used to plot the map above The location file came to light when Warden and Allan were looking for a source of mobile data. "We'd been discussing doing a visualisation of mobile data, and while Alasdair was researching into what was available, he discovered this file. At first we weren't sure how much data was there, but after we dug further and visualised the extracted data, it became clear that there was a scary amount of detail on our movements," Warden said.
They have blogged about their discovery at O'Reilly's Radar site, noting that "why this data is stored and how Apple intends to use it — or not — are important questions that need to be explored."
The pair of data scientists have collaborated on a number of data visualisations, including a map of radiation levels in Japan for The Guardian. They are developing a Data Science Toolkit for dealing with location data.
Davies said that the discovery of the file indicated that Apple had failed to take users' privacy seriously.
Apple can legitimately claim that it has permission to collect the data: near the end of the 15,200-word terms and conditions for its iTunes program, used to synchronise with iPhones, iPods and iPads, is an 86-word paragraph about "location-based services".
It says that "Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services."

Privacy invasions via technology

Redes peer to peer, com quem concorda?

O Tribunal da Relação de Lisboa revogou a decisão do tribunal de instrução e decidiu que o autor do site português de partilha BTuga deverá ser julgado por crime de usurpação de direitos de autor.


O BTuga era um site que permitia aos utilizadores encontrar os chamados torrents, ou seja, pequenos ficheiros que servem para que os cibernautas partilhem ficheiros entre os computadores uns dos outros, através de uma rede "peer-to-peer" (que se pode traduzir por ponto-a-ponto). Esta designação decorre do facto de os ficheiros partilhados não estarem armazenados num servidor central, mas antes no computador de cada pessoa que usa a rede.

O BTuga foi encerrado em 2007 pela Polícia Judiciária e o seu criador, Luís Ferreira (conhecido na Internet como Martini-man) foi constituído arguido.

No acórdão do tribunal da relação, proferido a 14 deste mês, lê-se que “o arguido utilizou a rede P2P e o protocolo BitTorrent com o único e exclusivo propósito de através do mesmo efectuar ou deixar que fossem efectuadas trocas/partilhas de conteúdos/ficheiros protegidos pelos direitos de autor”.

Ainda segundo a decisão, Luís Ferreira “transmitiu aos utilizadores do mesmo (entre os quais ele próprio se encontrava) que pretendia através de tal serviço que os mesmos trocassem/partilhassem/divulgassem/utilizassem os filmes, as músicas, os jogos, os vídeos dos autores mais recentes de [que] fossem possuidores, de forma a que tal troca beneficiasse todos os utilizadores da rede porque não custaria monetariamente nada a nenhum deles, nomeadamente a nível de pagamento de direitos de autor”.

Os argumentos são usados para concluir que “ao contrário do que conclui a decisão ora colocada em crise [do tribunal de instrução, de Julho de 2010], o arguido fez uso de meios lícitos para realizar um fim completamente ilícito permitindo a troca/utilização/divulgação das mais variadas obras videográficas, fonográficas e outras sujeitas ao regime dos direitos de autor.”

O documento nota ainda que os utilizadores do BTuga “cometem o crime de usurpação de direitos de autor”, dado serem “utilizadores e exploradores de obras protegidas”.

O serviço era popular entre os cibernautas portugueses, porque o tráfego das transferências de ficheiros era contabilizado como tráfego nacional, que normalmente tem menos limites impostos pelos fornecedores de acesso. Luís Ferreira chegou mesmo a registar o BTuga como marca e a disponibilizar serviços pelos quais cobrava.
Fonte: PÚBLICO