Apple's formal response to the issue certainly clarifies what the company is doing and what types of data are being stored, but it doesn't address the growing reservations users have with the amount of information captured by their devices.
We often write about the new and exciting possibilities created by location-based services. Social networks like Foursquare and Facebook Places help bridge the gap between virtual communities and the physical world, and a growing number of applications and websites can use our location data to provide us with relevant and contextual information.
What users have a hard time reconciling, however, is the security and privacy implications (real, imagined or potential) that come with allowing third parties access to this information.
In its official statement and Q&A, Apple deftly cuts to the heart of the debate:
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.
In Apple's case, the company wasn't logging user location per se, merely the location of cellular towers and Wi-Fi hotspots that interact anonymously with a device. Still, the visual image of what towers or hotspots a device has interacted with is something that has understandably freaked out users.
Any information that is transmitted to Apple (which users opt in to in location services settings) is anonymous and encrypted. But the local database log was unencrypted, however, and caused more headaches and questions.
It's easy to understand why users would worry and immediately jump to the worst-case scenario -- even if the worst case in this instance was that someone with access to your phone or iTunes backup could have a rough idea of what cellular towers have interacted with your device. After all, just this week, Sony revealed that the user information for more than 70 million PlayStation Network and Qriocity users was compromised by crackers.
The two events are completely unrelated, but the Sony PSN fiasco is a reminder that even the largest companies -- companies and networks that users should be able to trust with their information -- can be vulnerable to risk.