Apple released a statement Wednesday, denying that the company is using new software in iPhones and iPads to track the movement of users.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based technology company said it's merely collecting anonymous traffic data so it can — wait for it — improve service.
Also read: The iPhone Tracking Controversy: Sen. Al Franken Sets a Hearing
Here's Apple's high-tech explanation:
Apple Q&A on Location Data
Apple would like to respond to the questions we have recently received about the gathering and use of location information by our devices.
1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
2. Then why is everyone so concerned about this?
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.
3. Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.
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Apple's statement comes after U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) requested that the company testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Privacy, Technology and the Law during a May 10 hearing on mobile technology and privacy.
Franken wrote Apple chief executive Steve Jobs after reading an article in which a former Apple software engineer said he discovered a hidden file on his iPhones that contained location tracking data.
Last week, former Apple software engineer Pete Warden said that a hidden file on the iPhone captured the Wi-Fi location along with longitude and latitude data and a time stamp.
The file also appeared on devices that he synched with his iPhone. The data appeared to track his movements from the time he upgraded to Apple's latest mobile operating system, iOS4, shortly after its June 2010 release.