France probes iPhone privacy

Apple investigated by data protection watchdog over feature that collected users' location data without them knowing

Published Wednesday 30 November 2016 - 15:40 Modified Wednesday 30 November 2016 - 15:40

FRANCE'S privacy and data protection watchdog has opened an investigation into the Apple iPhone's collection of users' location data.

Cnil has written to the technology giant to ask for explanations about the practice, and how secure the location data is.

Two British researchers revealed in April that the iPhone secretly collected details of users' whereabouts and stored them on the phone.

A new version of the iPhone software has corrected this, deleting the data after a week and no longer transferring it to the user's computer.

Cnil general secretary Yann Padova said the privacy body's investigation should be completed this autumn.

The group issued its biggest fine in March to Google for collecting confidential data from home wifi connections using its Street View camera cars.