Top all-time · #7428
Alex Levinson
Personal blog · alexlevinson.wordpress.comsecurityprogramming
Alex Levinson's personal blog at alexlevinson.wordpress.com covers security and programming. Since 2011, 11 different Hacker News readers have linked it 11 times, most often “3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery””. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-07-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (5) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Alex Levinson's 2011 post on three major issues with iPhone location data, a digital forensics analysis. Commenters cite it on Apple's consolidated.db file, Skyhook and whether Apple collects location data.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 5 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Security Engineering • Red Teamer • Software Engineer (Golang/C/Ruby/Shell) • Open Source Contributor • Hacker • Rebel • Chaotic Good.
Most-linked posts?
- 3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery”4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2011-04-21
- 3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery”2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-04-21
- 3 New Thoughts on Mobile Location – A Follow up to Apple Location Tracking2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-04-23
What Hacker News says?
Not news at all to someone in the digital forensic community: https://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/3-major-issues...
Comment linking /2011/04/21/3-major-issues-with-the-latest-iphone-tracking-discovery/
on “IPhones and 3G iPads log your location in an unencrypted file on the device”Submitted 3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery” as a story · 16 points
HN discussionTwo lies: the "bug" was uncovered a considerable time ago (August 2010 was when I read the first story talking about it) and was first exposed by third-parties (so if Apple did "uncover" it, they've been sitting on this discover for some time). https://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/3-major-issues...
Comment linking /2011/04/21/3-major-issues-with-the-latest-iphone-tracking-discovery/
on “Apple Q&A on gathering and use of location data (Apple Press Release)”Submitted 3 Major Issues with the Latest iPhone Tracking “Discovery” as a story · 6 points
HN discussionApple's consolidated.db is not a "mistake". A mistake would not have gotten rewritten for iOS 4 when the database got converted from XML to SQLite and moved to user data. http://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/3-major-issues-... Also iOS no longer uses Skyhook as of iOS 3.2. Plus Skyhook is for Wifi access point location data, not cell-tower location data. Apple uses its own database for that now which you con…
Comment linking /2011/04/21/3-major-issues-with-the-latest-iphone-tracking-discovery/
on “Android location service cache dumper.”Submitted Concerning Blizzard and Diablo 3′s Disappointing Launch as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThat apple collects "non-personal" location data isn't a secret. Look at their privacy policy: http://www.apple.com/privacy/ Some details as to what and why they collect data was provided by Apple to Congress last year: http://markey.house.gov/docs/applemarkeybarton7-12-10.pdf http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Web-Services-Web-20-and-SOA/Apple-T... Some additional information as to what's going on is at: http://alexlevinson.…
Comment linking /2011/04/23/3-new-thoughts-on-mobile-location/
on “Steve Jobs Responds to iOS Location-Tracking Controversy”Submitted Nccdc 2026: Same Game, New Dimensions as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThey make all sorts of claims in that article but never do they show the data is sent to Apple. Alex Levinson (cited in the above link) actually states that it has not been shown that Apple is collecting this data: https://alexlevinson.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/3-major-issues...
Comment linking /2011/04/21/3-major-issues-with-the-latest-iphone-tracking-discovery/
on “Apple Is Tracking You To Build Something Very Valuable: Its Location Database”Submitted Undressing Mitt Romney’s Super Friends with Ruby as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted 3 New Thoughts on Mobile Location – A Follow up to Apple Location Tracking as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
