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The Morning Briefing: Location tracking

By | October 15, 2012, 1:12 AM PDT

“The Morning Briefing” is SmartPlanet’s daily roundup of must-reads from the web. This morning we’re reading about location tracking.

1.) Apple patents device-to-device location-sharing technology. Apple on Tuesday was granted a patent for the formation and tracking of location-sharing groups without the need for a cellular network, much like a decentralized version of the technology powering the company’s “Find My Friends” iOS app.

2.) GAO blasts location-tracking piracy policies. Vague privacy policies are making it hard for consumers to protect their location and other information collected by mobile devices, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday.

3.) FTC cracks down on PC rental firms that spied on users. Eight firms settled with the Federal Trade Commission last week over charges that they spied on consumers via rented computers.

4.) 3G flaw makes any device vulnerable to tracking. A flaw in the way some aspects of the 3G protocol are implemented could result in a third-party attacker being able to precisely track the location of any 3G-enabled device.

5.) RailRadar: Now track location of 6,500 trains on real-time basis. The Centre for Railway Information Service (CRIS) has announced a new web application called RailRadar, which allows users to access location of a train on Map and track movements of trains on a real-time basis.

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Charlie Osborne

About Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne

Contributing Editor

Charlie Osborne is a freelance journalist and graphic designer based in London. In addition to SmartPlanet, she also writes the iGeneration column for business technology website ZDNet. She holds degrees in medical anthropology from the University of Kent.

Follow her on Twitter.

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne

Charlie Osborne does not have financial holdings that would influence how or what she covers.

She writes for SmartPlanet and is not an employee of CBS.

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