Uber Tracked iPhone Users after They Deleted the App

Megalith

Megalith

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I didn’t think there was anything that Uber’s CEO could do that would upset me anymore, but now there’s this: in 2015, Tim Cook requested a meeting with Travis Kalanick to discuss the rumor of his app tracking users even after being removed from devices, and the guy decided to show up for the urgent get-together in bright red sneakers and hot-pink socks. Absolutely disgusting.

…Mr. Kalanick had pulled a fast one on Apple by directing his employees to help camouflage the ride-hailing app from Apple’s engineers. The reason? So Apple would not find out that Uber had secretly been tracking iPhones even after its app had been deleted from the devices, violating Apple’s privacy guidelines. But Apple was on to the deception, and when Mr. Kalanick arrived at the midafternoon meeting sporting his favorite pair of bright red sneakers and hot-pink socks, Mr. Cook was prepared. “So, I’ve heard you’ve been breaking some of our rules,” Mr. Cook said in his calm, Southern tone. Stop the trickery, Mr. Cook then demanded, or Uber’s app would be kicked out of Apple’s App Store.
 
How does Uber do this if you've deleted the app? Does it silently install a second app? I don't understand how the fingerprinting can work without the app.
 
Quartz-1 said:
How does Uber do this if you've deleted the app? Does it silently install a second app? I don't understand how the fingerprinting can work without the app.
Click to expand...

Wondering that myself, very weird.
 
grtitan said:
Wondering that myself, very weird.
Click to expand...

Fingerprinting.

Every Apple phone has a unique hardware ID. Uber app can read this hardware ID, regardless whether the phone has been reset or whether the app was previously erased then reinstalled. This provided ability for uber to track across different iphone users (in case the phone was sold). This was in violation of apple policy that users shall not be tracked once app is erased. Uber even geofenced apples headquarters to prevent them from seeing this code in their app. It's all in the article.
Trully scummy.
 
The description of how is near the bottom, last paragraph or so, of the rather lengthy article. Guessing this general technique doesn't apply only to Apple phones, just that Apple has called them on it.
 
Quartz-1 said:
Yes, that mentions fingerprinting, but I'm wondering how that can work without the app.
Click to expand...
The problem is that the next time someone installs the uber app, it gets all the location data the iphone has been storing since the app was last deleted. EVEN if the phone has been erased and restored, it can still ID the phone by hardware ID. This is strictly prohibited by Apple's privacy policies.
 
That's typical silicon valley attire, and has nothing to do with the story.
 
Call me old-fashioned, call me naive... but the world has turned into a really ugly place where money rules all (not that it was ever really any different truth be told). I suppose what gets to me is the cavalier, nonchalant pushing of boundaries with no regards to ethics or morals.

You young'uns can have the world... I'm off to stay in a mud hut.
 
kenchills said:
The problem is that the next time someone installs the uber app, it gets all the location data the iphone has been storing since the app was last deleted. EVEN if the phone has been erased and restored, it can still ID the phone by hardware ID. This is strictly prohibited by Apple's privacy policies.
Click to expand...

If the phone has been reset it would wipe the location data. One wouldnt restore a phone that you planned to sell since that would invalidate the wipe.

On the other hand it seems like they made up a few things in the article...I mean would either CEO really talk about what was said in a private meeting? Methinks they editorialized a bit there...
 
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