Are your iPhone photos safe?

Apple loophole gives developers access to photos

Updated 01:59 PM Feb 29, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO - The private photos on your phone may not be as private as you think.

The Apple iPhone 4S.
According to app developers, after a user allows an application on an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to have access to location information, the app can copy the user's entire photo library, without any further notification or warning.

It is unclear whether any apps in Apple's App Store are illicitly copying user photos. Although Apple's rules do not specifically forbid photo copying, Apple says it screens all apps submitted to the store, a process that should catch nefarious behavior on the part of developers.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

The first time an application wants to use location data, for mapping or any other purpose, Apple's devices ask the user for permission, noting in a pop-up message that approval "allows access to location information in photos and videos".

"It's very strange, because Apple is asking for location permission, but really what it is doing is accessing your entire photo library," said Mr John Casasanta, owner of the successful iPhone app development studio Tap Tap Tap, which created the Camera+ app. "The message the user is being presented with is very, very unclear."

On Apple devices, full access to the photo library was first permitted in 2010 when Apple released the fourth version of iOS. The change was intended to make photo apps more efficient.

As the Apple Store has grown to include more than 600,000 apps, and with Apple facing pressure from Google and Android, some worry that the company is becoming less vigilant about monitoring app developers, exposing users to unnecessary risks and shoddy apps.

This recent discovery occurs right after developers of applications for Apple's mobile devices, along with Apple itself, came under scrutiny this month after reports that some apps were taking people's address book information without their knowledge. THE NEW YORK TIMES

Source: www.todayonline.com/TechandDigital/EDC120229-0000130/Are-your-iPhone-photos-safe?