Brian Tong here with CNET.com and one of the hot topics in the tech world is Apple's tracking all of your location data on your iPhone or iPad as a file even if you choose to turn off the location services setting on your iDevice.
Now, the data's being stored in an unencrypted file potentially accessible by anyone who's up to no good with some basic technical skills.
This file is stored not only on your mobile device
but there's also a copy that's saved on your computer's hard drive when it backs up files from an iPhone or iPad while syncing with iTunes.
Now, the good news is that Apple's not uploading this data file to their internal servers, but it still lives on your iDevice or computer and the data has mapped out your location and whereabouts as far back as a year.
Now, there are plenty of you out there that care about your privacy so what can you do to protect yourself?
This file will live on your phone and you really can't do anything about that, but your best bet is to encrypt the iTunes backup that lives on your computer,
so first up, plug in your iDevice with its USB cable into your Mac or PC.
Then select your device in the left hand column of iTunes when it launches, find the options section, and check the box next to encrypt iPhone backup.
Choose a password that's unique and make sure you don't forget it but once you do this, the file on your computer will be protected.
I'm Brian Tong for CNET.com with your how-to for protecting location data.
Use it wisely.
