Apr 22, 2011 15:55 GMT  ·  By

Recent revelations about iPhones saving the location history and other associated information have prompted officials in US and Germany to question Apple over its data collecting practices.

Earlier this week, computer researchers Pete Warden and Alasdair Allan announced that iOS4 maintains an SQL file called consolidated.db in which it stores data about cell towers and Wi-Fi access points including the timestamp when the device was connected to them and their GPS location.

This file is copied on the computer during the normal iPhone backup procedure and the information inside can be extracted to get a fairly accurate idea of where the user has been.

Another forensics expert named Alex Levinson revealed that this data is also collected on iOS versions older than 4.0 in a file called h-cells.pslist.

The media reports on the subject have attracted the attention of officials who fear that Apple's geolocation data collection practices might violate some laws.

U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and House Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) have sent separate letters to Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, asking him several questions regarding this matter.

Among the things the two officials hope to learn are, why and how does Apple collect the location information, whether its being used for commercial purposes or not, its precision and why it's not encrypted.

Whether consumers are being properly informed about the collection of this data is another concern. Section 222 of the Communications Act, requires that companies obtain express consent from customers before using, disclosing or accessing their location information for commercial purposes.

Officials in Germany, a country with strong consumer protection laws that cause problems for Google and Facebook in the past, are also concerned about Apple's location data collection practices.

"Apple must reveal where, for how long, and for what purpose the data is saved, who has access to it, and how it is protecting against unauthorized access," Holger Eichele, a spokesman for the German consumer protection ministry told Reuters. "The secret collection and storage of a smart phone's location data would be a major invasion of privacy," he added.