Big Brother iPhone

Back in high school, I remember reading 1984 by George Orwell and thinking how terrible the world would be if Big Brother could track your every movement. Today, I read an article online at Wired.com 

that made these thoughts seem like a reality.

According to the article,"If you've got an iPhone, pretty much everything you have done on your handset has been temporarily stored as a screenshot that hackers or forensics experts could eventually recover." I don't have an iPhone so I don't know exactly how this works but the article explains that when an iPhone user hits the Home button, the window of the application the user has open shrinks and disappears. Jonathan Zdziarski, an iPhone hacker and data-forensics expert, said the iPhone creates the shrinking effect by taking a screenshot.

The phone supposedly deletes the image after the user closes the application but often this deletion does not permanently remove files. Forensics experts have been able to use this security flaw to gather evidence against criminals. They can also recover photos or emails that were deleted months ago.

Zdziarski said the iPhone only takes screenshots when user press the Home button. He also explained that somebody must have physical access to the iPhone in order to exploit this security flaw.

I know that I personally have nothing to worry about since I do not involve myself with illegal activities, but I do think that the iPhone's ability to take screenshots and keep them where forensics experts or hackers can find them is a scary thought. Though it is good this flaw has been able to be used to catch criminals, I still don't like the idea of someone being able to track my every move.

It makes me wonder what other devices are watching me.