Apple pays out $946 in location tracking settlement...

Apple has begun shelling out dough for its location-tracking debacle lovingly referred to as “Locationgate.”

Apple was ordered to pay out 1 million South Korean won ($946) in compensation for collecting user geolocation data without permission in May, Reuters reported Thursday. The payment was made to a lawyer named Kim Hyung-suk.

This is the first payout Apple has made in response to the issue. And although $946 isn’t even a drop in the hat to the $323 billion company, it may just be the start.

In April, it was discovered that Apple was collecting user location data and storing it in an unencrypted file (“consolidated.db”) within iOS 4. An open source program called “iPhone Tracker” could then be used to turn the file’s contents into an interactive map like the one above. The file could not be accessed with Safari or any apps on the device itself. The location tracking and storing function could not be turned off in that version of iOS, but Apple’s iOS 4.3.3 update eliminated the bug, which was “a mistake [caused] by making the location database file too large.” iOS 4.3.3 reduced the size of that file. More...

Don't miss:

1. Smartphone makers bow to demands for more openness... 
2. Smartphones: The tracking and surveillance of millions of Americans...
3. Like the iPhone, Android phones record user-locations too...
4. Apple under pressure to explain iPhone, iPad location tracking... 
5. Apple lied: filed patent for mobile device tracking...
6. Is the mobile phone the new Big Brother?