South Korea Fines Apple Over LocationGate

The Korean Communications Commission has fined Apple for allegedly collecting location data from iPhone users without their express permission. Though a pittance at three million won (about $2,830), the penalty does set a precedent, marking the first time Apple has been punished for storing users’ unencrypted location information in their iPhones for up to a year.

The company, which reduced the length of that storage time to seven days with the release of iOS 4.3.3, denies that the iPhone was ever logging its users’ locations. Instead it claims the device was creating a crowdsourced database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers. “Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone,” a company spokesman told Reuters. “Apple has never done so and has no plan to ever do so.”