Senate panel grills Apple, Google on location data

(AP) -- A Senate panel is questioning executives from Apple and Google about why iPhones and handheld wireless devices running Google's Android software store location data that can be used to track where their owners have been.

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law is holding a hearing Tuesday to explore what legal protections, if any, govern location data at a time when wireless carriers, smartphone makers and apps developers have access to ever more detailed information about their users' whereabouts.

The hearing comes several weeks after researchers revealed that Apple's popular iPhone has been storing device location data for up to a year. Google, too, recently acknowledged that phones running its Android software store some GPS location data for a short time.

©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.