• The Wall Street Journal, Monday, April 25, 2011 12:07 PM

Setting off a wave of consumer privacy concerns, researchers last week revealed that Apple iPhones and 3G iPads record and save their owners' geographic history. Now, The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the world's most popular smartphone collects and stores location information even when location services are turned off.

"The fact that the iPhone is collecting and storing location data -- even when location services are turned off -- is likely to renew questions about how well users are informed about the data being gathered by their cellphones," the WSJ writes. According to a test conducted by WSJ, the location data appear to be collected using cellphone towers and Wi-Fi access points near users' phone.

Regarding what it's calling "Locationgate," Barron's writes: "The fact remains that the iPhone is collecting and storing location data even when users have actively chosen to turn off location services, highlighting how little control they have."

A MacRumors readers claims he was told by Steve Jobs himself: "We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false."

Yet Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.,sent separate letters late last week to Apple's CEO asking him to supply details about how and why iPhones and iPads compile and store detailed time-stamped logs of each user's location," reports USAToday. "And Markey on Saturday called for a formal congressional investigation of both Apple and Google."

Meanwhile, as Bloomberg reports, Apple is being investigated by South Korea's communications regulator to determine if it is breaking the law by saving data on the location of iPhone users.  "The Korea Communications Commission asked Apple how often information is collected and saved, and whether users have a choice over whether it is saved or deleted," writes Bloomberg, citing an emailed statement from the commission.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »