Back in July legal beavers looked at the Apple/AT&T contract you're expected to agree to when you buy an iPhone, and came away scratching their heads and claiming it was so confusing that "most lawyers wouldn't understand it". One of the more suspect clauses gave Apple permission to monitor your iPhone in order to "verify compliance with the terms of this licence"; at the time we set aside most concerns that the company would be tracking your cellphone, but it seems as though Apple themselves may have been all to willing to flex their powers.  Code hidden inside the Stocks and Weather apps on the iPhone appears to automatically send your IMEI to the company every time you refresh their information, which would give Apple both knowledge of what's being looked at and by whom.

"This let[s] Apple knows which app you are using when connecting with your iPhone. Obviously, they know the IP address you were using, the stocks companies you are interested [in], and so they can track down their customers all around the world. This also proves that there are probably other apps that do the same. Weather.app is also acting the same way. (Offset 13AE0)" Hackint0sh.org forums

Currently members of the hackint0sh.org forum are performing some entertainingly-named packet sniffing, to ascertain exactly how much handset-identifiable information is being transferred.  However, even if it turns out the paranoia is well-founded, there's the safety of the Terms of Service contract that gives them legal permission.

So, a question for the comments: if true, would this be enough to persuade you to give up your iPhone?

[via SlashGear]