Also on Monday, Minnesota Senator Al Franken, chairman of the U. S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, announced he had scheduled a mobile privacy hearing on May 10 and asked representatives from Apple and Google to speak at the hearing.
Meanwhile, Lisa Madigan, Attorney General of U.S. state of Illinois, on Monday called for a meeting with Apple and Google executives on the location-tracking reports, citing her ongoing effort to protect consumers' personal information online.
Last Friday, two iPhone users filed a class action suit against Apple in Tempa, Florida, accusing the company of invasion of privacy and computer fraud and seeking a judge's order to bar the alleged data collection.
Last Thursday, U.S. congressman Edward Markey asked Apple CEO Steve Jobs to make a response within 15 business days or no later than May 12, saying "Apple needs to safeguard personal location information of its users to ensure that an iPhone doesn't become an iTrack."
On Saturday, Markey called for a congressional investigation into the privacy practices of Apple and Google. In a statement, he made clear that he thinks the data collection is potentially dangerous, saying predators could have hacked into an iPhone or Android phone to find out children's location information.
Apple is also reportedly being investigated in South Korea, France, Germany and Italy over the alleged tracking practice.