Congress will launch an investigation, to determine whether a recently-discovered hidden application in some models of Apple iPhones, iPads and Androids that track a user’s movements and private information over the past year, is a violation of Americans’ privacy.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Privacy, Technology and the Law scheduled a hearing on May 10 called Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy, according to Bank Info Security.

The application was discovered by researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, who identified the unencrypted file as “consolidated.db.” It records where the owner had been, on what date and at what time, along with other vital personal information, without the knowledge of the owner of the device, GMA News said.

In a blog post, Allen and Warden noted, “What makes this issue worse is that the file is unencrypted and unprotected, and it’s on any machine you’ve synced with your iOS device. It can also be easily accessed on the device itself if it falls into the wrong hands. Anybody with access to this file knows where you’ve been over the last year, since iOS 4 was released,” GMA News reported.

Allan and Warden told the Telegraph, “At first we weren’t sure how much data was there, but after we dug further and visualized the extracted data, it became clear that there was a scary amount of detail on our movements.”  Warden formerly worked at Apple for five years in an unrelated department, and left on good terms, GMA News said.

The two men put up a website to detail these findings. It also enables people with these products to test the tracking system and to visualize it on a web-based mapping system on the website, the Telegraph said.

It is not uncommon for network operators to store records of the movements of users, which can be legally accessed by intelligence agencies and the police, the Telegraph said. However, this information is usually kept behind a firewall and a court order is needed to access the information, GMA News said.

In this case however the data is not password or encryption protected. This makes the information of the user accessible by anybody who gains possession of either the user’s phone and to any computer that it is linked to, the Telegraph reported.

Franken inquired about Apple’s iOS 4 and its function in secretly tracking down the location and information of a user on iPhones and 3G iPads, and any computer that is synchronized with the device, Bank Info Security reported.

In a statement, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash) said, “I’m deeply disturbed by this report. I have been concerned that current law fails to ensure consumers are protected from privacy violations. Consumers are often left to learn of these breaches of privacy from hackers and security experts because companies fail to disclose what data they are collecting and for what purpose,” Fierce Mobile Content reported.

Franken, in his letter to Jobs wrote, “There are numerous ways in which this information could be abused by criminals and bad actors. Furthermore, there is no indication that this file is any different for underage iPhone or iPad users, meaning that the millions of children and teenagers who use iPhone or iPad devices also risk having their location collected and compromised.”

Dr. Ian Brown, senior research fellow of Oxford Internet Institute told The Telegraph, “I certainly think it’s something they should have brought much more to the attention of the user, and that it should only be switched on after an explicit user decision.”

Daniel Hamilton, director of Big Brother Watch told the Telegraph, “iPhone users will rightly be concerned that their movements are being covertly monitored in this way. Apple has a duty to immediately provide their customers with details about how to disable this invasive software.”

Apple has sold some 15 million iPads and over 100 million iPhones. Its iOS apps can be synchronized with any Windows or Mac computer that runs its iTunes software, GMA News reported.

Pope Benedict XVI decried recently the Christmas holiday attacks against Christians in several churches in Nigeria and a church in the Philippines, leaving 32 people dead and 83 wounded from both assaults.

The pope called both assaults “absurd violence,” and also condemned a suicide bomb attack outside a United Nations aid center in Pakistan, All Voices said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault which left 43 people dead on Christmas day, AFP reported.

Benedict, in his Angelus Address in the Vatican, also called out to Catholics in Iraq and China, who are undergoing extreme persecution, All Voices reported. He called for a peaceful means to resolve the world’s conflicts.

In the Philippines, a bomb was set off at a Christian church inside a military camp in Jolo island, southern Philippines during a Christmas mass, Digital Journal said. Several churches in Jos, Nigeria were also bombed.

The pope said, “It was with great sadness that I learnt about the attack on a Catholic church in the Philippines during the celebrations for Christmas and also against Christian churches in Nigeria,” according to the AFP.

The pope added, “The earth is once again stained with blood as we have seen in other parts of the world,” the AFP reported. The pope also expressed condolence for the victims.

In Nigeria, 32 people died and 74 were wounded in a series of bomb attacks in Jos, a known hotbed for terrorists, the AFP said. An Islamist sect that launched similar attacks in the area last year is being blamed for the violence.

In the Philippines, an improvised bomb was lobbed at the rooftop of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Asturias village in Jolo at about 7 a.m., leaving 11 injured including a nine-year-old girl, GMA News reported.

Rev. Romeo Villanueva, 72, was reading the gospel when the explosion occurred. An assisting priest was thrown off his feet during the blast and suffered injuries to his leg, GMA News said.

Police reports in Camp Crame, Metro Manila showed that authorities had information that churches, including Sacred Heart Chapel, were receiving bomb threats. Police had been guarding the church since Thursday, GMA News said.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that police had received a list of names of members of the Abu Sayyaf Group who were likely to implement the bombings.

Sulu Rep. Tupay Loong strongly condemned the act, calling it “un-Islamic,” and adding, “The perpetrators want to undermine the government’s initiative to achieve peace in the country,” the Digital Journal reported.

A Philippine tourist guide pleaded “not guilty” to charges of “offending religious feelings” when he went inside a Catholic cathedral in Manila by himself while an ecumenical church service was going on, and decried the stand church’s stand on birth control.

Carlos Celdran was arrested on Sept. 30 when he entered the Manila Cathedral alone, dressed as Filipino national hero Jose Rizal, and carrying a sign that said “Damaso,” (a corrupt and abusive priest in Rizal’s novel, “Noli Me Tangere”), GMA 7 said. As Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales was preaching, Celdran stood at the cathedral’s main altar and yelled, “stop getting involved in politics.”

He was referring to the Catholic Church’s stance against RH bill 96, which would allow government hospitals to distribute condoms and other means of artificial birth control to the public, GMA 7 reported. The Catholic Church had threatened President Benigno S. Aquino with civil disobedience, and one bishop talked about excommunication, if Aquino pursued the bill. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/09/aquino-appeals-to-philippine-bishops-amid-civil-disobedience-threat-13891).

Celdran had walked into an ecumenical mass that was attended by the Papal nuncio Archbishop Edward Joseph Adams, other dignitaries of the clergy, heads of other faiths, Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, and other government officials, according to GMA 7. He has been charged by Monsignor Nestor Cerbo, rector of Manila Cathedral, for violating Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code which forbids “offending religious feelings,” GMA 7 said.

Article 133 says “the penalty of arresto mayor in its maximum period to prision correccional in its minimum period shall be imposed upon anyone who, in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony, shall perform acts notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful,” according to GMA 7.

The tourist guide has gained local cult status for his bitingly humorous, historical/political city tours, which are often attended not just by foreigners but by Filipinos who live in the city, as well. Celdran is known to distribute condoms—which are available in any drugstore–to residents of Intramuros, where the Manila Cathedral is.

At his arraignment Thursday at the Manila Metropolitan Trial Court Celdran, again wearing his Jose Rizal suit, pleaded “not guilty” before Manila Judge Alfonso Ruiz. He told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he wore the costume again to remind the public of the RH bill, and “because it is Halloween.” He added that he pleaded not guilty because “I did not say anything offensive.”

During his arraignment some 20 supporters showed up wearing white shirts that said “DAMASO” and “Pass the RH Bill.” Also present at the court hearing was Atty. Reynaldo Reyes, counsel for Cerbo (who filed the charges against Celdran), the Philippine Daily Inquirer said. Reyes said his client may consider forgiveness if Celdran makes a public apology, noting that the Catholic Church does forgive those who repent, ABS-CBN reported.

Celdran told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he has already apologized for his method of protest, but he refuses to apologize for his support of the RH bill. Celdran’s counsel, Atty. Marlon Manuel said his client would consider settling if the Catholic Church will not insist that Celdran admits that he offended religious feelings.

Judge Ruiz set Celdran’s pre-trial hearing for December 7, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said.

Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III urged recently the Catholic bishops to calm down and to await a planned dialogue, after the bishops had threatened to launch a civil disobedience campaign over the pending reproductive health bill.

The Palace said they will hold a dialogue with the powerful and influential Catholic church after it has consulted with lay leaders on R.H. bill 96, which is pending in Congress, GMA News said.

If passed, the bill will require sex education in primary and secondary public schools, and call for the purchase of contraceptives by state hospitals as part of its essential medicines and supplies, according to the CBCP website.

The Catholic church only permits natural methods of birth control and claims that artificial methods of birth control will promote promiscuity and increase abortions. Eighty percent of the Philippine population is Roman Catholic, GMA News reported.

The church went up in arms after Aquino (who is on a seven-day visit in the U.S.) said in a U.S. televised interview that determining the size of one’s family is a personal choice, the AFP said.

Aquino said, “The government is obligated to inform everybody of their responsibilities and their choices. At the end of the day, government might provide assistance to those who are without means if they want to employ a particular method,” the AFP reported.

Aquino added, “I believe the couple will be in the best position to determine what is best for the family, how to space (the births), what methods they can rely on and so forth. They face the responsibility for the children that they bring in and government is willing to assist them,” according to the AFP.

Civil disobedience threatened

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said, “If the RH bill becomes law, we will advise Catholics not to follow it…the Church considers as non-negotiable its opposition to artificial contraception,” GMA News reported.

Iniguez blamed Aquino’s stance on artificial contraception on the fresh aid from the United States which includes a $434-million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corp., GMA News said.

In the CBCP website Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the bishops’ Commission on Family and Life said, “It’s no secret that the US and other foreign nations have tried to pressure the Philippine government for a more aggressive birth control program.”

In the past the bishops had often condemned the USAID, United Nations Population Fund and other international aid agencies which Castro said have been pressuring lawmakers to push the reproductive health (RH) bill, according to their website.

Castro expressed fear that with Aquino’s recent support for artificial contraception, the possible passage of the RH bill is further strengthened. He noted that while Aquino was always a strong advocate of the measure, he was relatively silent on the issue during the campaign period, the CBCP website said.

The Philippines estimates its 2010 population at 94.01 million, up from 76.5 million in the 2000 census and making it the 12th most populous nation in the world AFP.

The Catholic church will support the administration of newly elected president Benigno Aquino III, and hopes that he will make good on his promise for change, the news arm of the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines  said recently.

CBCP president Bishop Nereo Odchimar issued the statement on its website.  Aquino was proclaimed president by the Philippine Congress yesterday and already faces a number of areas of concern that the CBCP has raised this past week.

The CBCP has asked Aquino to impose a moratorium on mining even as they support an alternative mining bill that is now being pushed in congress, in order to prioritize the environment and human rights, according to Business Mirror.

The CBCP has also urged Aquino to abolish the Priority Development Assistance Fund of congress, which they say has been one of the biggest sources of government corruption in the country, according to GMA News.

The PDAF, or erstwhile “pork barrel” is supposed to be used by lawmakers to fund development projects which they believe merit priority.  Every year each congressman gets 70 million pesos, while a senator gets 200 million pesos, GMA News said.

However, the CBCP felt that congress should focus on making laws and allow governors and mayors to handle the building of roads and schools. Removing the PDAF may eliminate 50 percent of corruption, according to GMA News.

A second issue raised by the CBCP is the Reproductive Health bill, which they fear Aquino strongly advocates. The RH bill advocates the use of both natural and artificial contraceptives, the latter of which goes against Catholic teaching, GMA News said.

The bill proposes reproductive health education for students from grade 5, and will permit government purchase of contraceptives to be included with the medicine and supplies of state hospitals, GMA News said.

The bill has long been pending in Congress, and adding to church anxieties is the possible retention of Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral under Aquino. It was noted that even without passage of the bill, Cabral would be able to strongly promote the use of condoms and pills, GMA News said.

Aquino is the son of the late Corazon Aquino, the former president who spearheaded the peaceful EDSA revolution that ended the 20-year rule of Ferdinand Marcos and returned democracy to the country.

His father, Benigno Aquino Jr. , was assassinated upon his return from exile in 1983, and is also loved by many Filipinos, CNN said.

A staunch supporter of Corazon Aquino during the EDSA days and throughout her presidency was the late Cardinal Sin, who rallied the largely catholic Philippine majority to her support.