Oh the irony; just days after we wrote about an exploit that could allow insidious third-parties to eavesdrop on what you’re doing with your iPod Touch or iPhone, comes the news that Apple themselves are first to be caught gobbling up your activities.  It turns out that both the ‘Stocks’ and ‘Weather’ apps on both devices (Edit: this of course presumes that you’ve used Jailbreak to load the Stocks/Weather apps to your iPod Touch) contain a chunk of code that automatically sends your phone’s IMEI (the unique hardware serial number of your handset) whenever the software queries the server.

That means that each time you check, say, Microsoft stock prices (or the weather in Chicago) Apple receive an update that a) you used the relevant app, b) what you looked for and c) the exact handset you used to do it. 

“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)”

Attempts to remove the IMEI leave the software unable to update, although it’s not yet certain what happens if you change your IMEI via one of the third-party hacking apps available to do just that. 

[via SlashGear]