The Privacy of the GPS?
Do you know where your cell phone has been?
Or who else knows?
The lead-in for a news piece this morning bothers me.
It was really simple. It started with a woman with a cell phone in her hands saying, "Oh, he forgot his phone." Then she tapped on the phone, and followed the path that it showed her... To where a man was embracing another woman!
This was a lead-in to talking about the growing availability of GPS-enabled applications on smart phones, and the concerns that some people have about these applications.
There are a growing number of applications intended to allow parents to track their children, or couples to keep track of each other, or even to let individuals track their own perambulations using their own PC and smart phone. Some applications use GPS location to provide targeted information, such as a travel guide that provides information about exactly where you are.
Apparently people are discovering that in some cases, these applications allow other people to track them, too. The TV show was starting to talk about privacy concerns when I left for work. I did see them interviewing one person who said they just wouldn't carry their cell phone, which seems pretty sensible. On the other hand, several other people they interviewed seemed shocked to find out that their smart phone might be keeping track of them. One person stopped in the middle of the interview to check what applications they had on their phone.
The thing is that lead-in story -- a wife using her husband's cell phone to find out that he is cheating on her, or at least that the man in the middle has two girlfriends. I'm not sure that this is really a good example of the difficulties with GPS-enabled applications. After all, lipstick on the collar and other hints have been around a long time, and following the straying person to where the temptation lies is certainly a well-known way of getting the evidence.
But there's something about saying that we need to protect our privacy so that we can cheat on each other... Are you sure that's the argument you want to make?
On the other hand, I've been trying to figure out a good example for not wanting anyone to know where you are -- or were you have been -- and it's surprisingly difficult.
What do you think? Is your location a secret? Would it bother you to know that someone else can find out where you are?
Or who else knows?
The lead-in for a news piece this morning bothers me.
It was really simple. It started with a woman with a cell phone in her hands saying, "Oh, he forgot his phone." Then she tapped on the phone, and followed the path that it showed her... To where a man was embracing another woman!
This was a lead-in to talking about the growing availability of GPS-enabled applications on smart phones, and the concerns that some people have about these applications.
There are a growing number of applications intended to allow parents to track their children, or couples to keep track of each other, or even to let individuals track their own perambulations using their own PC and smart phone. Some applications use GPS location to provide targeted information, such as a travel guide that provides information about exactly where you are.
Apparently people are discovering that in some cases, these applications allow other people to track them, too. The TV show was starting to talk about privacy concerns when I left for work. I did see them interviewing one person who said they just wouldn't carry their cell phone, which seems pretty sensible. On the other hand, several other people they interviewed seemed shocked to find out that their smart phone might be keeping track of them. One person stopped in the middle of the interview to check what applications they had on their phone.
The thing is that lead-in story -- a wife using her husband's cell phone to find out that he is cheating on her, or at least that the man in the middle has two girlfriends. I'm not sure that this is really a good example of the difficulties with GPS-enabled applications. After all, lipstick on the collar and other hints have been around a long time, and following the straying person to where the temptation lies is certainly a well-known way of getting the evidence.
But there's something about saying that we need to protect our privacy so that we can cheat on each other... Are you sure that's the argument you want to make?
On the other hand, I've been trying to figure out a good example for not wanting anyone to know where you are -- or were you have been -- and it's surprisingly difficult.
What do you think? Is your location a secret? Would it bother you to know that someone else can find out where you are?