Your Privacy and The Future of Geo Location Services

Posted on September 28th, 2010 | in Rants, Web | 2 Comments

If you didn’t know, Geo location or Geo Tagging services are the next big thing. They arguably already are. The next frontier in the world of advanced mobile technology and web related products. If you’re a young aspiring web developer and have dreams of grandeur in the industry where you’re the next big player with the Facebooks and Twitters of the world instead of working a web, advertising or marketing company, I would encourage that person to spend time innovating in the Geo craze. Still in it’s infant stages the most annoying and common goof on the service is similar to twitters at first: “Why would i want to know where somebody is 24/7″? When Twitter was getting started it was “why would i want to know somebody is going to the bathroom or making a sandwich at all times”?

The truth is, that isn’t how people are using these services and those people who made those gripes are almost certainly members of Facebook who routinely make ports or spins on those blossoming trendy technologies and they’re now common place. First it was a reworking of their statuses. Then it was a reworking of the feed that looks just like twitter. then pictures and video showed up in your feed and you could check them out without leaving. Now twitter is reworking it’s feed to do the same. Now Places has been created to capitalize on Foursquare though Places has a glaring problem that gives FS an advantage. Places has no badges, specials or mayor ships. No incentives to using the service. To date people just keep using Foursquare and like services with a few exceptions.

Image via CrunchBase

Those same people that complained about those services now see their favorite site adopting those practices.

Geo Location/Tagging is much more interesting though because of the privacy challenges it will face as well as the eventual benefits it will provide when more advances are made.

For me personally, I’m very interested in politics, civil rights, being aware of what your rights are in general as a citizen and protecting them. One of those rights does include privacy however, the Internet has caused us all to rethink what privacy actually means. In ye olden days privacy meant you lived out on a farm a couple hours horse ride into town where nobody could see in your windows. Later it meant nobody could watch you change clothes in a department store dressing room. At the core though privacy has remained the same in 1 way. We as individuals decide what our personal privacy level is. Choice is the key word. Old timers chose to relinquish their privacy when they would ride into town. People chose to relinquish a little privacy when they step out of the dressing room in the new outfit to show a friend or look in the mirror. Today, we chose where we check in. Where and when we broadcast our location. There’s another level though and that’s who we allow that broadcast to be intercepted by which is the purpose of this post.

On facebook we chose who our friends are and within those sometimes we chose to hide certain things from them as well with privacy settings. On twitter you can have a private profile or not sync your foursqare to it. On foursquare you approve or decline friendship requests etc.

Recently I had an automated service retweet my foursqaure post without my approval. That service is locationtweet. Before that, months ago when i first started using foursqaure there was a website that was collecting twitter posts from foursquare and archiving them on their site. Without my permission. I tweeted them telling them that they remove my location tweets permanently because I didn’t grant them permission. They responded quickly letting me know it had been taken down. This twitter account, locationtweet did not respond to my demand to no longer list me in their service.

To me, this is the core of the privacy issue regarding location services and the first thing that needs to be addressed, by whom, I’m not sure. Government, isp, foursquare or twitter them self. I’m not particular about who does it but I absolutely want it to happen. It may seem harmless and insignificant but entertain me.

I broadcast my physical location to the world, but I do so understanding in generalities who can see it. I have a decent understanding of my twitter followers, who i’m friends with on Foursquare and Facebook. Sometimes I check in without sharing with friends. Sometimes I only share it with Foursquare, sometimes just Foursquare and Twitter. The point is I’m in control and every check in is a conscious decision to do so while understanding the conditions.

Services like locationtweet and the other i mentioned exploit this use of technology without the permision or choice of the individual. Their obvious argument is that it’s there for all to see anyway. My response is that yes, all can see it, but i know who all generally is, all aren’t seeing it and their aiding in others seeing it i have no idea about. You’ve likely heard about the pleaserobme.com which now appears to be shut down. The premise was them posting your location implying that you’re not home so go break into my house. I can appreciate the humor in such an effort but it’s also offensive, potentially dangerous and could end up putting some body’s life in danger. Maybe unlikely but all that aside it gets to the core of what I’m talking about. Services should not be allowed or permitted to use my location, my content and the content i generate for services I’m a willing member of for their personal gain without my permission. If foursquare gave them permission to do so, I would look at what they offered and brought to the table. If nothing I would try to opt out and if I couldn’t i would legitimately stop using the service.

Privacy is choice. The conscious decision to share information about yourself and your location. It’s no longer living in your house with the doors and blinds shut. Services that remove my choice from me is an exploit and violation of my privacy and it’s wrong.

There are exciting things in store for location based services. It is the next frontier but something will have to be done on this front to protect our choice in the hopefully near future.

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• Foursquare Focuses on Privacy on Eve of Expected Facebook Location Launch (mashable.com)
• Facebook tries to head privacy critics off at the pass (theglobeandmail.com)
• Exclusive: Top Privacy Group to Discuss Facebook Places With FTC (dailyfinance.com)
• 5 Geo-Location Services You Should Know About (bloggingot.com)
• Foursquare founder: Privacy fears are exaggerated (newscientist.com)
• Create a Geoprofile for your Location-Based Life [Interview] (socialtimes.com)

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Tags: Facebook, Foursquare Solutions, Privacy, Social network, Technology, Twitter, Website