In January 2010, Microsoft released a research on consumer awareness of location-based services. The research revealed that 84% of 1500 location-based service users were concerned about sharing their location data without their consent and 49% of them would be more comfortable if they could easily manage who is able to see their location information. Brendon Lynch, the Chief Privacy Officer of Microsoft says that it's essential that the dialogue about this subject should be open. Consumers should really be educated on the online privacy implications of sharing information online and there is a need for better privacy controls for products and services.
Here's few of Microsoft's basic guidelines how people can enchance privacy while using location-based services:
- Pay close attention to the location privacy settings on phones, social networking sites and online applications.
- Don't "check in" on location-based social networking sites from home, and don't include GPS coordinates in tweets, blogs or social networking accounts.
- Limit who you add to your social network location services, and do not make your location data publicly available or searchable.
- Don't geo-tag photos of your house or your children. In fact, it's best to disable geo-tagging until you specifically need it.
- Only trusted friends should know about your location. If you have contacts you don't fully know or trust, it's time to do a purge.
Sources:
Technet Blogs: Location and Privacy: Where Are We Heading on Data Privacy Day:
TechCrunch: Foursquare Closing In On 7 Million Users:
As always privacy issues are very important issue.
ReplyDeleteRecently I read an investigative report from The Wall Street Journal that explores the fact of application privacy in iPhone and Android phones. They examine 101 popular smartphone apps, the report noted that 56 transmitted the phone’s unique device ID without the user being aware of or consenting to the transmission; 47 transmitted the phone’s location; and five sent age, gender, and other personal details to outsiders. The report also notes that smartphone users are basically powerless to limit the tracking (no deleting cookies or opting out).
The recommendations you mention are good but will not solve the problem of privacy as long as people keep installing with out reading the agreements and paying close attention to what they are about to share.
It's practically impossible for regular people to read AND understand the masses of legal text that accompany applications and services. Basically you can't really tell what rights you are agreeing giving up by using the service or application.
ReplyDeleteThis information should be easy to understand and find but it isn't.