You're being watched - geolocation and privacy

location based services

Network operators are able to pinpoint your location better than ever before. Whether it's municipal WiFi or your local cable operator, advertisers are paying top dollar to know where you are and what you like to do online at each location.

On April 5 the city of San Francisco announced Earthlink and Google will create a WiFi network throughout the city supported by location-targeted advertising. If you browse the web from a park bench you may receive an advertisement for a cup of coffee down the street or a furniture shop. This information could be based on your browsing habits and the locations where you frequently access the Internet. It seems like the free Internet offered by Netzero and others in the late 90s upgraded for the broadband age. Are you willing to give up information about your every click and your wireless location in exchange for free Internet access?

Mobile phone carriers have upgraded their networks and their phones to provide more accurate location data for emergency personnel under the E911 initiative. Wireless carriers are required to provide location information within 50 to 300 meters in most cases to public safety personnel. Nextel phones have utilized GPS functionality for years to track corporate workers in the field. New location-based services are just starting to pop up as carriers hone in on your exact location at any point in time. Is all this mobile tracking too close for comfort? Are there any applications we would like to provide with our location data in an on-demand or always-on format?

Om and I talk about these issues and more in our latest PodSession, You're being watched - Geolocation and privacy. The podcast is 12 minutes long, a 6 MB download.

Posted by Niall Kennedy on April 9, 2006 08:57 PM | Permalink