Fifty-five percent of all new cell phones are GPS-enabled. If you have one of these phones, ask yourself: Do you want your friends, family and colleagues to know where you are right now? Privacy Lost: These Phones Can Find You asks that question and more.
Reminds me of something that happened more than once at university. I was biking to class and I bumped into my girlfriend and one of her friends. My girlfriend asked me why I was biking in from that side of town. Her friend just kept walking saying "you don't want to know", or something like that. A GPS-enabled phone with Social Mapping could severely hinder that type of behavior. Or maybe encourage it. Good or bad?
Generally I'd like to use Social Mapping services like Loopt and iPling to find my friends - some of the time. Would I like my friends to map me? Probably not so much.
And why would you not have wanted your girlfriend to know where you were? Huh???? Really, I think GPS linked with social networking is a terrific idea. It's analogous with a concept in the telecom domain, called "presence", that has been batted around for years. Presence automagically forwards (or screens) all communications to you based on your location, calendar, current communication device, or whatever parameter that technology will allow. Think "IM" visibility or access for all devices and locations. It is a great idea to be able to channel a vast network of technology with a dynamic lifestyle.
The big catch for presence or GPS/social networking is that it needs to be managed. Ever heard of an on/off switch? Well, it's not quite that simple, but there needs to be simple rules that allow you to channel the information according to your wishes. This management can be a hassle, but it is essential to manage the privacy issue.
Honestly, I am less interested in the privacy issue than I am in the practicality of the service. Once I were to pay Sprint the $2.99 a month, does it provide me value? Do I want to know where my kids are? Would I ever try to view where my wife is, on my Blackberry, as she is driving down 280? Hmmm...it could be a useful utility.
Posted by: dangeiger | October 27, 2007 at 07:45 AM