Google have launched a new tool called Latitude, which allows you to see opting in friends on a Google Map, using a smart phone or a computer. It also allows your friends to see your location.
The location information is determined using wi-fi, phone masts, GPS or by the user inputting the information manually, allowing the location to be automatically updated or manually depending on how you want to manage it.
As a user of Google Latitude, you get to control which users get to see your location.
Some sites such as BBC News have raised some concerns over privacy issues that could arise from this service. The BBC have reported that privacy group Privacy International have said that there are opportunities for abuse with the system when people are unaware that their location is being broadcast.
At the moment, the only phone device that actually notifies their users that the location is being broadcast are BlackBerry users – there are pop ups that tell the user that this information is being given out. However, Google are planning an update for other software versions in the next few weeks, so that just about everyone should be notified when this information is being shared.
An example being given by Privacy International of where this privacy is being abused is if an employer were to give a phone with this enabled, allowing them to see the location of the phone (and therefore the likely location of the user) at any time. However, Privacy International have also commented that Google have taken steps with privacy in mind in a much greater scale than any of their other services.
Most of the other privacy risks that are cited by Privacy International (a list of which can be seen on the BBC Technology Blog) are looking at ways that a human can exploit this technology, such as parents supplying an enabled phone and not telling their children that they are able to “spy” on them using this service.
However, most importantly, there is an off switch for this service – so anyone concerned by the privacy implications of this service can simply not use it!
There are already a number of similar services available, although most of these lack the punch that a Google release will have, as their market share of the search market continues to grow.
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