Google has recently been pointed out for some privacy concerns with its Latitude service, according to the BBC. Named Google Latitude, the service allows mobile and Smartphone users to share their location with friends (although there is also a version for PC). The location of a user is determined by the distance to the nearest phone mast, GPS, or the Wi-Fi location, depending on whether the service is being used on a mobile, Smartphone or PC. The concern lies in how Google Latitude notifies the user of the device that it is sharing the location of the device. The service allows the user to decide how much information to submit, who to, and also allows the user not to share any information at all.
All this sounds fine, but, although it allows the user to control their privacy settings when they are running Google Latitude, what if the user doesn't know they are running it? One example of this would be a company providing its employees with phones, which come with Google Latitude pre-installed, and all setup to share user information with the employer. This is the concern that Privacy International has been raising. As the program doesn't notify the user that it is running (apart from on Blackberry phones), depending on the situation, the user could be completely oblivious to the fact that their location was being broadcasted to whoever the employer set it up to broadcast to.
Currently, notification is a feature only available on the Blackberry version of Google Latitude, so until Google add notifications to the other platforms; it looks like Google will, once again, be in the centre of another privacy concern.
I'm sure before the latitude feature reaches the corporate market (if at all) they will have the "privacy concerns" ironed out.
Besides that, Latitude doesn't even share exact addresses, only street names.
Being notified every time I launch Google Maps could become quite annoying. I hope there's a way to disable that when they decide to include it.
Anyone who thinks their friends need to know their exact location all the time has worse problems than privacy anyway.
Plus, people who complain that companies could keep eyes on their staff secretly should know that there are a number of different covert programs that will do this in a more intrusive way right now. I can text my phone from any other and retrieve it's location, retrieve every single contact from the sim card, see where it has been for the last x minutes and much more. I've installed it as a theft detection thing. It's actually part of the flashed firmware so a factory reset won't get rid of it and unless you're looking for it, you won't see any sign of it. So the software already exists. Don't hit out at google for releasing something that people might like to use socially. I'm sure people will easily realise the risks.
Last edited by Xeron on 05 Feb 2009 - 23:32
I have it installed on my Touch Pro and every time I exit Google Maps it asks me I want to keep latitude running in the background. I fail to see how it's a security concern at all lol. It's not like you can currently have the app launch on startup without any UI/notification
um. No they don't. They have the right to know how you have been using the phone (i.e. authorized usage)...they don't have the right to track you with it.
#1 If it is the employers phone he has a right to know where it is.
#2 If you are on the employers time he has a right to know where you are.
This is no different than truck drivers and police being tracked by dispatchers which has been going on for years.
If you have your own phone, you'll have the option to turn it on or off, as well as stipulate who gets to be aware of your location. If you don't like the privacy implications of this, don't run it. Simple as that.
How is there a privacy issue? It even prompts you to accept a privacy agreement. This is crap.
However, for those who were wondering, the privacy concern is that employers could provide employees with pre-setup phones, running Google Latitude in the background.
Because there is no sign (apart from on Blackberry phones) that Google Latitude is running, the employee could turn their phone on or off, yet still Google Latitude would run in the backgorund, broadcasting their location. It's unlikely circumstances, but still possible.
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