NY Times Writes Ever-So-Scary GPS Privacy Story Just In Time For Halloween

An article by Laura M Holson in the New York Times tries its best to warn of the impending danger of GPS chips on mobile phones. Yes, she admits it could be fun to know where your opted-in friends are but – after misleading the reader with a suggestion that 55% of US mobile phones carry GPS chips (only 17% of the US use GPS in all its formats including car-navigation) – she wonders:

“What if a spouse wants some time alone and turns off the service?”

Extra-marital activity is not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when we think of GPS, but hey, we’re no NY Times journalist.

GPS is going to bring in a very interesting set of Location Based Services and yes, there are privacy issues that go along with that. But this article featuress the same old fears that have been brought up against technology time and time again – against mobile phones without GPS, against blogs, against social network and beyond. Someone’s let Laura M Holson rush off on a crusade without doing the fact or sense checking.

Scary story: Privacy Lost: These Phones Can Find You – New York Times