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
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I interviewed some potential GPS users a few months back, and all of them were concerned about this scenario - there is a real feeling of discomfort that comes from carrying something that creates the potential for surveillance, by your partner or by anyone.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Yeah, but the article IS all over the place. Random allusions to changing patterns of privacy, leading with the *potential* for these kinds of services (most people have no idea they exist), and no useful technical detail.
To your critique, Piers: No idea where her 55% figure comes from, but if that’s the number of phones that COULD offer GPS locating, that’s very different from the percent of people who actually DO use any GPS services. Many people never use their cruise control either.
Finally, a more useful piece might have focused on adding the GPS angle to old-fashioned pathological stalking. Just like (cue trumpets of rampant self-promotion) this one I did: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/jul06/4103
October 24th, 2007 at 6:05 am