Tech Feed: Location-based craze - is it safe?
Location-based social networking
is nothing new by technology's
standards. Loopd, founded in 2005,
was one of the first of such services
available, while Gowalla (2007)
and Foursquare (2009) have
excelled and brought popularity to
the technology.
With more than a dozen alternatives available, almost any smartphone equipped with GPS can be used to let a service know where you're hanging out, and give you the ability to check-in to venues and leave tips, pictures, or other information for future visitors.
With the recent addition of Facebook Places, Facebook's halfbillion users may prove to be just what the market needs in order to make checking-in as common as checking your texts.
But where does this information go? While it varies by service, information about your location is typically made available on a webpage dedicated to the venue (checkins at a particular location), your profile (a list of your check-ins), and any additional services to which you choose to link — usually Facebook and Twitter. Within seconds, your whereabouts are listed in up to four locations, and sometimes more if you choose to share with additional applications. That's four ways for someone to find out where you go and exactly when you're there.
Do these safety concerns mean that users should avoid the service altogether? Not necessarily. Location-based networking can prove useful for tracking your time, saving money, and more. However, users need to remember that the purpose of these applications is to publicize your agenda. Anyone with an Internet connection can find out where you've been and where you are within minutes of your arrival.
To avoid these security concerns and retain the benefits of the application, users may want to consider checking-in at departure rather than arrival. By the time someone sees you've checked-in to Timmies for your morning cappuccino, you're already on the road to work, and when a pesky acquaintance arrives to dinner uninvited, they're met by your dishes.
Users should also consider being selective as to when and where they check-in. Checking-in while travelling or running errands alone may pose a threat to personal safety when unwanted visitors realize Twitter provides a real-time broadcast of your every move. Even your social life can be protected — telling someone you're visiting grandma while you're actually downtown with classmates can be a quick way to end a friendship, and something that can be avoided by selective check-ins.
Avoid checking-in to venues which hint at extended absence from your home, such as hotels or hospitals. If a person wants a thorough list of people whose homes are currently unattended, they need only to check the list of people recently arriving at a nearby hotel. This opens a whole new door for a variety of organized crimes.
Letting the world know where you live by setting a "home" venue publicizes your home address and should be avoided, though Gowalla and Foursquare claim this is acceptable and provide a "home" category to do just that.
So while getting your next midnight Big Mac free might be economically pleasing, you may want to think twice before you let the public in on your every move.
With more than a dozen alternatives available, almost any smartphone equipped with GPS can be used to let a service know where you're hanging out, and give you the ability to check-in to venues and leave tips, pictures, or other information for future visitors.
With the recent addition of Facebook Places, Facebook's halfbillion users may prove to be just what the market needs in order to make checking-in as common as checking your texts.
But where does this information go? While it varies by service, information about your location is typically made available on a webpage dedicated to the venue (checkins at a particular location), your profile (a list of your check-ins), and any additional services to which you choose to link — usually Facebook and Twitter. Within seconds, your whereabouts are listed in up to four locations, and sometimes more if you choose to share with additional applications. That's four ways for someone to find out where you go and exactly when you're there.
Do these safety concerns mean that users should avoid the service altogether? Not necessarily. Location-based networking can prove useful for tracking your time, saving money, and more. However, users need to remember that the purpose of these applications is to publicize your agenda. Anyone with an Internet connection can find out where you've been and where you are within minutes of your arrival.
To avoid these security concerns and retain the benefits of the application, users may want to consider checking-in at departure rather than arrival. By the time someone sees you've checked-in to Timmies for your morning cappuccino, you're already on the road to work, and when a pesky acquaintance arrives to dinner uninvited, they're met by your dishes.
Users should also consider being selective as to when and where they check-in. Checking-in while travelling or running errands alone may pose a threat to personal safety when unwanted visitors realize Twitter provides a real-time broadcast of your every move. Even your social life can be protected — telling someone you're visiting grandma while you're actually downtown with classmates can be a quick way to end a friendship, and something that can be avoided by selective check-ins.
Avoid checking-in to venues which hint at extended absence from your home, such as hotels or hospitals. If a person wants a thorough list of people whose homes are currently unattended, they need only to check the list of people recently arriving at a nearby hotel. This opens a whole new door for a variety of organized crimes.
Letting the world know where you live by setting a "home" venue publicizes your home address and should be avoided, though Gowalla and Foursquare claim this is acceptable and provide a "home" category to do just that.
So while getting your next midnight Big Mac free might be economically pleasing, you may want to think twice before you let the public in on your every move.
