No hiding place

Posted on 10 Nov 2009 at 12:53

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In theory, at least, only websites that you had signed up to share your geolocation data with would actually be able to use your location for these purposes, but often consumers grant permission unwittingly when they accept the terms and conditions.

"In most cases you have given permission to be located," says Kerry Langstaff of geolocation service specialists Quova. "Banks do it all the time. They know what browser you normally use, what time of day you normally sign on, where you're based and the sort of computer you use. If you sign on and all these things are different, then it will raise a flag."

The police and other security services are also aware of geolocation's potential for locating suspects. They've used mobile phone cell information to trace criminals for several years, and IP address information is widely used for tracing web-based criminals. While few people would suggest the police shouldn't have access to this information for crime prevention, there are real concerns that a lack of understanding of the technology leads to horrendous mistakes.

Last year's report from Sir Paul Kennedy MP, the Interception of Communications Commissioner, revealed details of how police had conducted a heavy-handed raid on a suspected paedophile based on his IP address, only to arrest a completely innocent man. The authorities had mistakenly identified him because they hadn't accounted for international time differences when tracing the IP address, which are usually issued on a temporary basis and passed on to other users later.

Kennedy said that "the whole process of obtaining data relating to IP addresses has been re-examined" and that "better checks and balances have been put in place".

The Ugly
Privacy concerns

The biggest threat to the proliferation of geolocation services is the concern users have over privacy. People worry that a phone or laptop with location-based services switched on could make them visible wherever they are. Given how often those in authority mess up with our data, this is a sobering thought.

There are rules governing how location data is used. They state that companies must get users' permission before passing on their locations to third parties, and send them reminders that they are being tracked.

"Privacy is a big deal because we have to convince the public that their location won't be used against them," says Skyhook's Ted Morgan. "Otherwise they will simply stop using it. We are involved in the W3C standards that will govern the way people can use the information. Our privacy policy states that the users have control and we don't know who they are.

"If they are using the standards, then whenever a website asks for your location it has to prompt you for permission so you know they are doing that - it's a big part of the standard."

Quova similarly points out that it doesn't hold any information that can identify who the targets of its IP-based location are, but this doesn't guarantee anonymity.

"We don't have any identifying data, we just have a database that gives the location of an IP address," says Langstaff. "Some of the third-party sites, our customers, might have user-generated data, which does identify the people, but they will normally be people who have agreed to be located as a condition of using that service."

Google has a strict policy, too, but stresses that once users have given the company permission to share their data with another website, it is out of Google's hands.