Why Do You Think This Is A Reasonable Trade For Your Security And Privacy
Andrew Virender | June 25, 2011Many users need not worry about privacy risks if they recognize what to do. The new GPS technology allows people to find their way through unfamiliar places. It is a instrument that assists people in finding a restaurant or an ATM in town. As a tracking tool, privacy issues concerning GPS use have been raised. This technology is now being integrated in most models of phones and cameras. Users like its features, from simple photo taking to sharing of information on the internet.
The key point of the issue raised is the risk involved with anybody being able to access the user’s location from cell phone data. Basically, many phones can keep detailed records of where a person has been. Using this data with Google maps, the phone owner’s location data can be easily mapped showing everywhere he or she had been for any period of time.
GPS-enabled phones or cameras save photos using EXIF data which means Exchangeable Image File. The EXIF annotation is used in almost all new models of digital cameras. This enables storage of photos to consist of shutter speed, F number, exposure compensation, ISO number, date and time the image was taken, etc. The foregoing does not pose problems on privacy, but are just information about traits of the stored data. What stirs unease is that some cameras are capable of storing GPS information on the photo so that one can easily locate where it was taken.
Apple and Google have made public their view on the privacy matter. According to them, users should not pass on the accountability of protecting their privacy to others. Even if the technology is there, users still have the ultimate decision of whether or not to use it. Users can simply disable or enable GPS features in their phones. Google also made clear that identification numbers of each phone signal cannot be traced to a specific handset. Google assigns a exclusive signal for each handset as part of each policy.
Some groups do not support the idea of switching off GPS features. GPS technology has been applied in many helpful applications. New phone models are designed to operate a lot of new apps that are location enabled. Not taking advantage of the benefits of this feature will make one’s phone “useless”.
Users can continue to pressure phone manufacturers and lawmakers to set limits on the use of GPS data. They can also trust that the government could move more rapidly in order to catch up with the fast-changing technology. Meanwhile, the best that can be done for the moment is to protect one’s own privacy.
One way of doing this is by limiting data sharing, mainly when using GPS enabled phones and cameras. One should take time to understand what happens to data that they upload to any website, especially social networking sites. Most sites always ask the user whether he or she wants to share the information before posting. This makes privacy the full responsibility of the user.
It is not only phones that can reveal your location. Every time you surf the Internet you are letting others know where you are. To surf anonymously us an anonymous proxy to mask your location.