Many users need not worry about privacy risks if they comprehend what to do. The new GPS technology allows people to find their way through unfamiliar places. It is a tool that helps people in locating a restaurant or an ATM in town. As a tracking tool, privacy issues regarding GPS use have been raised. This technology is now being integrated in most models of phones and cameras. Users benefit from its features, from simple photo taking to sharing of information on the internet.
The focal 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 maintain 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 where he or she had been for any period of time.
Exchangeable Image File, or EXIF, is used in GPS-enabled phones or cameras to store photos. This is now commonly used by almost all new models of digital cameras. Kept photos will include data regarding shutter speed, F number, exposure compensation, ISO number, date and time the image was taken, etc. These are all information about characteristics of the stored data and do not create problems on privacy. It is the capability of cameras to store GPS information that ignites privacy concern because anybody can effortlessly locate where the photograph was taken.
On the part of Apple and Google, they say that users have to be accountable for shielding their own privacy. Users cannot put the blame on technology just because it is made available. Users are the ones who can choose whether or not to use it. To escape privacy risks, users can switch off location tracking features in their phones. Google also said that the identification numbers of each phone signal cannot be traced to a specific handset. Google sets a policy of assigning a unique signal for each handset.
Taking this premise, some groups of users do not buy the idea of not using GPS features. They say that GPS is such a functional technology that a user can make good use of it. Also, the newest apps are mostly location enabled. Not using this technology may put a user in a more disadvantaged situation.
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 quicker 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.
This can be done by limiting the sharing of data, in particular GPS enabled photos, online. One should take time to think well before uploading photos to any website, especially social networking sites. Users should be alert that most sites always ask the user whether or not he or she wants to share the information before posting. This makes one fully responsible for his or her own privacy.
The focal 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 maintain 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 where he or she had been for any period of time.
Exchangeable Image File, or EXIF, is used in GPS-enabled phones or cameras to store photos. This is now commonly used by almost all new models of digital cameras. Kept photos will include data regarding shutter speed, F number, exposure compensation, ISO number, date and time the image was taken, etc. These are all information about characteristics of the stored data and do not create problems on privacy. It is the capability of cameras to store GPS information that ignites privacy concern because anybody can effortlessly locate where the photograph was taken.
On the part of Apple and Google, they say that users have to be accountable for shielding their own privacy. Users cannot put the blame on technology just because it is made available. Users are the ones who can choose whether or not to use it. To escape privacy risks, users can switch off location tracking features in their phones. Google also said that the identification numbers of each phone signal cannot be traced to a specific handset. Google sets a policy of assigning a unique signal for each handset.
Taking this premise, some groups of users do not buy the idea of not using GPS features. They say that GPS is such a functional technology that a user can make good use of it. Also, the newest apps are mostly location enabled. Not using this technology may put a user in a more disadvantaged situation.
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 quicker 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.
This can be done by limiting the sharing of data, in particular GPS enabled photos, online. One should take time to think well before uploading photos to any website, especially social networking sites. Users should be alert that most sites always ask the user whether or not he or she wants to share the information before posting. This makes one fully responsible for his or her own privacy.
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It's not just phones that can give away your location. Every time you surf the web you are letting others know where you are. To surf anonymously use an encrypted proxy to mask your location.
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