Term Paper on "Geolocation Technology and Privacy Issues"

Term Paper 12 pages (3759 words) Sources: 10 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Geolocation Technology and Privacy Issues

Innovations in technology have fundamentally altered the manner in which consumers, businesses and governments alike transact business in recent years, and the efficiencies these technologies provide have been responsible for increased international commerce and improvements in quality of life standards for tens of millions of people. Offsetting these benefits, though, is the potential for the exploitation of personal information that is exchanged during online transactions, as well as the increased use of geolocation applications that can track consumers' whereabouts and purchasing behaviors in ways only dreamed of by marketers in the past. While many consumers want and need to know their precise geographic location to help them navigate their way through serpentine city streets and during long-distance trips, the potential for the misuse of geolocation information is alarming and demands attention by Internet service providers as well as government authorities to ensure that privacy considerations are taken into account and protected. To determine the current state of affairs with respect to geolocation technology and privacy issues, this paper provides a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature, followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

Background and Overview

Geolocation Technology. The term "geolocation" simply means identifying a specific location within a few feet on the earth's surface through the use of geosynchronous positioning satellite systems. At present, geolocation services are already being provided by a number of online service providers and the technology is expected to become easier to use and more accurate in the near future (Thierer & Crews, 2003). For instance, according to Thierer and Crews, "Global positioning system chips are decreasing in price and finding their way into laptops, and commercial opportunities exist to offer services on the basis of geography: one might soon be able to step off a plane, open a laptop or handheld personal digital assistant, and find an ad for local restaurants with automatic delivery displayed on the first sponsored Web site one visits" (2003, p. 25).

Although geolocation technologies have been shown to possess relatively high levels of accuracy for marketing purposes, they remain imperfect, both for the Internet and other forms of network communications (Matwyshyn, 2004). Moreover, geolocation technologies fail to provide adequate levels of certainty for jurisdiction purposes to be established as the tool of choice for the identification of appropriate jurisdictional authority. For example, the European Union has taken the position that geolocation technologies remain insufficiently reliable and therefore are unable to be used for the purpose of assessing value-added tax on e-commerce (Matwyshyn, 2004). Notwithstanding these constraints, current trends suggest that geolocation technology will continue to increase in sophistication and power in the near-term as the inexorable march towards pervasive computing continues, fueled in large part by the geolocation devices described further below.

Geolocation Devices. Typically, geolocation devices perform two basic processes:

1. Report the user's location to other users; and,

2. Associate real-world locations (such as restaurants and events) to a user's location (Ionescu, 2010).

The proliferation of Internet-enabled mobile devices has contributed to the availability of specially designed geolocation apps. These mobile device geolocation apps deliver a more robust and dynamic experience compared to desktop PCs since the telemetry that is used to calculate the geolocation data changes as the physical location of the user changes (Ionescu, 2010). According to Ionescu (2010), so-called smartphones are equipped with an internal GPS chip that uses satellite-generated data to calculate users' precise position; these technologies operate best with a clear sky and when used outdoors.

Even under less than optimal conditions, though, geolocation chips are capable of triangulating an approximate position based on data available from nearby cell towers that is not as precise but which has improved in recent years (Ionescu, 2010). There is also an approach termed "assisted GPS or A-GPS" in which geolocation systems use the foregoing-described triangulation methodology together with GPS and local Wi-Fi networks, where available, to calculate an even more accurate location (Ionescu, 2010). In sum, Ionesco notes that, "As long as the sky is fairly clear, the geolocation app on your phone can ascertain your position reasonably accurately. Indoors, however, it's less accurate, and in locales where storefronts are in very close proximity, you may have to select your location manually from within the app interface. Eventually, though, more-advanced A-GPS systems should increase the accuracy of geolocation positioning inside buildings" (2010, para. 3).

This and other recent developments in geolocation apps have represented an opportunity as well as a challenge for privacy advocates who are concerned about the implications of having consumer whereabouts -- and potentially behavior -- known at all times. The opportunities, though, are clear. For instance, Twitter launched a geolocation app in 2009, "API," that third-party developers can use in their own apps, and a growing number of Twitter-based and desktop PC applications, including Twitterrific and Tweetie, allow users to attach their current locations to their postings (Ionescu, 2010). This Twitter-based geolocation app has also been placed on the company's main Web site and users are identifying new ways to use their tool everyday. For instance, although it is not as easy to use as other geolocation apps such as Brightkite or Foursquare and does not feature any incentives (such as points) for use, Twitter's advanced search features allows users to search for tweets emanating from a specific location (Ionescu, 2010).

Likewise, Facebook is expected to allow its almost half billion users to use its geolocation services available, and with more than 100 million users updating their status through their mobile phones, the Faceebook geolocation services is projected to become enormously popular (Ionescu, 2010). In fact, Google has released a geolocation app, Google Buzz, that allows users to simply state the geolocational information in real time that is posted on Google's mobile maps function, together with other user location information (Ionescu, 2010). Google's Chrome Web browser has also been equipped with geolocational features that use the global positioning system (GPS) coordinate system. In addition, Nokia has also launched a smartphone-based geolocation feature and industry analysts expect Apple to do the same with its iPhone at some point in the future (Ionescu, 2010).

Finally, radio frequency identification chips can also provide real-time ubiquitous geolocation data. Writing in National Geographic, Achenbach (2008) advises that, "An RFID tag with a microchip can be embedded in a product, under your pet's skin, even your own skin. Passive RFID tags have a tiny antenna but no internal energy source. Batteries are not included because they are not even needed. The energy comes from the reader, a scanning device that sends a pulse of electromagnetic energy that briefly activates the tag" (p. 1). In contrast to bar codes, RFID tags can be updated and the tag includes information that is unique to the object involved (Achenbach, 2008). These RFID technologies have already been deployed in a wide range of applications. For instance, Achenbach notes that, "Already RFID technology is used by highway toll plazas, libraries, retailers tracking inventory and it might appear in your passports" (2008, p. 1). The increasing ubiquity of these devices means that the location of users can be readily discerned over time in ways that have never been possible in the past, and the implications for infringements of 4th Amendment protections abound. In this regard, Achenbach cautions that, "Privacy advocates are nervous about the Orwellian possibilities of such technology. Tracking school kids through radio tags is draconian, they say. We imagine a world in which a beer company could find out not only when you bought a beer but also when you drank it and how many beers" (2008, p. 1). Not surprisingly, a number of location-based services have been launched in recent years to take advantage of these emerging technologies, and these issues are discussed further below.

Location-Based Services. As the term implies, location-based services apply geolocation technology in innovative ways to provide new levels of service across the entire spectrum of online services. As an entirely new functionality, location-based services hold significant promise for the near-term, particularly following the mandate by the Federal Communications Commission that location-based services be used in locating 911-generated distress calls (Gulati, Sawhney & Paoni, 2003). As a result, location-based services represent one of the more rapidly growing areas in the wireless communication sector with revenues of $5 billion a year (Gulati et al., 2003). Some of the more popular location-based services are being offered by giants such as Verizon Wireless, Vodafone of Great Britain, and NTT DoCoMo of Japan, but there are also numerous smaller enterprises entering the market in the United States and Europe with typically services including obtaining information about nearby restaurants or hotels in any city, for example, but with any potential geolocation information being capable of being exploited for this purpose (Gulati et al., 2003).

Location-based services can use a wide range of information sources for their applications besides voluntarily provided geolocation data, including information that is readily available through the users' Web browser as follows.… READ MORE

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