There is a slight chance that some of you might have missed the news over the last 24h from Google – they are now tracking you! Using the new version of their mobile map client, Google has given users (and itself) the ability to track, using GPS or manual location entry, one’s location via its Latitude feature. It really amuses me that this has started to raise the uproar that it has.
It is my guess that the people who are going to make the most use of this feature are those microblogging junkies who update their location in Twitter or Facebook or whatever. Not the masses of mobile users out there who have the new version of Google Maps available (iPhone users still have to wait). Since they are already disclosing this information, this only makes the process easier for them and more accessible to the no so savy. And maybe that is where the “rub” is. Is this a gateway to another level of privacy compromise? I don’t know and I don’t really want to waste brain power thinking about the ills, I’d rather see how this could be useful.
And off the top of my head, the greatest use could be for groups who are dipersed over a wide area to be able to find each other – think about going to conference and being able to find your colleagues in the convention location, or going to a new city and being able to find where everyone is if you get lost. Even more mundane, you can see that your friend is at the store and ask them to grab something for you. And if you are worried about being caught where you are not supposed to be, you can always stop telling your location (manually set it somewhere else). For these situations, the only thing that I can see being an issue is if one GL user is trying to surprise another GL user with a party and the person throwing the party forgets to stop sharing their location… I can see it now… “Quiet! He’s coming! Hide yourselves and your locations!”. Good times.
And for those who are worried about privacy – here is Google’s advice:
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