Blog
09.05
Is it invasion of privacy if you give permission?
A recent story in the New York Times got me thinking about that very question.
With the meteroic rise of post your location, location, location online - like Foursquare and Gowalla - if you are not a Mayor of some remote destination, you are definitely searching for a coupon of the latest two-piece deal at Popeye's. This latest craze falls in line with the Internet no longer being the resource for Jeopardy tidbits and now becoming the human GPS system.
So, another question is this quest for cyber politics catching on?
But for all the attention and money these apps and Web sites are getting, adoption has so far been largely confined to pockets of young, technically adept urbanites. Just 4 percent of Americans have tried location-based services, and 1 percent use them weekly, according to Forrester Research. Eighty percent of those who have tried them are men, and 70 percent are between 19 and 35.
Do you fall in that demographic? It's not that I am wanted by the FBI or something, but do I really want everyone knowing when I go to the cleaners or am jonesin' for some Quiznos?
Yes, there are incentivized-based reasons for these location media havens and they work, but is it safe? Is becoming a Mayor or a Burger King worth losing any privacy you may have. Eh, the Internet. You really can't have it your way.
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