According to a recent study by ISACA, a non-profit venture, over 60 per cent of people who use smartphones today, install apps that provide access to their geographical location even though there are risks involved with regards to privacy exploitation and of geographical data being sold to advertisers by app developers.
As per the study, nearly every smartphone user that was surveyed revealed that their main concern was the leakage of private information to advertisers. However, experts are of the opinion that the utility and features that these apps provide such as automatic suggestion of driving routes, finding the nearest Mc Donalds or KFC outlet, etc, undoubtedly outweigh privacy concerns.
A respondent clearly stated that if an app proves useful and draws data from users naturally, then it is ok for the users to acknowledge the fact that the app control how their data is used.
Another reason cited for the growth of geolocation based applications is that even though privacy advocates table their concerns about their personal data being sold, a majority of folks still do not actually know (or seem to care!) what is being sold off to advertisers from their personal information, and how the buyers are going to use them.
So until a time when everyone really gets bothered by the fact that their location and activity are being tracked by 3rd party networks, apps that collect location info of their users probably would still continue to be in demand.
What do you think about location based apps? Have you used them or did you choose not to due to privacy issues? Do let us know in your comments.
Source:
http://www.cio.com/article/