Why Do You Believe This Is A Valid Trade Off For Your Safety Or Privacy
Not knowing how to protect one’s own privacy can expose the user to excessive possibilities. One of the latest technologies is the GPS, and it is now being used in cell phones and cameras. This has enabled people to locate unfamiliar places and establishments. However, privacy concerns have been raised because of the undefined restrictions on the use of this tracking technology. New models of cameras and phones are now outfitted with GPS. Users enjoy its functions from simple photo taking to uploading on the internet.
The issues center on the risks involved with anybody being able to locate a user by accessing his or her cell phone data. These days, phones can store data on the position of a person, in particular location. The phone owner’s location data can be easily mapped – where he or she had been for a period of time – with the assistance of Google maps.
GPS-enabled phones or cameras save photos using EXIF data which means Exchangeable Image File. The EXIF annotation is used in almost all new styles of digital cameras. This enables storage of photos to involve shutter speed, F number, exposure compensation, ISO number, date and time the image was taken, etc. The foregoing does not pose problems on privacy, but are just information about characteristics of the stored data. What stirs concern is that some cameras are capable of storing GPS information on the photo so that one can easily identify where it was taken.
Apple and Google have made public their view on the privacy subject. According to them, users should not pass on the accountability of protecting their privacy to others. Even if the technology is there, users still have the final choice of whether or not to use it. Users can basically disable or enable GPS features in their phones. Google also made clear that identification numbers of each phone signal cannot be traced to a specific handset. Google assigns a unique signal for each handset as part of each policy.
Some groups do not support the idea of switching off GPS features. GPS technology has been applied in many valuable applications. New phone models are designed to operate lots of new apps that are location enabled. Not taking advantage of the benefits of this feature will make one’s phone “useless”.
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.
They can do this by setting reasonable limits on the sharing of data online, especially with GPS enabled photos. One should use his or her intelligent discretion regarding when to distribute photos on any website, in particular social networking sites. This will make one in better control over his or her privacy.