What location-based data, you may be giving away more than you realise and this, in turn, could be threatening your privacy.
GPS (global positioning system) or other location-tracking technology is helpful especially when moving through unfamiliar areas. However, it can also pose a privacy risk. New finding reveal that apps can track a person’s whereabouts without their consent and sell on the data to third parties.
This is perhaps one reason why location-targeted advertising has reached $62.35 billion and it is expected to grow in the upcoming years. The concerns for consumers are an uptick in targeted ads, an increased digital footprint, and a surged risk of data breaches.
Users are often unaware of the privacy implications of some permissions they grant to apps, especially when it comes to location-tracking information. Privacy policies are often vague, highlighting the need for location data and not disclosing that the same data can be shared and sold.
With the help of the TrackAdvisor app, researchers decided to find how much personal information our phone apps can gather through location tracking. The results showed that such information as the place where users live and their habits, interests, demographics, health, and socio-economic situation were also collected. Also, some apps track a person’s location even after switching it off.
In relation to this type of issue, Google was sued by Arizona lawyers a few years ago.
Daniel Markuson from NordVPN tells Digital Journal: “When GPS is on, various organizations can easily track someone’s movements and use this information to collect data on their habits and (dis)likes and target them with advertising based on their location. Once a person’s location data has been collected from an app and it has entered the data marketplace, it can be sold over and over again, from the data providers to an aggregator that resells your data.”
Markuson adds: “You might have noticed that your Facebook ads often correspond with your location and recent Internet activity. That’s the same social network that experienced a data leak of 533 million users’ data, including their location, last year. Our data is never safe even in the hands of tech giants.”
Markuson provides some tips on how people can stop anything or anyone tracking your whereabouts:
- Check which apps and software are allowed to track your location. Some apps need your location to do their job. For example, it would make no sense to use Google Maps without giving it location tracking permission. However, other apps collect your location as surplus data. Check the settings for each app on your phone to ensure that the location tracking is turned off on the apps not dependent on the location.
- Turn your cookies off and/or clear them regularly. Tracking cookies are used to find out your IP address and geographical location. A good idea is to get rid of the habit to click accept all without actually reviewing what you are agreeing with. The recently rolled out NordVPN feature, Threat Protection, blocks tracking cookies on the spot.
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