Tech Gadgets That Know and Share Too Much About Us

[Commentary] Over the next decade, systems that track and record our movement through physical space will be woven inextricably into everyday life. Already we operate some location-based systems: dashboard navigation systems, smartphones with GPS features, and electronic tags that help us zip through toll stations. But in the coming years, location-aware tools will become more common, sophisticated, and indispensable. There are good reasons for people to be nervous about this: Locational records convey where we travel and with whom; where we have lunch and with whom; which political meetings we attend; where we go to church; what kinds of nightclubs we frequent; with whom we conduct business meetings; and with whom we spend the night. The records won't be available to everyone, but they will likely be sold to advertisers and made available to law enforcement, hackers, lawyers in divorce cases and other civil lawsuits, and to nosy employees of the companies that build location-tracking systems. In countries with repressive political systems, location-tracking records may also be made available to secret police forces. These constitute threats to privacy that must be taken seriously.
[Eckersley is a staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that advocates online privacy and free speech.]