Many people who use social media applications aren't aware that their locations are often exposed or vulnerable whenever they use the apps. Luckily, a new software feature developed by the SinglesAroundMe dating app may have found the answer to the problem.
"We were thinking of how to offer people a way to still flirt and be seen, but not actually be pinpointed," said Christopher Klotz, CEO for SinglesAroundMe.
This new technology is called Position-Shift and allows people to select how accurately each person can see where they're located. A user can choose to let one person see where they are within a 10-kilometre radius while allowing another friend to pinpoint exactly where they are.
Currently, Facebook has a setting that allows recipients to see approximately from where users are sending their private messages (e.g., someone in Ontario can see that their friend is sending them private messages from Humboldt. Their locations often appear discreetly right below the messages).
If the sender doesn't want this, they would have to manually turn off their "Messenger location services" (which can be done through the settings, or by clicking the little arrow next to the text field for conversations). Unfortunately, due to Facebook's constant updates, many users aren't even aware that their location services are turned on.
Twitter also has a feature called "Tweet Locations" that allows the users to define the accuracy of their location. This feature is similar to Position-Shift, but doesn't allow users full control over each contact.
"You as a user can choose some friends to see exactly where you are and other friends to see only approximately where you are," said Klotz.
Moreover, many people don't realize that location privacy is just as vulnerable online as it is in the real world. Research has been done that shows how criminals often cyber stalk their victims using their locations to identify suitable targets.
"Most submitters of the geo-tagged media are unaware of the location information they're publishing as metadata," said a report by the Spatial Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California.
"(The researchers) suggest steps need to be taken on mobile devices to decrease privacy concerns and increase awareness."
In other words, if someone is using a social media tool that displays the location of the items submitted (e.g., photos uploaded through social media might display where the photo was taken or where the person was when they uploaded it), they can be tracked. In theory, Position-Shift would displace that person's location online so that not everyone can view where they were at the time of submission.
"This could be quite powerful and affect all social media," said Klotz. "It's quite a neat thing that will be sought after or licensed by Facebook and offered to users."
Currently, this feature is only available for the SingelesAroundMe dating app, but that might soon change. If platforms such as Facebook did offer it, users would have another privacy option that would enable people to allow who sees them and where. It can also extend to businesses that track their employees.
"If you're a driver for a big company, do they have the right to know where you are after 5 p.m.?" asks Klotz. "They can't track that individual all the time or they should only know within a 10-kilometer vicinity."
There is also the issue of location-based services such as MapQuest, Yelp, Loopt, Google Buzz, and Foursquare. If these apps start licensing this technology, users can safely use these apps without worrying that marketing agencies or the government is tracking their movements through their search history or uploaded submissions.
"In the real world, you might just say you're around the corner when you're really not," said Klotz. "We're just bringing that into the digital world."
