In an earlier blog I wrote of web sites that track population movements through GPS enabled devices like cell phones, and how you can use that information to see where the hot spots are, where traffic is going, or is tied up, and other ways to use real time population movement and location information.
I also wrote of the concerns about loss of privacy, and the potential for people to know what you, specifically, are doing. In the Washington Post is a recent article further exploring the use of your GPS signal to target you for you-specific advertising, monitor your driving habits for insurance classification and rate verification, and check to see whether or not you are moonlighting. (Moonlighting is a term for holding down a second job, usually in the evenings as your main job is during the day. It goes along with the phrase “don’t quite your day job”.)
Yes, it’s nice that you and your friends can meet up in surprising places and unexpectedly, that you can half-price tickets to that latest movie because you’re near a theater that has some available seats, and that you know where the traffic jambs are, but do you really everyone, including those who take a look at your Facebook, tracking you and everywhere you go?
