Smartphone technology has changed the way we interact with the world in our everyday lives. From Internet access to every type of application imaginable, a world of information and content is at our fingertips 24/7. With so much to offer, it’s easy to see just how these features can improve our lives, but it’s also important to recognize what you may be giving up to enjoy the app you just downloaded.
Having a GPS on your smartphone is one of those features that makes me excited and uncomfortable to have with me at all times. Without the ability of an app or website to know my location, it would be impossible to suggest local content that might interest me. For me, this is one of the best features my phone has to offer. When I’m in a new city or just looking for a fun event my friends and I can go to, all I have to do is open an app or search online and within seconds I have a variety of local options to choose from. Now this is not something that wasn’t possible to do before GPS tracking was around, but now it’s very convenient and I think we all love convenience. Another of my favorite features that GPS tracking of my phone allows is that it can determine where my home is and my work location based on how much time I spend in the same place. It can then automatically give me information about the traffic on my trip and how long it will take me to get there. Plus, if I’ve driven somewhere new and don’t know how to get back home, my phone is already waiting to take me home with the click of a button. I don’t have to open a browser or an app and type in my current location and where I want to go, it’s already done for me. When technology can help make my life a little easier, I’m glad to have it with me, but there are some aspects of GPS tracking that worry me.
Now, I’ve already talked about how I love that my phone can give me local information or directions home from anywhere because it tracks my location. However, if I think about it a bit more, I suddenly realize that my phone was able to determine where my home and work are by doing the exact same thing. Now, my location data can be private in the sense that it doesn’t have my name attached to it, just the phone id number, but just by knowing my work and home location, it has a fingerprint of me that can be compared with social networks. to fill in the missing blanks. At this point my mind starts going down a rabbit hole, who else is tracking my location that I don’t know, what are they doing with that information, and what if someone steals that information from my phone? How much privacy am I willing to sacrifice for the convenience that GPS tracking can offer me? I’m sure some of you are saying, just turn tracking off if you’re concerned, but sometimes it’s not clear what is tracking your location or where to turn it off. There are also some services where you may not be able to simply change a setting and turn off the GPS feature. For example, my phone’s service provider can still get my location even when my phone is turned off. So how do you go about ensuring your privacy? The next time you install an app, be sure to read what you agree to give it access to. As consumers our power is through our purchases. If we don’t want a feature, the best way to remove it is to stop giving our money to the company that produces it. But as I said before, I love the possibilities that can arise from knowing my location.
So instead of changing settings every time I want to use my location-based apps, I put my phone in my SilentPocket case. Placing my phone inside this stylish leather case blocks all RF and RFID signals from reaching my phone, preventing my GPS location from being shared. Now I can go on with my life knowing that my privacy is safe and the features I love are still there for me to use when I want them.