The Loss of Location Privacy in the Cellular Age
Stephen B. Wicker
On April 20, 2011, U.K. researchers Alasdair Allan and Peter Warden caused a media frenzy by announcing their discovery of an iPhone file—consolidated.dba—that contained time-stamped user-location data.
- Enjoyed the thought-provoking exploration of the psychological impact of location-based advertising (LBA), that is, LBA causing loss of the meaning ascribed to physical places.
- Found the paper did a good job of demonstrating the privacy concerns in the inferences that can be made from tracked location data.
- Appreciated the aptly named "Shannon-theoretic approach to location anonymity" section as it was very effective at explaining how delicate anonymity is.
- Speculated on the possible usage patterns of a cellphone option to switch between shortened battery life and increased anonymity vs. extended battery life and reduced anonymity.
- Agreed with the general principle that privacy tends to be improved by increasing the amount of processing on devices and decreasing the number and specificity of requests to location services.