Mobile Security – Location Tracking

Does everybody need to know where you are?

Minimize use of location sharing.

There is reason for concern about the use of your personal location data generated by your smartphone. For example, your location data can leak your home or work address to the wrong people. Similarly, if you are at a public location, it can signal that your home is unoccupied to thieves.

Publicly sharing your location can signal someone to meet you in a public venue unintentionally. It’s a “hot commodity” as reported in the NY Times in December, 2018. Per the AARP Bulletin, location data can also come from listening to music (smart speakers), watching TV (smart TVs), and cooking a meal (smart appliances)!!! Your smart watch, such as a FitBit or an Apple Watch is a potential source of location tracking data.

Several technologies are being used by smartphone apps, to track your location for marketing purposes. The most precise is Bluetooth, which can locate you inside a store and direct you to the latest product sale,

Note, that even without authorizing sharing, smartphone (cell phones) can be tracked through cell towers and/or Wi-Fi networks.

If you prefer not to turn off location services entirely, make an active choice as to what situations are warranted. Limit use to apps that must know it; e.g. WAZE™, a GPS navigation app.

The iPhone with iOS 14 offers useful options to control app-by-app location sharing including Always, When Using, Ask Next Time and Never.

FOR FURTHER READING:
CyberGuardian: a SecureTheVillage Guide for Residents is available on Amazon.
A complete Security Checklist is available: https://www.nerdsiview.com/security-checklist-2/
References for Village Residents are available at SECURE THE VILLAGE: https://securethevillage.org/residents

Supplemental Articles:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/10/business/location-data-privacy-apps.html
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2018/where-companies-are-tracking-data.html
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/14/opinion/bluetooth-wireless-tracking-privacy.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

 © Alan Steven Krantz 2021