Why Google Latitude Might Become A Privacy Threat

Does Google Latitude scare you yet? You will probably shrug and say: why? Sure, it's fun, knowing where your friends are and everything. It seems pretty harmless, all in all.

If this may seem just another application that has more or less point to it (God knows the internet is awfully full of useless stuff), let's look at its next level of application: the Google Android software. This is the software that is used to power up the Google smartphone. Well, Latitude fits seamlessly into Android. In this case, things get complicated: Latitude can track your cell phone, and hence your position almost at all times.

Now, if this doesn't scare you yet, think about this: counterintelligence services have used cell phone tracking for years to target terrorists. According to several sources, like this one, Chechen leader Ruslan Maskhadov was killed when his whereabouts were tracked by Russian intelligence. Now, mandating secret services with cell phone tracking might sound ok, but think about the consequences of passing this privilege to anyone: employers, stalkers, paparazzi, obsessed boyfriend, you name it. Privacy International London has already raised the alarm in this respect.

Sure, Google will deny it forcefully. It maintains here that Latitude is entirely opt-in and that you can select untracking easily; moreover you can select a location yourself. That's all fine. But think about these possibilities: one, that the employer who gives you a beautiful smartphone already inserts opt-in without your knowledge and you are simply not informed of it; two, that your employer tracks any switches you make to your location; three, that some bully employer threatens to fire you if you switch the opt-in off? I can think many other instances of forceful coercion into Latitude. Not to say that the opportunity for hacking, especially when important people can be tracked, is also very worrying.

Sure, these things are not so big now, when the Google smartphone is only entering the market. Yet, knowing how hooked people are to Google and the internet, I can predict that Android may become the next Windows for phones. Then, the threat might become real.