Let's recap: So we ended the era of Garmins, Tom Toms, and Magellans when smartphones came along. Then came our beloved Android came the cancellation of our cell phone companies charging us for turn-by-turn directions. Now it seems that GPS location comes standard on every new phone that is released, but is this so much of a good thing?
Now: Think about the break down some of the highest operating expenses for a business. One of them for most big companies happen to be promotions and advertising (commercials, street ads, etc.) those same promotions. Remember that standard GPS we were talking about? Your cell phone company has and uses this information. It's usually used for weather or map apps, but now the conversation is turning to the big companies. If you were the CEO of Macy's and you had the option of delivering a text message to any consumer that got CLOSE to a Macy's would you exercise that right? Of course.
Let's sum it all up: With Verizon being the only exception most cell phone carriers are seemingly against this sale of their subscribers' information, but with companies like Sprint losing subscribers by the quarter (and adding a $10 fee on top of your data plan's fee every month) I don't think our privacy is safe. Just a word to the wise, with most smartphones you can disable the location services and if selling information does actually happen I'd advise turning off your location if you don't want to be tracked. Personally, I feel like virtual ads are invasive enough (i.e. tracking cookies that display that one pair of shoes you looked at on Overstock.com one time in EVERY ad space they can). You've gotta fight...for your right... to not be preyed on by monster corporations. (I'll work on making that one a little catchier)
'Til Later,
B.Carter
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