How your smartphone might prevent you from committing a crime

It is not easy for the music and movie industry nowadays -mainly due to violations of copyrights. Criminals hack the computers of famous artists like Lady Gaga and publish unreleased songs, and then there is a vast amount of internet websites that allow File sharing and streaming. Pirate copies of the latest movies, songs and concerts are often available to the public shortly after their publication. Just recently the streaming website kino.to has been all over

“Privacy is so 1997“

-Really? Privacy is so 1997? Well at least according to an article that I read this week with great interest. After my last post “Stalked by Apple and Google. What`s next?“  I was intensely engaged in privacy and security matters, noticing that this topic comprises more than I thought. I am not sure whether it is due to selective perception or if media coverage of privacy concerns has its climax at the moment, but I read and heard about it everywhere. It was the topic of several TV shows, articles in the newspaper, a headline when I opened msn, conversations in the metro and so on. In order to be up-to-date and/or to inform yourself as a concerned person, which you definitely are as an internet user and maybe additionally as an owner of an iPhone or Android, you should take some minutes to read my post.

Shortly after the publication that Apple and Google capture its user’s movements and save them, the next scandal hit the headlines: Sony`s PlayStation Network has been hacked.  Sony proclaimed last week that hackers stole personal data of 77 million PlayStation Network and Qriocity users. What a shock! Is it just me or do those things occur more frequently? After reading about it I was wondering about the reactions from the costumers and the government. Surprisingly I came across articles stating that Apple and Sony actually have to face possible legal action over customer privacy concerns.  But the investigations are at a stage where only predictions can be made.

Do consumers care?

The question I cared about most was: Do consumers really care? In the case of Sony they probably do, since it is allegedly unresolved whether also financial data was stolen. But what about Google and Apple tracking our movements? Apple stated that they need that information in order to provide certain services. Do we have to give up some of the little extras that ease our everyday life? And would be people willing to do so? I came across an article that not only gave my post its heading but also made me see this issue from a different angle. Read more

This does not count for everybody of course, but we give so much information willingly price. This information ranges from private pictures, videos, interest to who our friends are and where we are at right now. It is almost like we have to rub everyone in what we like, who we like and where we are. Yes, tons of people have their hundreds of “friends” on FaceBook, check-in places regularly etc. Why do we do that? The article provided an answer for that question that I liked a lot- it suggests that we do so because we want to be somebody and to have access to things that are cool. Kind of makes sense to me. The more cool photos we upload, check-in to fancy places, blog about whatever we have to say and share with the world the more we show off and present ourselves as somebody and get suggestions of cool things via targeted advertising for instance. Maybe privacy is so 1997 and we nowadays do not care about it anymore or maybe it is just the price we have to pay. Considering the amount of personal data we give away willingly it might be awkward in some cases to be mad at Apple and Google for capturing its users movements.

I came to the conclusion that even if there is a lack of transparency, it is not right to just demonize companies like Apple and Google. The decision of sharing important data is still ours. Maybe there is a tradeoff we have to make and might be forced to make even to a greater scale in the future- a trade of privacy for social networking and services we can use.

Stalked by Apple and Google. What`s next?

IPhone – Great smart phone, right? It not only looks good but also has tons of functions and services that ease our everyday life. But do we now the actual price we have to pay in order to have that comfort and entertainment? -Probably not, but last week some things came out that got quite some consumers worried. And it is not only Apple.

Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android regularly transmit user locations back to the companies, according to data and documents that were analyzed by The Wall Street Journal. But do not take the assumption that Apple or Google felt bad for tracking their loyal customers without them knowing so and then confessed.  Samy Kamkar, the guy that at an age of 19 caused Myspace to crash 6 years ago, found an HTC Android phone collecting location data every few seconds and sending it right back to Google. The smart (!) phone sent name, location, and signal strength of close Wi-Fi networks and unique phone identifiers.

Why they stalk us

The Journal said: “Google and Apple are gathering location information as part of their race to build massive databases capable of pinpointing people’s locations via their cellphones. These databases could help them tap the $2.9 billion market for location-based services—expected to rise to $8.3 billion in 2014, according to research firm Gartner Inc.”

Hence, in order to make more profit and to have an edge on the competitor, those companies compromise our privacy. This of course intensifies concerns over privacy and the widening trade in personal data.

Why bother?

The more information companies can collect about you, the greater is their potential profit. Targeted ads based upon when you visit certain locations, the time you leave home and work or school, and simple shopping and eating habits represent a treasure trove of advertising data, based upon your life. But unprotected location information could bear a great risk. Just imagine that private information to fall into wrong hands; the past showed us that there are genial geeks out there that can hack into almost every site and database.

It shouldn’t be big news to anyone that personal information from our life is being collected from us- be it on Facebook, on Twitter or Internet Service Providers. That is not the issue; it is a fact is that data is being collected from us from all the devices and electronic services we use.

We should be more concerned with what is being collected and how it is used, we consumers should be kept in the loop.

By Wanda Luckhardt