[iDC] Spy on Your Workers with Google Latitude

Sun Feb 8 15:13:08 UTC 2009

I see no legal obstacle, however, to an employer openly demanding that  
its employees carry Latitude-enabled phones with them (perhaps  
supplied by the company).  UPS tracks its drivers using GPS.

I largely agree with Michael's blog post (http://michaelzimmer.org/2009/02/06/with-latitude-google-actually-got-it-mostly-right/ 
) that Google did a better job thinking through the privacy  
implications than it usually does.  The design of the "lie about where  
you are" feature seems simple enough that people might actually use  
it.  Still, when I think about some of the privacy messes this will  
result in once it gets out into popular use and people forget that  
they have it on . . . it gives me the creeps.

James

On Feb 7, 2009, at 10:50 PM, Michael Zimmer wrote:

> Threats of surveillance by employers, stalkers, obsessive friends,  
> etc, have existed long before Latitude, and most methods are must  
> easier to employ than surreptitiously activating a service on  
> someone else's phone
>
> The PI press release is a bit over the top, IMO. Although I agree  
> with them that GOOG should create a more persistent warning/reminder  
> for users that the service is active. See <http://michaelzimmer.org/2009/02/06/with-latitude-google-actually-got-it-mostly-right/ 
> >
>
> -mz
>
>
>
> -- 
> Michael Zimmer, PhD
> Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies
> Associate, Center for Information Policy Research
> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
> e: zimmerm at uwm.edu
> w: www.michaelzimmer.org
>
>
> On Feb 6, 2009, at 7:50 PM, Lucia Sommer wrote:
>
>> Hi Michael,
>> to my mind the concerns surrounding surveillance in this case  
>> aren't limited to privacy, but extend beyond that to include human  
>> rights issues like workers' rights. Surveillance by ones' employers  
>> may not be optional if one wants to keep the job. Concerns have  
>> also been raised about Google's security safeguards -- quoting:
>>
>> However, London-based Privacy International says it has identified  
>> several potential methods for covertly tracking the locations of  
>> mobile devices without the knowledge or consent of their users.
>>
>> [edit]
>> For example, the privacy watchdog said enterprises could provide  
>> their workers with phones on which Google Latitude has already been  
>> enabled, allowing the movements of staff members to be tracked by  
>> senior management without their knowledge. Any phone left  
>> unattended would be vulnerable to having Google Latitude installed  
>> without the knowledge of the handset's owner, the group warned.  
>> Additionally, phones given as gifts would potentially be subject to  
>> the same privacy violations.
>>
>> Masking Movements
>>
>> The documentation for Google Latitude says users can mask their  
>> movements any time they wish. "You can hide your current location  
>> from all friends or from individual friends at any time," Google  
>> said. "When you hide your location, your friends will not see your  
>> photo icon on a map and will not see a location for you in their  
>> list view."
>>
>> But Privacy International warns that the same masking technology  
>> could be used by others to prevent smartphone users from realizing  
>> they are being tracked.
>>
>> "The only means of minimizing this threat might be a regular  
>> message sent to a phone advising that it has been Latitude- 
>> enabled," the watchdog said. "However, according to Google, this  
>> function is available only in certain circumstances" and may only  
>> apply to "certain unspecified phone types."
>>
>> As it stands now, Davies noted, Latitude could be a gift to  
>> stalkers, prying employers, jealous partners, and obsessive  
>> friends. "The dangers to a user's privacy and security are as  
>> limitless as the imagination of those who would abuse this  
>> technology," Davies said.
>>
>> http://www.sci-tech-today.com/news/Misuse-of-Google-Latitude-Feared/story.xhtml?story_id=012001GSW8JC
>>
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Lucia
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 8:04 PM, Michael Zimmer <zimmerm at uwm.edu>  
>> wrote:
>> Rarely am I a Google apologist when it comes to privacy, but  
>> they've actually done a pretty good job with this one. It is fully  
>> opt-in, you can fine tune precisely who gets to see your location  
>> (and how granular you want that location-data to be), and,  
>> according to their own privacy help video [1], Google doesn't keep  
>> a log of all your pings to the system.
>>
>> [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9H4xaTspaQ
>>
>> --
>> Michael Zimmer, PhD
>> Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies
>> Associate, Center for Information Policy Research
>> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
>> e: zimmerm at uwm.edu
>> w: www.michaelzimmer.org
>>
>>
>>
>> On Feb 5, 2009, at 11:14 AM, Lucia Sommer wrote:
>>
>>> another one for the normalization-of-surveillance files:
>>>
>>> Spy on Your Workers with Google Latitude
>>> http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/158975/spy_on_your_workers_with_google_latitude.html
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> Lucia Sommer
>> 60 College Street
>> Buffalo, NY 14201
>> (716) 359-3061
>>
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