2501B - networks VI ? privacy and geolocation

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2501B



Lahlou, Saadi 2008, ‘Identity, social status, privacy and face-keeping in digital society‘, Social Science Information, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 299-330, available from Sage, .





This article states that with ubiquitous and pervasive computing, ambient intelligence and aware environments, the infrastructure exists to gather much data about a person. Combined with unlimited memory and powerful data-mining tools, this information has the potential to impact on privacy.

For example, using GPS, mobile phone antennas and Wifi access locations it is possible to track the location of an individual, as well as their movements across space and time. These trajectories can be looked at to determine habits, while ‘[i]ntersections or convergences in trajectories can reveal a lot about social networks and communities of interests’ (p. 303). Habits form routines, and from a routine it can be predicted where an individual is likely to be at any specific time.

In addition to this, actions can also be traced – if you use a credit card in a purchase, it is a good indicator that you are shopping – and when combined with geolocation, an individual’s activity in a particular space can be remotely ascertained.

This accumulation and recording of data is called ‘life-logging’ and it is made possible by the global networked system of information and communication technologies.

Triangulation between different systems limits the ambiguity of information and makes identifying an individual easier, resulting in a greater risk to privacy.








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