Latitude, Google's new GPS-powered service, enables you to follow your friends movements on a map on your mobile phone... (read about it here or here).
My first reaction was - that's scary. Why should anyone need to see where on a map I am other than me? And even though you can adjust your settings when you don't want to appear on your friends maps, just as with photo viewing settings on facebook pages, social norms quickly erode any previous ideas of what should be kept private and you find yourself sharing far more than you rationally think you should be comfortable with.
But reading through the suggested uses of something like this I actually quite liked the idea of organising spontaneous meet ups because you know someone is nearby. I have often wandered past a bar or cafe and wished I knew someone close enough to call up and meet without it being a big deal.
So it took roughly a minute for me to go from thinking what an invasion of privacy the idea was, to oh, that could be great socially... Just as with facebook, the social utility outweighs privacy concerns. I think this is something we'll all get used to much quicker than we can imagine right now.
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3 comments:
sorry, no, I don't think I can get over the privacy concerns - I'd hate it if everybody would always be able to see where I was! I'm sure you're right, people will get used to it quickly, but I feel quite strongly that there are quite enough dangers to our privacy in Britain
I do agree really, I just find it strange how slippery our ideas of privacy are, especially when technology comes into it. I guess the other thing to remember is that the 'powers that be' have had the ability to do this for ages already anyway...
Hi... Are you the Rhiannon Roberts who painted in my painting school so many years ago?
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