I do not care if Apple and Google know where I am. The revelation that Apple's storing location data and keeping it for a year or more on my iPhone and my computer has shocked many, but not me. The possibility that Apple and Google are not only collecting data, but making sure that iOS and Android phones transmit said data back to the mother ship at least twice an hour doesn't make me squirm, either. I'd say my phone, and probably yours too, is ten times more useful because it can transmit its location to a variety of services and partners.
What, exactly, is so scary about your phone collecting location data? Why are we worried about Apple, Google and others knowing where we are and even the pattern of our activity? It's not as if we can't be tracked in other ways. Consider these scenarios:
You leave for work in the morning and your car could be photographed by one of thousands of traffic cams dotting this country's roads and intersections. You take the train and a conductor looks at your ticket—often with your name on it—and either punches it or notes it. You arrive at the office or place of work and check in—often with an electronic pass that pops up your face, name, position and time of entry on the security guard's screen. If you leave and come back, they get that data too.
On the way home, you stop by the ATM and take out some money. The bank knows you've been there and a tiny webcam has captured your activities. If you drive to or from work and have a GPS, the exact location of your car is hitting at least a few satellites. Who knows where that information might be stored? If your phone's GPS is turned on, it always knows exactly where you are (and can come in quite handy when you're lost).
Granted, Apple and Google are businesses, commercial entities with monetary interests at heart. Perhaps they want to use this location data to somehow exploit us. Let's see, they take our latitude, longitude, date and time stamp and…Well, what? So far, the data I've seen is not as accurate as people are making it out to be. Mobile Analyst Sascha Segan and I looked at his grid (based on the app built by the guys over at O'Reilly). At first glance, it looked incredibly accurate. Segan had traveled up and down the east coast on vacation. However, upon closer inspection, it became clear that the data was about as accurate as buckshot. It was hitting cell towers and, I think, Wi-Fi hotspots within a 20 mile (or more) range of Segan's actual location. Essentially, Apple and, likely, Google know the neighborhood or town you're in, but not whose house or business you're visiting.
This simple fact should be some comfort to all the philanderers who are at their girlfriend's house when they told their wives they'd be out bowling.
I'm not trying to downplay the utility or seriousness of location data. Location will be the foundation of most mobile business and commerce going forward. Apple's iAds and Google's Mobile Ads and Adsense for Mobile will increasingly rely on your location to deliver better, more contextual, and even actionable advertising and deals. So it's not just about where you are, but when you're there. A 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. sale at your local PC Richards isn't much use to you at 6 o'clock.
As I see it, all this data collection is really just phase one is a new generation of ads that target your location and also the activity revolving around certain locations to deliver ad and marketing programs. I believe Google and Apple are looking at cell tower and Wi-Fi hotspot saturation and the human traffic around them areas to help advertisers figure out where and when to target their advertising.
If they can overlay all that data with demographic information from, say, the U.S. Census, then Google and Apple can deliver ads that might encourage Flash Mob-like behavior: Imagine, for example, that they know that 20somethings all live in, say, Park Slope, Brooklyn, and congregate at the local park each weekend around 11:30 a.m. What if the same ad were delivered to all of their phones at the same time? The ad would say that if 20 people all arrived at a local restaurant like the Stone Park Cafe en masse, they'd each get $3 off a $12 meal. If 40 people arrive with the same ad on their phone, they get an even better deal. Suddenly, people who don't even know each other would start talking and then, realizing they were all pursuing the same goal, work together to gather people and march on over to the restaurant (which ran the ad in the first place).
There is, of course, the nightmare scenario, where this location data is used not only to recognize a town you passed through, but is tied together with other truly personal information. Remember that trip you took to Maine? You also drove through Connecticut. No, you never stopped, but the fact that you were there was registered in the location data and, maybe, delivered to Google and Apple. They delivered it to their ad partners. A week or so later, you start getting offers in the mail thanking you for visiting and offering fresh deals the next time you're passing through Connecticut.
I don't expect this to happen.
It is kind of comical that, as we all cry foul over Apple's insidious location data-capturing practices, we're simultaneously competing in Foursquare to become the Mayor of "Hey, everybody, this is exactly where I am and what I'm doing right now."
Go figure.