On every smartphone there sits a stalker’s paradise of location data ready to be shared. This treasure trove is what allows you to watch a food delivery pull up outside your door and check what restaurants are nearby. It can also be used to track you. Location tracking is so precise that it can pinpoint one person in a crowd. And this tech is marketed as convenient, not creepy.
What is an acceptable level of online surveillance? I had assumed we all agreed that the ideal was none. Privacy campaigners try to limit the information we share and laptops are sold with built-in webcam covers. Earlier this month, Microsoft rowed back plans for a new feature that took screenshots of a user’s PC every five seconds in order to train artificial intelligence. Yet location tracking apps like Life360 are downloaded voluntarily.
Exactly how popular they are depends on your age. I don’t like the idea of being watched — not least because my movements are so dull. A quick poll of friends found that those who were, like me, in their 40s and older either had no idea they could use their phone in this way or had relatively little interest in doing so. As one put it: the thought of appearing as a dot on someone else’s map has echoes of dystopian devices implanted into unwilling arms.