The risks behind Location-Based Service

Julie Wang

Bio

• 19 years old.• Born in China, live in Thailand. • Going to major in Communication Art. • Like to share my life with my friends on social

network.• Usually post status with geotag, until a tragedy

happened in my hometown.

Real caseYutong Lai •16 years old•High school student •In 2013, she was missing for 3 days and at the 4th day, her body was found in a abandon building near her home. •She liked to post photos with geotag. The top three tags are her home, her school, and a milk tea shop close to her house.•The police claimed that the location tag caused her death.

What is Location Based Service (LBS)

• Location-based services (LBS) use real-time geo-data from a mobile device or smartphone to provide information

• Many of today’s social networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, are now incorporating location-based services that allow users to broadcast their locations via smartphone.

Claim

• While Location Based Service (LBS) opens a new way for people to communicate, it also brings problems of safety and privacy.

Why people like it?

• Travel information• Social • Reward

What are the risks?

Privacy• Companies can record users’ locations via LBS. Apple

regularly recorded the location information in a hidden file. (Yun, Han, and Lee 2)

• Personal information can be totally transparent with LBS.

Safety• Geotagging pictures and uploading them can help a

criminal determine your routine. • Provides targets for criminals

GPS dating

• It is designed to connect singles with other local singles.

• Users post photos and personal information on their profile.

• Really need to be careful to go out at night with someone you just find online.

• It causes sexual assault, rape, and rob.

Solution

• Turn off the GPS on you phone.

• Consider who is the audience and tag locations that will not threat your safety.

Conclusion

• Location-based service associates with a lots of potential problems while it opens a new way of communication among people.

• People should use LBS wisely• Don’t ASK to be the victim!

Work Cited

Siciliano Robert. Don’t Let Location-Based Services Put You in Danger. McAfee, 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2014. <http://blogs.mcafee.com/consumer/dont-let-location-based-services-put-you-in-danger>

Komando Kim. Location services pose huge security risks. USAToday, 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2014. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kimkomando/2010-08-26-location-services_N.htm>

Yun Haejung, Han Dongho, Lee. C Choong. Understanding The Use of Location-Based Service Applications: Do Pricacy Concerns Matters? 2013. Journal. 18 Nov 2014.

Acknowledgement of assistance

Thanks my friend Annia for discussing the issue and practicing the presentation with me.

Thank you!