OlenderFeldman Interviewed by Fox News Regarding Location Data

Collection of Location Data Enables Personalized Recommendations; Creates Privacy Concerns

Location data is becoming increasing valuable to companies, who can use this information to build detailed profiles of individual’s preferences and activities, including where they live, work and shop.  Location data can be collected from all Wifi-enabled smartphones, which have a persistent identifier that can be tracked without notifying the user.  Companies can also determine which Wi-Fi networks a phone has logged into.

Although this information can enable companies to provide individually tailored services and products, many have raised concerns about the privacy implications of this type of tracking. For example, a company could infer that an individual has a medical condition based on trips to health care providers.  Additionally, companies are increasingly able to connect online and offline behaviors into a composite profile.

Please click here to see our  interview with Fox News concerning location privacy.